I'm not sure I agree with Jared's surgical analogy. A medical or
surgical professional will always endeavour to prescribe the most
appropriate treatment for any particular condition, and those
treatments are (generally) pretty well defined by the larger surgical
community. So it's not like the surgeon has a choice. Stepping
outside of the accepted option is likely to lead him into some pretty
deep water and, in all likelihood (in the US at least), to litigation.
As UX professionals, on the other hand, we have a free choice to make
about which methodology to follow, and in our interpretation of what
that methodolgy actually means in practice.
To design an immersive and intuitive experience within the context of
Rich Internet Applications (which is what Adobe Consulting are all
about), I'd argue that we need to understand our users AND the
activities they perform (or will be able to perform once we've
worked our magic). So I don't see UCD and ACD being mutually
exclusive; rather I think the latter is a component of the former.
Which i think is what Jared is saying when he describes ACD as a lazy
man's UCD.
Now, the importance of laziness as a valuable human trait to be
observed and leveraged in the search for innovative solutions is an
idea I've been kicking around for some time. In fact, it's kinda
spooky seeing Jared talk about it here, as it forms the basis of my
presentation next week at MAX 2008. ("Lazy Innovation". Monday 17
November, Moscone Centre, San Francisco at 11:30am for those who are
interested in attending. Hope you'll forgive the shameless plug
here.) Much of what Jared has written above chimes perfectly with
what I'll be saying, so it's good to know in advance that I
haven't completely lost my mind.
I don't want to pre-empt the talk by going into too much detail now,
but I'll post my thoughts on the subject here once I've got the
event out of the way. Hopefully it'll be of interest to followers of
this thread.
George Neill
Lead Experience Architect, EMEA
Adobe Consulting
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=35466
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