Those are some of the best strategy questions I've ever heard. We tend to work from product idea on, not from strategy. I do think at least a vague understanding of strategy is important for designers. The problem of course, is that strategy is such a wide encompassing topic.
In the same vain, I do think designers should also understand at least the basic of business. That is, making money. Peter On Sun, Jan 4, 2009 at 11:20 PM, Andrew Otwell <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > So when I ask, what should interaction designers know about strategy? > > You respond... > > > The other answers seemed to focus on strategy for a design firm ("how do we > get and retain more and better clients") or strategy for selling design to > clients ("how do we convince clients to value our services more?") I don't > think that's what Dan's asking for here, and IMO those topics don't belong > in an introductory primer to IxD. Those are also topics that have been > covered in depth by the consulting industry in general. > > Here are some things I've either always wondered about, or learned about > only through osmosis or just asking a lot of dumb questions: > > - How is it that a great idea for a product or service might not be > appropriate for a company at a certain point, or at all? Or, how does > strategy think about complementary products or ideas? > - How are competitors analyzed? What characteristics of competition might > suggest a product or service would be successful, or fail? > - How are markets determined? When is it best to be a first-mover vs. > fast follower vs. "best of breed"? > - What does pricing have to do with all of this? Pricing is a serious > black art (some might say "shot in the dark"), but when does free vs. > cheap > vs. expensive matter, and what are the advantages of each? > - How are ideas and innovations worked into an overall strategy? Often > "strategy" seems to mean "we have a great idea for Widget 2.0", but how > does > strategy affect the less-tangible process of innovation and development > inside a company? How is the sausage made? > - Finally and perhaps most importantly: what does "a strategy" look like? > Is it a diagram? A narrative document? A phrase that the CEO repeats at > every chance? A spreadsheet of numbers? None of these? Most of the time, > when you ask "and how does this fit into the overall strategy", there's > not > going to be a plain-language answer. In the absence of clarity, what do > you > look for to figure out what the strategy is? > > Andrew > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [email protected] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > -- me: http://petervandijck.com blog: http://poorbuthappy.com/ease/ global UX consulting: http://290s.com free travel guides: http://poorbuthappy.com US: (+1) 201 467-5511 Belgium: (+32) 03/325 88 70 Skype id: peterkevandijck ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
