This looks like a really great conference in Denver on Feb 2.
https://secure.webdirections.org/wdn09/aff/WDN09MC
I hope to go!
Are there any other good webby or general IxD get togethers in the area?
Mike Caskey
Jared Spool wrote:
On Jan 27, 2009, at 11:22 PM, Jim Leftwich wrote:
I'm in extremely strong disagreement with Jarod in a number of things
he states.
I'm assuming you're talking about me (JarEd). There's another JarOd on
this list, who often has interesting things to say, but he hasn't
participated in this thread. I apologize if my assumption is incorrect.
I disagree with his statement that one does not know where
a RED design will end until after it's finished.
This is flatly untrue. It's a matter of experience. One has to
have confidence of where a design (which can indeed be both grasped
in the mind and in extensive blueprints) will be when implemented and
realized. This is simply a fact that's been borne out in many
designs by many designers.
You can think of this as a two-by-two matrix. On the horizontal, you
have "Is not experienced" and "Is experienced". On there vertical you
have "Thinks is experienced" and "Doesn't think is experienced".
I believe you're focusing on the quadrant that is both "Is
experienced" and "thinks is experienced." People in this quadrant will
likely do an excellent job. Similarly, the people in "Is not
experienced" and "Doesn't think is experienced" will likely resort to
other means, such as activity-focused or user-focused research, to get
the information they need to make decisions.
It's the other two quadrants that produce issues. Those that fall into
"Is experienced" and "Doesn't think is experienced" will underperform
and spend resources on research that don't deliver new insights. Those
that fall into "Thinks is experienced" and "Is not experienced" will
blindly produce designs that are unlikely to succeed.
It is this latter quadrant that I think has the most risk. In this
case, you won't know which column you're in ("Is experienced" vs. "Is
not experienced") until you've had a way to validate the design. You
may "think" you know, but that's a completely different axis.
That was my original point. It is just rhetoric, but it's important
rhetoric as we try to broaden the field to that beyond just a few
folks who "get it" and make it into something that is scalable to the
demands that society seems to warrant it. That's where my interest in
this comes from.
He says he will never have to resort to RED. I'm at a bit of a loss
to respond to Jarod, as I'm not actually familiar with his body of
work. I would have to see Jarod's designs and understand the
outcomes, the scale and expense of effort that went into them, and
the domains that these took place in before commenting on his
approach to design and development.
What I actually said was:
I like the name Genius Design because it means I'll never resort to it.
As Robert pointed out, I'm not a designer (though I do dabble in it
occasionally, often with poor results, thus increasing my respect for
those who are). I'm a researcher focused on design management (among
other things) and this denotation of decision styles (which is what I
refer to Genius/RED versus other type) is important, as it helps teams
understand when they do and don't need additional research to inform
their design.
You can learn more about the work I've been doing from this recent
article that describes the different design decision styles:
http://is.gd/hywO
Hope that helps you understand where I was coming from.
JarEd
Jared M. Spool
User Interface Engineering
510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845
e: [email protected] p: +1 978 327 5561
http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks Twitter: jmspool
UIE Web App Summit, 4/19-4/22: http://webappsummit.com
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