Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-09 Thread David Malouf
Hi Scott, I think I'm well known here to go half-cocked every so often. It might be my rep from time to time. Heck I was called the gadfly of the IAI list recently. I just am who I am without a lot of attempt at pretense. I think being real helps the list and there are other calmer voices that

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-09 Thread Scharn, David
Scott Berkun wrote: I don't care much for management - I care about power. Scott, Amen! Thanks for bringing clarity to this part of the discussion. I'm going to adopt that phrase as my mantra, though it may be a silent one for tactful purposes. Sure, many designers do not want to manage, but

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-09 Thread greg
This is a great conversation. I hope that we can continue this thread in a productive and respectful way. I work in a team that is struggling everyday to get to what Scott is talking about. Bridging Design, Business and Technology to find the sweet spot with multidisciplinary teams. We have

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-09 Thread Christina Wodtke
Of course you can be a great design principal, and influence the very nature of a company. You can be a great Creative director, a great VP of user experience, and in a design company, perhaps even a CCO or a CXO. But in a big product company if you want to design the business, that role is owned

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-08 Thread David Malouf
Christina, I think you are over simplifying here. If there is anything I have learned this election season is that frames, rhetoric, semantics, and titles mean EVERYTHING. They set up the mental models from which we construct our world view, and they create our own self-identity from which we

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-08 Thread Kontra
We are more than a title. One would never know from all this hair splitting over...titles. -- Kontra http://counternotions.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-08 Thread j. eric townsend
David Malouf wrote: 1) Why is the only way up, out? Why can't we do what Luke Wroblewski and others at Yahoo have done and go the route of the Design Principal, the non-management role? This is the sort of thing that's been done with engineering for at least a couple of decades (that I know

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-08 Thread Scott Berkun
popular. I'd certainly read/listen. -Scott Scott Berkun www.scottberkun.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Leftwich Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 4:34 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems What

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-08 Thread David Malouf
see below On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 12:37 PM, Scott Berkun [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 2) Design is not just part of a title, it is philosophically a different way of thinking about problem analysis and solving. Having your title reframed to suit corporate culture may be short term effective, but

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-08 Thread Scott Berkun
Christina, I think you are over simplifying here. If there is anything I have learned this election season is that frames, rhetoric, semantics, and titles mean EVERYTHING. They set up the mental models from which we construct our world view, and they create our own self-identity from

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-08 Thread Jim Leftwich
Scott, in response to your question as to the path I've been on in my career, I've documented a simplified version of it in the presentation I gave in early 2005 at the IA Summit in Montreal. Twenty Years Of Lessons Learned http://orbitnet.com/iasummit2005/ Companion Slides:

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-08 Thread Scott Berkun
of posts, or warm leadership. -Scott Scott Berkun www.scottberkun.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David Malouf Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2008 7:53 AM To: Scott Berkun Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems I'm a very

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread David Malouf
I think our biggest problem is lack of career path. This stems from no formal relationship or expectations (yet) between industry and education. So many other problems stem from here: from what is our place inside the organization to how to find mentoring or how to enter the profession. -- dave

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread Christina Wodtke
here you go: http://www.slideshare.net/cwodtke/paths-for-designers-ias I think a lot of the problem is designers aren't willing to give up the design title to move up in their career. If you are doing product strategy for a company, you are probably a VP of product strategy not a VP of strategic

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread Scott Berkun
engineering), of an actual product. -Scott Scott Berkun www.scottberkun.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Christina Wodtke Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 8:59 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread David Malouf
BTW, I was not talking about getting to the table ... I can see what Scott and Christina are saying and I have no argument there. What I was alluding to was entry middle senior (non-exec roles) career path. Graphic designers in advertising Industrial designers in product design Architects

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread mark schraad
So... I am going to go to the fuzzy conceptual on you Dave (I know that you like that about me)... in terms of what I/we/you bring to the table throughout a career: ~ tactical strategic (this may be more towards the exec track) ~ experience towards more breadth and versatility ~

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread Jim Leftwich
I think it's a mistake, and a large one, to make the assumption/assertion that the only way to move up or occupy a leadership role in a corporation or organization is to leave the designer track for a management track. This may well be the case with how some (to date) have made the upward

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread mark schraad
Jim, I think your intention here is solid... but the reality of the work is you have an exceptional situation. Design is NOT a highly regarded role in most corporate environments. All well and good to encourage designers to follow you very wise and optimistic words, but someone

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread Jim Leftwich
Mark, let me respectfully yet firmly disagree with you. Firstly, I did in no way whatsoever suggest, assert, nor imply that my situation (as one of the earliest pioneers in Interaction Design) was close to the norm as you put it. In fact, if you read my post you'll clearly see that I actually

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread Scott Berkun
PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Leftwich Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 2:16 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems I think it's a mistake, and a large one, to make the assumption/assertion that the only way to move up or occupy a leadership

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread mark schraad
Jim, Point taken... and a poorly worded sentence did not help. I should have typed it would be somewhat disingenuine to suggest that this is anywhere close to the norm. If you are not suggesting that this is the norm, then no need for you to be upset. In any case, there is little need

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread Jim Leftwich
What I learned over decades of consulting was that it mattered most what level the contract came in at, in terms of how much power and influence the resulting design (which would sometimes be done entirely in the consulting and sometimes in conjunction with internal developers). A contract at the

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-07 Thread Christina Wodtke
We never stop being designers, we just stop having the title. We are more than a title. On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 2:15 PM, Jim Leftwich [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think it's a mistake, and a large one, to make the assumption/assertion that the only way to move up or occupy a leadership role in a

[IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-06 Thread Chris Noessel
Aside from hate on User Centered Design, and perhaps more seriously, the looming global economy crisis, I'm interesting in hearing what IxDAers think are the largest problems facing the IxD practice today. Anyone have any thoughts? Chris

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-06 Thread Itamar Medeiros
There was a very interesting post on Luke Wroblewski (are you reading this, Luke?) entitled Factors Limiting the Organizational Influence of Design (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FunctioningForm/~3/405788516/entry.asp); His conclusions are based on his experience of presenting the Influencing

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The biggest problems

2008-10-06 Thread Kontra
Each time a common set of themes emerged: organizational imbalance, lack of shared understanding, resource constraints, and market dynamics. These apply pretty much to *all* disciplines, not just to design or its sub-domains. -- Kontra http://counternotions.com