How Far We Have To Go
The New York Times on Experience Design Usability:
Sometimes there is a huge disconnect between the people who make a product and the people who use it. The creator of a Web site may assume too much knowledge on the part of users, leading to confusion. Software designers may not anticipate user behavior that can unintentionally destroy an entire database. Manufacturers can make equipment that inadvertently increases the likelihood of repetitive stress injuries.Enter the usability professional, whose work has recently developed into a solid career track, driven mostly by advancements in technology.
This isn’t an article from 1997. It’s from July 8, 2007. Another groaner from the article, which I am hoping is just a typo:
Harvinder Singh, president of Bestica, which is based in San Antonio, says that there is a shortage of people to fill usability jobs.“We’re working with companies like Microsoft and Yahoo and having a lot of trouble finding user-experienced people,” he said.
Sigh. Has the design profession really made such little progress?
There are 13 comments on this idea.
whats the problem?
“Fresh Starts is a monthly column about emerging jobs and job trends.”
Emerging?
Does usability testing pay well? If so, how do I evolve?
If not, that might be part of the trouble . . .
-danny
[...] Adaptive Path’s article shows that it will take time until the general public (and most important, the clients) understands what web design / web development is all about. [...]
Outside of the Bay Area and some other pockets this is emerging and most people have never heard about it.
It’s not much of a profession when everybody can and does design…
I think it’s more an issue related to our consistent inability to consistently communicate what we do to “the outside world.”
The NYT article seems woefully under-informed and not well written, or more specifically, <strike>usability tested</strike> edited either.
[...] and doesn’t reflect much of the current state of affairs in the field, as was correctly pointed out by Dan Saffer of Adaptive [...]
Anyone can play baseball too. Doesn’t make them a professional athlete. :)
[...] riflette adeguatamente l’andamento degli affari in tale ambito come è stato correttamente precisato da Dan Saffer di Adaptive [...]
[...] about Usability Professionals: Technology’s Untanglers: They Make It Really Work. I’ve read mixed feelings about this article as [...]
In 2002, the company I was working for (at the time the biggest Italian Internet web site) fired all the people in the usability team, as they were “unusefull”. Very wise I guess.
“user-experienced people” is simply fantastic! LOL!!! :D
Hey Dan. Greetings from CMU.
See my response to Matthew Oliphant’s similar take on the matter.
Of course the design profession has made much more progress than the NYT article tells. But while the article belies the profession, we need to understand that it is a blip in the history of texts that explain usability. It’s not a long article, nor is it a documentary of the profession.
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