My name is
Jack Moffett. I am an Interaction Designer with over ten years of experience. According to
Herb Simon, that makes me an expert, so I must have something worth sharing. I have started this venture as an exercise to spur critical thinking about my chosen profession. I hope that others may find it thought provoking as well.
DesignAday will present a brief thought about Design every weekday.
Following up on yesterday’s post, I have some suggestions for dealing with those senior engineers that are set in their ways and uninterested in, if not hostile towards, interaction design. Here’s a persona that may or may not be derived from developers I’ve worked with in the past.
John Stern
Senior Software Architect
- Holds a Ph.D. in computer science.
- Knows he is smarter than you.
- Philosophy behind architecture of the system trumps all.
- Set in his ways, like an old dog.
- Highly risk averse, so doesn’t like trying anything new
- Doesn’t really care about design, because he doesn’t car.e about the UI or the user.
- The first time you ask him if you can do something, he immediately says no. Five minutes later, he comes back and explains how you can do it and why it will work.
- Ultimately, he is more interested in publishing a paper about the software architecture than delivering the product.
John may be the hardest developer for you to learn to work with. He’s going to cause you to mutter under your breath on a daily basis. Here’s my advice for turning what seems to be an impossible situation to your advantage.
- Show him some respect. He has earned it, and while he may be misguided, he’s no idiot. Don’t try to play top dog, because he’ll fight you for it. I’m not saying you should be submissive, but treat him as an equal. Don’t play the superior, I-know-something-you-don’t type of designer that we are so good at.
- Let him know your credentials. He has a lot of respect for higher education, so he’ll give you a few brownie points and the benefit of the doubt if he knows you have a degree.
- Try to couch your design decisions as solutions to his problems. Convincing him that you are going to make his life easier should be your number-one goal.
- Learn to read UML diagrams. Speaking his language will not only improve communications and earn some rep, but will give you a better understanding of how your designs fit into the overall picture.
- When trying to introduce something new, preempt his rejections by providing supporting evidence: examples of use, code samples, and any requirements, such as versions, incompatibilities, and the like. He’ll take your suggestions more seriously if you show that you’ve done some research into their feasibility.
- Be patient. Try not to be confrontational. He may never fully appreciate your contribution, but he may come to respect you for your process, rigor, and attention to detail. Those are things he can relate to.
Midwest UX starts tomorrow. I’ll be driving to Columbus as soon as I can get away from the office. If you’re going to be there, please look me up. I’d really like to meet you!
There’s a lot of content that won’t fit into the forty minutes I am allotted for my presentation this Saturday at Midwest UX. So, I might as well share it here.
One trend I found in my survey results supports my own personal experience working with developers. The older the developer, the more likely they will be difficult to work with. I realize that’s a very generalized statement, and it depends on the individual, but take the following response:
“I find there to be a difference between some of the older developers and younger developers. The older ones are a little confused by my role as an interaction designer. The younger ones really seem to value my input and user centered design processes. They are excited about the changes and like to contribute new ideas. The older developers who seem to have a different school of thought start shaking their head as soon as I stop by their desk with a fresh stack of sketches.”
This is likely a case of people being set in their ways. They have been practicing their profession without an interaction designer for years, so why do they need one now?
“It seems to be a matter of how long people have been here. The folks who have been here longer seem to resent my addition to the team and cause the most problems. The newer people don’t seem to have a problem with my work.”
Of course, it’s much easier for a new hire to accept an interaction designer as part of an established process. That’s their baseline as they become indoctrinated to the company’s culture. Contrast that with an interaction designer hired into a company that doesn’t already have a design-oriented culture. There’s a huge difference.
“Its the old school developers who are the hardest to work with. it seems like from their view point there is no reason why they shouldn’t be doing the design work.”
So, how can you turn this situation into a mutually beneficial working relationship? I don’t have any magic dust—it’s likely going to be difficult—but rest assured that with patience and perseverance, it is possible to gain the respect of the senior developers and pull them back to the light side.
Check back tomorrow for a few tips on teaching old dogs new tricks.
Did you hear? Registration for Interaction 13, to be held in Toronto from January 28th to February 1st, is opening June 15th. I must assume, then, that the call for speakers won’t be far behind. I’m going to have to figure out how to get my new company to send me. I also need to figure out what to submit this year. I suppose I could submit the same talk I’m giving at Midwest UX in a week and a half—I wouldn’t mind getting some mileage out of it—but I’m also interested in the possibility of teaching a workshop. I am, after all, a part-time educator. If you were to attend a conference, which of the following workshops might you be willing to pay for? These are just initial ideas, but I’d welcome any feedback you have.
Introduction to Typography for Interaction Designers
So, you are an IxDer without a visual design education. Contemporary web technologies are capable of sophisticated typographic layout, and you don’t have the chops. Learn the basics, from terminology and anatomy, to type selection, to typesetting with HTML and CSS.
Working with Developers: Use Their Tools
One of the points I push hard in my presentation is that designers should be using the same tools that the developers use for issue tracking, task assignments, version control, and documentation. I’ll review some of the popular tools in use and show you how to get set up and integrated with your development team. This will be heavily weighted towards web development.
Web UI Implementation
I’ll demonstrate best practices for implementing user interfaces in HTML and CSS. You too can ensure design integrity by delivering production ready code for your developers.
There’s a relatively recent question posed on Quora asking “How do UI Designers work with engineers to ensure their vision is achieved?” Owen Otto, a UX designer at Google, gives a very thorough answer that is right on the money. In brief:
- Figure out which type of engineer you’re working with
- Skim all bugs and code reviews for the product
- Do some front-end coding (but not too much)
- Sit by engineers
- Show the vision
- Involve engineers in user research
- Choose your battles
- Don’t whine
I encourage you to go and read his complete post. It’s no coincidence that most of Owen’s points are addressed in my upcoming talk at Midwest UX: Working with Developers for Fun and Profit. Owen is one of many designers reaping the benefits of tight integration with their development teams. If you want to learn more, register for the conference—it’s very affordable—and sit in on my presentation. Then find me afterwards and pick my brain. I’ll be more than happy sharing over a decade’s worth of experience.
Midwest UX posted the schedule for the conference that will be kicking off in Columbus, Ohio, on May 31st. I’m pleased as punch to be on it, but I was sad to see that I’ll be presenting at the same time as Joe Sokohl, who’s presentation I was looking forward to seeing. Titled The Digital Place You Love is Gone: Mitigating Loss in the Ethersphere, Joe’s talk addresses the emotions people feel when their familiar digital places dramatically change, or even disappear. I find this topic really intriguing and won’t blame you if you attend it instead of my own presentation: Working with Developers for Fun and Profit. Worse yet, it’s a three track conference, so if you aren’t into psychoanalyzing our attachment to virtual places, and you are already enjoying a tight integration with your development team, you might rather check out Chris Risdon’s talk about experience maps. We’re all three presenting on day two in the 11:30 slot.
If you find that a difficult decision to make, just wait until you see the full schedule: 2 full days containing 10 3-track sessions for you to agonize over! Oh, and don’t forget the 6 workshops on Friday. I’ve heard that there are still tickets available, so sign up now. If you do happen to sit in on my session, I promise to give you some good discussion topics for your lunch hour. Otherwise, you’ll have to fill me in on what I missed.
Michelle L. Connor of Almost Heaven Habitat for Humanity was another speaker at Designing for the Divide. Her talk was titled Affordable Housing Does Not Have to Look Affordable. From the conference program:
Almost Heaven Habitat for Humanity designed and built a 15-unit affordable housing homeownership development that is both EPA Energy Star and EarthCraft certified in rural West Virginia using a comprehensive and collaborative process including a design charette. This is the first condo-style homeownership development in our county. This presentation will discuss the successes and challenges encountered in the development, construction, and sales process.
She told us of their collaboration with an architecture firm to design the buildings to be environmentally progressive while meeting the minimal budget. From stamped concrete floors with radiant heat to tankless water heaters and solar light tubes, these homes included features that I would like to have in my own home. In fact, the homes are so desirable, they’ve had families above the economic threshold for Habitat for Humanity homes trying to get into them. The innovation didn’t stop with the construction—they placed families in a way that fosters community. For example, they might place a single, older veteran in a unit beside a younger family so that, when the mother is leaving to go grocery shopping, she may see the veteran sitting on his porch and ask if he needs anything.
They’re doing great work in an area of the country that you might not expect it. It’s inspirational to see this kind of forward thinking in support of low income families.
Kofi Opoku took on the divide of energy and the environment for his Designing for the Divide poster, and he did an outstanding job of it. The main visualization is a comparison of energy consumption per capita and energy production between France, the UK, Russia, the USA, China, Canada, and Germany. The size of the circle represents total production, while the color of the circle represents consumption per capita. Geographic landmasses are relatively sized, so one can also compare production and consumption based on area. The US is high in both production and consumption, but what’s more interesting is China, which produces and consumes the most energy, but has the lowest consumption per capita. Canada is also of interest, in that it has much lower production and consumption, but its consumption per capita is the highest.
Energy is broken out into sources for the US: coal, crude oil, natural gas, and renewable. The same measures are used, and the circle sizes are proportional to the country totals. Information about carbon emissions from fuel consumption is also presented per country, charted from 1992-2009. Other than China, all countries represented are declining. The large graph spanning the bottom width of the poster depicts US energy consumption by source and carbon emissions per capita from 1980 to 2009. There are quite a bit of additional facts and figures, as well as tips on how to save energy.
Kofi did an admirable job presenting the data in a way that allows the viewer to make comparisons, learn, and draw conclusions. Beyond that, he created an aesthetically pleasing design that draws attention and pulls you into the details. The poster was even included in J. Ford Huffman’s presentation during the conference. I’m very proud of Kofi’s work.
The latest project in my information visualization class was directly tied to the Designing for the Divide conference. The chair, Eve Faulkes, wanted a number of large-format posters that addressed the divides that would be discussed during the conference. Lindsey Estep chose to focus on the economy. She selected four pairs of competing stances, each pair composed of a liberal and conservative view. Each pair also addressed economics from a different level of granularity: global, national, community, and personal. The poster is divided into four columns dealing with those levels. After presenting the argument, the “Meanwhile…” section presents several bullet points illustrating what has been happening while our representatives argue. For example, the U.S. has dropped to 5th in global economic competitiveness while we debate how to decrease our debt. This is then followed by data visualizations presenting evidence of the claims. Finally, at the bottom of each column is a section labeled “But I’m only one person… What can I do?” where readers can learn how they can help by doing their homework, lending a hand, and sharing their voice.
Lindsey really knocked this one out of the park. The overall concept is solid. The details of the individual graphs are exquisitely crafted. The overall aesthetic is perfect for the subject matter. I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out.
