[IxDA Discuss] Disillusioned Junior Designers

[Katie Albers]

At 9:42 AM +0200 8/29/06,  Tommy Eskelinen wrote:
>[Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted material.]
>

<snip>

>- Get to know all the details of the product/company you work for, listen to
>the old people. Not many companies welcome change easily, my guess is that
>many companies are risk averse. Why risk losing 50% in sales to gain 20%% in
>sales. This is why the product development process many times is done in
>baby-steps. For me this means that I try to listen to all people in a
>company to understand how the company makes money, and find innovative
>solutions for things that would add value to the core product or for things
>that could develop into a money maker in addition to the core product. There
>will come a time for when you will get to do that major change that you look
>for.
>
>I guess it all renders down to patience and hard work, or maybe I'm just a
>manipulative son of a female dog.
>
>Thanks,
>tommy

Generally, Tommy, I agree with your points, but I think you 
understated this one....Many (if not most) companies are so risk 
averse that they will not take an action that will risk losing 20% in 
sales to gain 50% in sales. They wouldn't do it if Charlton Heston 
came down from a mountain carrying stone tablets engraved with that 
information.

"We've always done it this way" is a virtually unbeatable argument in 
many companies. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" runs a close 
second, and "It *is* broke" is not considered an adequate response.

Basically, when you start out, consider any small step you manage to 
take towards Doing Things Right to be a major achievement and don't 
beat yourself up when your efforts in that direction aren't welcomed.

 From one who's still trying to learn that lesson, after many many 
years in the field,

Katie