[IxDA Discuss] design by committee??

[leo.frishberg at exgate.tek.com]

Excellent advice and certainly why I qualified it in my original
posting.
 
However, you raise an interesting observation: "design is often a pretty
fun thing for a developer..."  I think this is one of the hinge pieces
of this discussion.  "Design is fun..." where their "real" job isn't?  I
would propose that we all can have "fun" taking a stab at someone else's
profession, whether it be marketing, coding, hardware design, mechanical
engineering...you name it...and perhaps we should every once in awhile.
But whether we enjoy doing these other activities as "hobbies" isn't the
point.
 
We're about making world-class experiences and in these contexts there
is little room for amateur participation.  Get the best team together,
aligned to do their jobs with passion, and let them enjoy the activity
of creating great products.
 
I make my analogy because I am as well suited to doing chip design as
many hardware designers are suited to thinking about behavioral aspects
of being a human.  This isn't any more a slight to these professionals
than it is to my lack of technical expertise in their arena.  That
historically our teams have considered the "messiness" of being human a
roadblock to creating good products (rather than the inspiration)
shouldn't be a defense for continuing to promote this belief.
 
Still, I appreciate your concern that sarcasm can be easily
misunderstood and should be applied sparingly.
 
Leo

	-----Original Message-----
	From: Robert Hoekman, Jr. [mailto:rhoekmanjr at gmail.com] 
	Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 1:05 PM
	To: Frishberg, Leo
	Cc: discuss at ixda.org
	Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] design by committee??
	
	


		So, let me start by using my favorite counter-argument
to the notion
		that the embedded software and hardware team should have
an opportunity 
		to opine on the UXD:  "Would you like my input on the
chip layout?
		Would you like my opinion about your object classes?"
This usually
		causes them to pause, laugh nervously and we move on.


	You need to be careful about how you present arguments like
this, however. Design is often a pretty fun thing for a developer, and
your taking it away is not something they're going to like in a lot of
cases. Be diplomatic and graceful about how you do this. 
	
	-r-