[IxDA Discuss] Am I a Unicorn?

[Robert Hoekman, Jr.]

Start slow and spend some of your time writing mini-specs (read "Joel On
Software") to plan what code you're about to write. You still "look busy",
you get some design work done, you write better code, and eventually become
the most productive member of the team because you can always work on new
stuff instead of fixing the old bugs.

-r-


On 11/6/06, Daniel Weese <dweese at caelumtechnology.com> wrote:
>
> [Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted
> material.]
>
> While interviewing over the last 2 months, I came to realize that
> "Developer" and "Designer" have nothing in common but the letter D. I
> interviewed at several places in Nashville, and each time I took along some
> examples of my design work, as well as an interaction design document I had
> done on a project. Everyone loved the work and the detail, but they all said
> the same thing. They basically code by the seat of their pants and fix it as
> they go along, or fix it after the users complain when it hits the
> market.  I tried to explain to them that some design work up front might cut
> down on rewriting all that code, and that alienating your user base from day
> one was a poor approach, but they prefer to give the appearance of progress
> to the bosses by them all typing away at their desks. I finally had to take
> a job at a company that likes my design thinking, but still operates a
> code-as-you-go shop. I came to realize that a developer/designer is a
> difficult thing to sell in this ar
> ea. I'm
> hoping to slowly blend design into the next iteration of this product.
> We'll see how it goes.
>
> For future interviews, how do you balance and sell the need for design
> with the need for the executives to feel like they're getting their money's
> worth from the developers? I feel somewhat like a hybrid in the software
> world. I don't have the IxD experience that you all do, but I'm not just a
> coder typing away without a care for what the user sees.
>
> A frustrated developer,
>
> Dan Weese
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org
> List Guidelines ............ http://listguide.ixda.org/
> List Help .................. http://listhelp.ixda.org/
> (Un)Subscription Options ... http://subscription-options.ixda.org/
> Announcements List ......... http://subscribe-announce.ixda.org/
> Questions .................. lists at ixda.org
> Home ....................... http://ixda.org/
> Resource Library ........... http://resources.ixda.org
>