[IxDA Discuss] Do Engineers Understand UX documents? (was "Alan Cooper on Software...")

[Joseph Selbie]

Christopher,

My previous answer to your question was that getting the engineers to
participate in the design process was essential to them "getting" the
essence of the project -- a holistic understanding without which they may
easily stray during the development phase. To answer your question more
pointedly, I'd say that engineers will "get" many types of documentation
(perhaps all types) as long as they have participated in the process that
led to the documentation. But if they don't participate, no particular
documentation type will insure that they "get" it.

Joseph Selbie
Founder, CEO Tristream
Web Application Design
http://www.tristream.com


Lots of good answers here... but so far not one person has said that,  
in their experience, engineers don't understand UXD documentation.  
David's distinction between "value" and "understand" is good: do  
engineers understand our documents but still dislike them?

This is what I really wanted to know, because, again, in my  
experience the opposite -- that they totally "get" and greatly  
appreciate our documentation -- is decidedly true.

-Cf

Christopher Fahey