Re: A failure to communicate...

On Thu, 3 Apr 2003 10:59:40 +0100, Anthony Colfelt wrote:

>The difficulties I've experienced is in convincing hardcore tech folk, who often become frustrated with the time it takes before they can get their hands dirty. We're currently trying to work out better ways of dovetailing the tech development into a design phase. I would love to hear from people who've had success in enthusing a tech team about UCD and have hints on how to keep them engaged and contributing all the way through a process rather than just during build.

I find that often the tech guys are enthusiastic about UCD, but have
their own ideas about users want. They tend to come at it, not
surprisingly, from the perspective of someone who is familiar with the
domain and is comfortable with the technology.

Having written standards that are derived from direct customer testing,
or at least sound research helps to manage the situation. If you want
hearts and minds, invite them to observe user testing, include them in
presentations of the results, help them to understand the process you go
through to reach decisions. Include an appropriate tech rep in the
decision-making process (as we do) - the rep can then be an evangelist
for you, and a point where ideas from the techs can be fed in.

*    Nick Gassman - eCommerce Manager - [email protected]     *
              * http://ba.com *

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