Tag Archives: user experience

Debunking the Myth on Agile T Shaped UX Designers

Dec
21
2011

UI Design and Sketching

I have been interested in agile process for a while, especial it’s use with UX techniques.

The other day I ran into a myth that there aren’t many User Experience Design people with skills that can work on agile teams.

It seems UX people aren’t very flexible.

This I find almost laughable, in fact most UX professionals I have found are extremely flexible, often changing tack or techniques as required, at a moments notice.  Maybe we are too flexible.

The core of any agile process really is to have a role less team that can specialists with generalised skills.

The Rise of the UX Developer

Oct
16
2011

Various Red coloured fancy dress hats from UX Australia 2011 Day 1

As with any young industry we tend to endlessly debate the labels we should be placing on the User Experience based roles that we are conducting.

Along with this debate on the labels, we seem to be now in a blame game on who really is responsible as an industry (which I had no idea we where) for the on going career development of  junior,  mid level and senior UX people. Maybe better to just fix it folks.

As these elements of navel gazing have been going on quietly in the background the game has been changing.   Maybe For the better.

Shouting about Success and Failure

Apr
10
2011

Newtown Photo Shoot - Sept 2007 graph streetart

When was the last time you read about how to apply a certain UX technique in detail. Or read about the failure of a method in particular situation, and the subsequent analysis as to why.

Yes within the web industry we have the zealots, true believers or the like. These are the people who back and promote causes towards best practice, inclusive design, standards adoption to responsive design.

Sure they will talk about their successes and sometimes document them .

Still it’s rare they talk about their failures.

Usability is Dead, it’s the Experience or Nothing

Mar
14
2011

Enter the Machine - Whiteman Park 2010

What happens when the usability of a system is bad, can the overall (user) experience of the system save the day?

How important really is usability to the big picture.

During a recent project I had the opportunity to observe (in an ethnographic capacity) people using a system that had an unending list of shortcomings.

In fact I still haven’t really found anything the system did well. Yes it was a UX horror story.

The people using the system where amazing, they had taken this poorly designed and contrived system and turned it into a workable, functioning, and productive series of procedures and sometimes supplementary systems.