Brett volleys with an expansion of my backslider idea for enhancing the browser back button.
Browsing recently seen pages is very frequent behavior, so this is important functionality to improve.
Month: June 2004
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Balanced design
In the past I’ve said that design is a conversation, a dialog that should be enjoyable for all parties. Last night at the NYC IA Salon we discussed a similar idea, where the designer creates something that either benefits the client, the customer, or both.
For example, Bella mentioned how some desks at the U.S. Library of Congress are slanted, with glass over the wood and no ledge at the bottom. This keeps anything harmful from being placed or spilled on the wood. It also keeps books from staying on the desks. James calls this slanty, design that purposefully reduces functionality. An even-handed solution would have protected the wood and provided an enjoyable surface to work on.
Statements of design goals like usable, useful, and desirable only describe the user’s experience. Return on investment only describes the business benefits. Design is a conversation that should benefit all parties. If a slanty design only benefits one party, then a balanced design benefits all parties.
Of course, people will have different understandings of what is balanced. But having a term makes it easier to discuss where the balance lies. ‘Well Bob, this design isn’t as slanty as before, but it’s still unbalanced. How about a revised handle that fits the hand better but is still inexpensive to assemble because it’s all one piece?‘
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Flash for planning design
Someone – not sure who – makes a compelling argument for using Flash for planning designs rather than Visio. It might also help collapse some of the distance between direct and indirect design; the planning tool is also the prototyping tool. This is a good thing for at least two reasons:
- Interactive media are dynamic; it’s difficult to use paper to plan designs
- Indirect design in some firms has gone too far. Work that should be prototyped and iterated is analyzed instead, which can be less effective in finding what works and mitigating risks
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Building your assets
More notes from Managing the Professional Service Firm…
Ways to build your assets as a consultant:
Learn by reflecting on recent work
- alone (e.g. journal)
- with your team
- with your client
- with your peers
- with your mentor
Apprentiships are the most effective way of developing knowledge and skill. Depending on the company culture, balance apprentiships with a Darwinian system where initiative is rewarded.
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Your assets: six lessons
More notes from Managing the Professional Service Firm…
Your assets as a consultant basically boil down to your knowledge, technical skill, counseling skill, and the depth of your client relationships.
Six lessons about your assets as a consultant:
- Your existing knowledge and skills will depreciate in value
- The health of your career has less to do with the volume of business you do than with the type of work you do and the type of clients you do it for
- When you take control of your own business development, you take control of your own career development
- The same is true of asset development
- Balance using your existing skills with developing new skills
- Marketing to existing clients is the best way to build your assets
Build experience through industry depth first, then breadth of clients
Skill in counseling consists of activities such as facilitating groups, building consensus, resolving political conflicts, etc.
You not only want to solve problems, you want to educate the client.