Re: [Usability] User Experience Advocates

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Fri, 2010-05-21 at 13:48 -0500, Kevin Godby wrote:
> 'allo.
> 
> On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 1:41 PM, Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org> wrote:
> > I hope this doesn't come across as snide, but the only way
> > this is going to work in open source is for the interaction
> > designers to have the ideas and lead the way.
> >
> > If a developer has an itch to scratch, he's not going to sit
> > around waiting for somebody else's design ideas. He's going
> > to JFDI. If interaction designers want to be involved before
> > coding begins, they need to JFDI. It's how open source works.
> 
> How do you propose designers JFDI?  it seems to me that we could have
> a way to match up designers willing to help with developers starting
> new projects.  It would involve developers seeking out the help of
> designers, though.

1. Recognize a need, just like a developer would. Don't wait
for somebody else to recognize a need and come to you.

2. Make mockups and flowcharts and whatever else you would
do to sketch out the user interaction.

3. Make some noise and convince developers this is worth
implementing.

I'm not saying this approach is better or worse than the kind
of top-down "developers do what they're told" approach you can
get in a corporate environment. I'm saying this is the only
approach that could possibly work in our community.

--
Shaun