lessons from scott berkun

newest installment from scott berkun of uiweb.com: What they didn't teach me in Design & Usability school

credibility

People who make things happen do so through the credibility they earn over time. It can take months or years to develop the relationships needed to make great things happen, so be patient. Be smart. Be helpful. Listen to ideas from other people and show them that you appreciate their help, and consider what they say. Don’t be a wuss and let people walk over you, but be reasonable, and thoughtful. Work to get comfortable having dialogs and idea exchanges with people. Even if you end up disagreeing with them, if you build good relationships, you’ll still manage to build the respect of the people whose respect you need.

design is a contact sport

You will almost never work alone, even if you are granted guru like status in the organization. There will always be opinions to contend with, some more ignorable than others. But the wise know that all the feedback can be healthy: reality checks can be easy to find if you are open to them.

Understand what parts of the project you’re working on are in your control and which ones aren’t. Know who is in control of the those areas that you are not. Build relationships with them. This will help keep you sane.

usability is not all science

There are many ways to keep scientific integrity intact, while still offering subjective contributions to design choices. It starts by remembering that skills (and usability methods) are the means, not the ends. It’s the result that really matter to customers.

part 2 is next month!

(via sporter)