ideas worth stealingKeep moving forward
During a web presentation I gave today to a User-Centered Design course at the Art Institute of Atlanta (incidentally, about the problems with user research), I was asked if I had any sage advice for students about to graduate and go out into the crazy software world.
I’ve been asked this question before and never had issues answering it, but somehow, today, I had the right answer.
I told them they should never settle on one process, one way of doing things, one mindset, and stick with it the rest of their lives. Everything they know about technology and the software business right now will be completely different in 10 years. No solution they come up with now will make as much sense in 10 years.
My sage advice, in other words, is to keep moving forward. Keep finding new ways to improve. Improve designs, code, design and development processes, communication with colleagues, and anything else that matters in work or in life. (You mean they’re not the same thing?)
Whether this makes me a sage, I have no idea. But I know it was the answer that took me a long time to find, and it’s the only one I can think of that probably will still make sense in 10 years.
Posted by Robert on February 26th, 2007
4 comments
Dude, you totally nailed it! I smell your next book: Stating the Obvious: “Sage” Advice That Took Me Ten Years Longer to Realize Than Anyone Else.
Look into Heraclitus sometime.
with the exception of principles, stay true to them
You should present topics like User Research at the Adobe Experience Design User Group of Atlanta (http://www.xdatlanta.org), too. Contact me if you are interested. leif dot wells at augatlanta dot org
I think you are right on about this, Robert!
I have found it extremely rewarding to remain open to new ways to approach my workflow. Everything I read and learn about, I see how it could apply to my team and processes, and sometimes it’s surprising how one can think that the way to do things (”because I’ve been doing them this way forever”) is like a one way street…
I will go even further, by saying cross-breeding between disciplines makes things evern more exciting because you can include elements from areas that have little to do with your day-to-day, resulting in very cool ways to approach things. Much like your infusion of Japanese-bred manufacturing concepts (Kaizens, Poka-Yoke, etc.) you talk about in your book.