Looking forward to many more years of outstanding UX thinking.

One issue I deal with all the time is resentment that you are “taking away” a function that developers want for themselves. (even though you wouldn’t have been called in if their work was usable).

Even if a product has very extreme usability problems, if the development team is not receptive to outside input, your ideas will have limited effect. Thanks for broaching this subject – it is very central to being successful in our jobs -

Kay

Enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm, just as confidence breeds confidence.

This article got me thinking about when it’s appropriate for a designer to say “no” to his boss, teammates, etc. (in the context of a project).

So when should a designer just say “no?” Maybe we should take a cue from parenting and reserve the word for dangerous situations only. That is, only say “no” if you’re certain that you, your team or the company you’re working for will certainly be put in harm’s way by following the directions you’ve been given. In the case of a child, that’s when she’s reaching toward the open light socket. In a corporate environment, that’s a bit trickier to distinguish. I’d love to hear what B&A readers think those situations are.

For now, I’d like to offer some alternatives to saying “no.” Parenting experts will tell you to give kids options instead. For example, a child who doesn’t want to eat his raviolis can be given the choice of raviolis or spaghetti. It works. If your manager asks you to design 50 wireframes in 2 days, think about your options before using the “n” word. Think to yourself, what will happen if I do 50 wf’s in 2 days? How many open issues are there? What will I leave out? How will that impact the other members of the team? Last time we did this, what was the result? What’s so critical about 2 days? In my experience, unrealistic expectations like these come from managers who are inexperienced with the development process and are being pressured themselves with some pretty outrageous expectations. Figure out why your manager needs to have something done in 2 days, then give him options that will accomplish his goals and appeal to his good instincts (he *is* a manager, so he should have some).

Examples may be…
Option A: I’ll work myself to death in 2 days only to deliver some half-baked wireframes that will be useless to the development team because they will not include many of the elements and behaviors that are not yet defined – we’ll also lose credibility in the process.

Option B: We spend 1 day resolving the open issues with the team, then 1 day designing a wireframe for the most critical page(s)

Option C: etc.

One last comment, good managers listen to the reasoning of the designers on their team. They attempt to understand that reasoning, challenge it, then bring the team to a mutually desirable conclusion. They cover the open light sockets and set their team up for success. I’ve seen it. It’s cool.

Thanks for the provocative article!

FYI: here are a couple articles about saying “no” to kids:
http://www.babyconnection.com/toddler/toddevelopment/12285/
http://www.theparentreport.com/resources/ages/teen/limit_setting/221.html

It is a delight to read the articles and participate in this vibrant community.