New Job in Contextual Design

I’ve started a new job as an interaction designer and I thought I’d start this up to keep track of what I’ve been working on and the problems (& solutions) that come up. Technically I’m a consultant, but I work for a consulting company as a full time employee. That sentence starts a mental enigma that I am not into justifying today.

So I have finally left the training part of my job and am ready to do some serious design work. I have pen in hand and visions of the next break through in usability dancing before me. What is the first thing I learn? Working with other people is the hardest part of design, period.

Design is not about sitting in a room and coming up with ideas by yourself. You have to go out, talk to people, brainstorm, work and review with lots of different people. Not every single one of them is pleasant either. I was warned, but now I’m being schooled. Design has to work when everyone in the room is happy with it. I might as well herd cats.

Now I could write for hours about some of the characters I encounter, but this is not a gossip column. I’m working on the unique problem of building a better mousetrap. Maybe somewhere in this never-ending virtual world I can find the answers I’m looking for.