Express IT People: Article on Usability

Sankar has written an article on usability in express IT People magazine. Kribs, King, Pradeep and I have been quoted. Here's my take on Sankar's piece. (the bold text is from the article) "Like technical writing, usability as a discipline was in the limelight in the giddy days of the software boom." Usability has been around since late 60s. "Usability was touted as something that could make or break e-commerce. That was then." Please! This is so NOT true. Usability has never been a hot topic. Check your own Express computers; in the past 3 years how many pieces has it carried on usability? But usability could make or break your product, whether it is e-commerce, m-commerce, b2c, b2b...phew! Sankar that statement was so 'journo'. �Before or after the dotcom crash, it never made any difference because almost no IT product company paid any attention to usability. Job demand is like ever before: stagnant.� Well, by this I mean, how many job offers do you come across (india-centric) in comparision to popular jobs like programming etc? "Henry says, �I would not call graphic designers, technical writers, or Web designers as usability professionals..." Agreed. But that doesn't mean graphic designers or tech writers CAN NEVER BECOME usability professionals. By Henry's logic all the programmers in CTS should be Computer Science Engineers. And you know better than that. Henry says �I�d look for strong user-focus (read: listening, interviewing/surveying skills) and a solid knowledge of user interfaces, standards. Most important quality though is the ability to relate seemingly unrelated things. You have to be creative to be a usability pro.� That's so me! (Update: In fact, it was me. Sankar for some reason thought it was Henry.) "The main question that usability professionals should be thinking about, but are probably not, is how to move up. One of the best upward routes is into product management." What was that Sankar? It was written in true journalistic tradition. A dose of controversy/crisis, some voices, and the journo's own interpretation of certain facts. That's not saying it all mind you. I wonder why the online edition doesn't link to various sites quoted in it? (I mean clickable links.) Next. I am gonna write a piece on Indian journos and technology: An intriguing tale.

Add to:del.icio.us| Digg| Reddit| StumbleUpon| Technorati