Comments on: Following up http://www.cennydd.co.uk/2009/following-up/ Design, technology, doing things differently. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:34:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Tom Hume http://www.cennydd.co.uk/2009/following-up/comment-page-1/#comment-2773 Tom Hume Thu, 21 May 2009 10:52:12 +0000 http://www.cennydd.co.uk/?p=966#comment-2773 The IXDA have recently published some info on mentoring schemes here: http://www.ixda.org/download/ixda_mentorship_01.pdf The IXDA have recently published some info on mentoring schemes here:

http://www.ixda.org/download/ixda_mentorship_01.pdf

]]> By: Cennydd Bowles http://www.cennydd.co.uk/2009/following-up/comment-page-1/#comment-2726 Cennydd Bowles Tue, 12 May 2009 21:25:07 +0000 http://www.cennydd.co.uk/?p=966#comment-2726 Hi Tom, In an ideal world I'm of the belief that a company shouldn't need to institute a mentoring programme, since it's something a line manager should do by default. However, as rightly you point out, many people aren't lucky as to have a line manager of equal or greater specialised skill, so most will have to look farther afield. The only UX mentoring programme I'm aware of is through the IA Institute, which obviously requires potential proteges to be members. It's a good scheme and the IAI offers good support to mentors, but it might not suit everyone. I don't know if, for instance, the IxDA has plans to introduce a similar programme, but it the best scheme may prove to be one without political affiliation. I'd love to see one set up, which of course gets me thinking about what might be involved… I think a few people have misread my attitude toward academia. I have a science background myself and have learned a great deal from universities and research (it was de Groot's studies on cognitive psychology in chess that got me interested in the field), but I do think it's failing to meet our employment needs and should be doing more to contribute directly enough to practice (although that is of course a two-way street). In answer to your question, I don't know where else to start but talking to people. So that's what I hope to do, and what caused me to state my case in the hope that others will join the dialogue. Hopefully we'll stumble across a productive solution in the process. Hi Tom,

In an ideal world I’m of the belief that a company shouldn’t need to institute a mentoring programme, since it’s something a line manager should do by default. However, as rightly you point out, many people aren’t lucky as to have a line manager of equal or greater specialised skill, so most will have to look farther afield.

The only UX mentoring programme I’m aware of is through the IA Institute, which obviously requires potential proteges to be members. It’s a good scheme and the IAI offers good support to mentors, but it might not suit everyone. I don’t know if, for instance, the IxDA has plans to introduce a similar programme, but it the best scheme may prove to be one without political affiliation. I’d love to see one set up, which of course gets me thinking about what might be involved…

I think a few people have misread my attitude toward academia. I have a science background myself and have learned a great deal from universities and research (it was de Groot’s studies on cognitive psychology in chess that got me interested in the field), but I do think it’s failing to meet our employment needs and should be doing more to contribute directly enough to practice (although that is of course a two-way street).

In answer to your question, I don’t know where else to start but talking to people. So that’s what I hope to do, and what caused me to state my case in the hope that others will join the dialogue. Hopefully we’ll stumble across a productive solution in the process.

]]> By: Tom Hume http://www.cennydd.co.uk/2009/following-up/comment-page-1/#comment-2696 Tom Hume Sat, 09 May 2009 14:00:31 +0000 http://www.cennydd.co.uk/?p=966#comment-2696 Mentoring is something I'm interested in pursuing at FP; we're trying to do this right now for folks in some areas of our business (QA)... but it feels like something that'd be really useful for specialists from any discipline who might otherwise be "outnumbered" in an organisation. Are you aware of any schemes or communities to support this sort of thing in UX? And +1 to closer ties between academia and industry. I've had a long-standing suspicion of academia gently beaten out of me over the last few years, and a good thing too - there's lots of good stuff out there. Sussex in particular has some good HCI folks, is encouraging stronger links with the local community through the likes of the Innovation Centre and events like Enterprising Engineers, and has some interesting stuff going on with games and usability: http://ianozsvald.com/2009/04/14/informatics-update-graham-mcallister-and-video-game-usability-invited-post/ So, any other suggestions for how we get these links built? Mentoring is something I’m interested in pursuing at FP; we’re trying to do this right now for folks in some areas of our business (QA)… but it feels like something that’d be really useful for specialists from any discipline who might otherwise be “outnumbered” in an organisation. Are you aware of any schemes or communities to support this sort of thing in UX?

And +1 to closer ties between academia and industry. I’ve had a long-standing suspicion of academia gently beaten out of me over the last few years, and a good thing too – there’s lots of good stuff out there. Sussex in particular has some good HCI folks, is encouraging stronger links with the local community through the likes of the Innovation Centre and events like Enterprising Engineers, and has some interesting stuff going on with games and usability:

http://ianozsvald.com/2009/04/14/informatics-update-graham-mcallister-and-video-game-usability-invited-post/

So, any other suggestions for how we get these links built?

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