In a recent interview between Time magazine execs Richard Stengel, David Von Drehle, and John Huey, then President-elect Obama was asked what success measures would voters be looking at in 2 years time, Obama said a number of things, including this quote:

I feel that this is a President and an Administration that admits when it makes mistakes and adapts itself to new information, that believes in making decisions based on facts and on science as opposed to what is politically expedient.

I love this quote as it is, but I also love this quote because it applies to our work as UX consultants doing client work.

I am sometimes asked why, as UX consultants, we get to take part in our clients' web strategy, and not just play the part of the Visio crunchers. This question is somewhat difficult for me, because there is so much that goes into "getting there", including: client relationship building, being the trusted advisor, etc. (and being able to fulfill the role of the Visio crunchers in a pinch).

However, upon further reflection, I am convinced that Obama's thinking stands as the primary reason we get to "play" strategists. The reason for a solid strategy and successful design is that we can support our design decisions by doing relevant and cost-effective research. Our Discovery process is not laborious. We can get to the right questions quickly and answer them with supporting research that is used thoroughly in Design. Simply put, we do Evidence-Based Design.

The Evidence-Based Design decisions are not easily shaken when political or project expediency become a pressure point -- which almost always happen on projects. For clients that are centered and reasonable, they would base their final decision on those scientific facts. For those who in the face of facts and science, still opt for political or project expediency, well, that is duly noted.

Posted in Opinions on January 21, 2009

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