Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Bryan McClain

Bryan McClain — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:44:28 GMT

Great article Joseph.
I really like how you discussed the disconnect between researchers, designers and stakeholders and how that relates to overall user satisfaction. As a UX researcher, I notice that the breakdown between team members always seems to come back to communication and planning. Once the project begins and the workload increases, the communication seems to decay and the planning starts to fall behind. I’ve found that the more time you spend up front building a plan for success and outlining the project goals with the entire team present (researchers, designers, stakeholders, etc.) the more likely the project will proceed smoothly and end with positive marks.

Bryan McClain — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:19:40 GMT

Hey Joseph,
I think the planning process definitely needs some rethinking; it should be more efficient with the ability to provide the same quality plans in less time. Maybe some specialized planning tools or methods should be designed to restructure the planning process to achieve this goal. I think more effective communication among team members during the planning process (and beyond) is a good start. The more efficiently concepts can be communicated between team members, the less time it will take to plan and execute projects.

Thoughts?

Thanks
Bryan

Bryan McClain — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:33:53 GMT

This sounds like a very interesting article! Something that I have been thinking about for quite some time.

Bryan McClain — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:37:11 GMT

Thanks for the comment Junaid.
Yes, these are “Soft Skills” in the “Emotional Intelligence” sense and it is important to note the few options that researchers and other professionals have for developing these kinds of skills. As far as the term “hostage negotiators,” the definition is consistent with the law enforcement accepted usage.

-Bryan

Bryan McClain — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:09:32 GMT

Junaid. If my article does get published, the questions you have about what soft skills are most valuable and how to perfect them will be discussed. I think you will find the article very interesting because it comes from the perspective of the hostage/crisis negotiator and how they go about perfecting the art of communication and relationship building in their field. It was not until I started doing research for negotiators and training with their teams did I realize how applicable their communication skills are to design research. Hostage negotiators who train frequently are really good at getting people to open up and discuss topics that are uncomfortable or challenging. This is something that researchers come across all the time when conducting studies and working with participants, especially when working on products or services that are new or push the limits of innovation.

Bryan McClain — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:49:03 GMT

Hello, I submitted this idea a while back and I have not heard anything from the editors. I would really like to publish on B&A but I have no idea if the editors are planning on using my article. I am hoping that someone at B&A will see this post and contact me soon.

Thank You,
Bryan

Bryan McClain — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:27:04 GMT

Thanks Austin. I know you guys are really busy and have a lot of content to review. Hopefully the publishing team is interested in this article. I think the design and research community will learn a lot from it and it should also make for some great discussion! Talk with you soon.

Bryan

Bryan McClain — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:42:07 GMT

Thanks Chris. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Bryan

Bryan McClain — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:57:22 GMT

Thanks for the comment Tammy. You are correct, if you are paying attention and really want to improve your skills, there are techniques you can use to train yourself to be an excellent communicator. It’s amazing how proficient you can be once you start training regularly.