Scott Berkun: the word "usability" does not mean action
I started my career in the field of usability as a consultant, but then a year later, continuing to work on the project, I switched to the role of manager. Why? I just understood that usability is a word not derived from a verb, therefore not denoting any action. It turned out that I was dependent on my team in making decisions. I realized that my efficiency will increase dramatically if I take on the role of leader in the development team, and not the role of advisor.
Somewhere in 1995, usability specialists all suddenly became usability designers (the translator's note is in the original “usability engineers.” In Russian, the word “engineer” has no verb form, so the word “designer” is chosen). The idea was that the name of the profession was a word derived from a verb, as well as to express that usability can be given to the product, if you follow the correct method. It turned out successfully.
But here’s the problem: usability still doesn’t mean any action - it’s a quality, an attribute of a well-done thing. Gluing the label "designer" to the name of my profession did not add skills. Maybe it only helped me get a better job. But at its best, usability specialists are excellent advisers, but not leaders, not developers in practical terms. Doing research, writing reports, analyzing - these words mean actions, but not as powerful as designing, programming, or developing. And, closer to what I'm getting at: if these are the main tasks performed by these specialists, why are the names of these tasks not included in the name of their specialty?
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Somewhere in 1995, usability specialists all suddenly became usability designers (the translator's note is in the original “usability engineers.” In Russian, the word “engineer” has no verb form, so the word “designer” is chosen). The idea was that the name of the profession was a word derived from a verb, as well as to express that usability can be given to the product, if you follow the correct method. It turned out successfully.
But here’s the problem: usability still doesn’t mean any action - it’s a quality, an attribute of a well-done thing. Gluing the label "designer" to the name of my profession did not add skills. Maybe it only helped me get a better job. But at its best, usability specialists are excellent advisers, but not leaders, not developers in practical terms. Doing research, writing reports, analyzing - these words mean actions, but not as powerful as designing, programming, or developing. And, closer to what I'm getting at: if these are the main tasks performed by these specialists, why are the names of these tasks not included in the name of their specialty?
')
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/17142/
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