To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
--Ecclesiastes, PS
On Groundhog Day, I awoke, crawled out of my hole, didn't see my shadow, went to work, and lost my job. I felt an awful lot like Saddam Hussein. I'm not sure if this broke the record for my shortest term of service, but I am not sufficiently motivated to do the math. I do know that I had just checked out some books on tape from the library so that I could enjoy story time on my way to work. Now, I guess, Michener will have to wait. I trust he'll understand.
In my continued introspection to determine why I lose my job more often than many people, I have uncovered a few new reasons. First, in almost every one of my jobs, including my last, I was the first (and only) one in my position. Also, in almost every case, I was designing a new product. Clearly, novelty is riskier than proven stability. Since I was the first one in the door, the company had not demonstrated a history of valuing usability. When financial situations decay, and companies circle the wagons, some companies change their minds regarding how much they value usability, get cold feet, and feel they can do without it. This tends to be the beginning of the end as the rest of the company (or the group within larger companies) has ultimately folded--in my past at least. People have suggested that I get into a different field as, because of my history, they feel that it is too risky for me. What I recently realized, though, is that there are a number of well-established companies, with well-established usability groups, that are doing well, while there were thousands of companies with unusable products that are now bankrupt. There is therefore a high correlation between a company's success and the amount that they value usability; joining new companies--or groups--lacking a tradition of efforts in usability is risky as it involves joining an unknown. So the usability field itself is not necessarily risky; it is risky in new organizations.
Another thing that I've observed is that I've left every former employer with six month's to one year's worth of designs to implement. People have suggested that companies might feel that they could save some money and coast on my fumes for a while by letting me go. They have further suggested that I work slower to avoid this threat. First, I think this may be a false economy as issues needing my attention often arise in the eleventh hour, and so without me, the features ultimately are not as usable as they would have been with my continued attention. Second, I have a hard time doing anything less than my high quality work, and in an efficient manner, so I have difficulty implementing the suggestion to work more slowly. Finally, usability is often subtle, elusive, and invisible. I might spend a few weeks deriving user requirements, rapid prototyping, usability testing, and performing other activities to produce only a handful of buttons on a handful of pages. During the same amount of time, a developer might write a few hundred lines of code. To some, I believe, it is not clear what people in my profession are doing with their time, and what the value of that work yields. So we are perceived as a luxury in tough economic times. (In the past few months, I've seen several experts discuss the Return on Investment for people such as myself, and I hope that their efforts receive the attention that they deserve.)
This situation reminds me of the--possibly apocryphal--story of the brilliant contract engineer who was summoned to fix an intractable problem in a production facility. After sufficient study, the engineer placed a chalk mark on the problematic pipe in the facility and submitted a bill for $1000. The facility's management, wondering why they should pay $1000 for a chalk mark requested an itemized bill. The engineer replied with, "$1 for chalk, $999 for knowing where to draw it," and was summarily paid. I identify with that engineer's situation. Usability professionals need to make it clear that, when we do our jobs well, we keep the visible "chalk" to a minimum; the vast majority of our efforts are not readily visible.
I find this situation to be a powerful metaphor, as in other aspects of our lives (and icebergs), there is much below the surface that is not readily seen. Some of us endeavor to be deep sea divers to have the privilege to see what is unseen to others. Others remain safely, and ignorantly, on the surface.
Related to this thesis, here is one last conjecture. Perhaps the facts that I so enjoy visiting family in the East, travel in general, and a large group of friendships that I work hard to maintain contributes to my super-annual job loss, as I lack sufficient time to enjoy these pursuits while I am employed.
The wheel is turning
and you can't slow down
You can't let go
and you can't hold on
You can't go back
and you can't stand still
If the thunder don't get you
then the lightning will
--RH, 1972
Now for the 99 44/100% glass full positive spin. Since I am typically among the first to leave a failing group, I get a head start over the others in pursuit of a subsequent gig. This forces me to cut my losses sooner than I would otherwise, a technique I would be wise to extend to my stock market hobby. This also prevents me from purchasing more company stock that may never be worth more than what I paid for it. Additionally, as a user experience architect, my job cannot be outsourced overseas as readily as others since it is essential that I be close to my products' users. As long as the United States remains the home of the largest user base for the products that I design, I should be relatively immune from the tremendous outsourcing trend that is affecting many others. Also, with all of my real-world experience, I am the star of my salary negotiation and interviewing workshops. Lastly, when I see how hard some friends and family are working, I console myself with the thought that (frequent) early retirement is not such a bad thing. As always, I am thankful for playing.
© Adam Brody. All rights reserved.
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