It happened. A customer complaint about the experience of the product got filtered up to the top. An executive tried the product and ran into usability problems. An article got published online to a wide audience that described your product as unusable. Your company is now in a “usability emergency.” All eyes are on you. Now what?
Reframe
It’s so easy to be in this situation and feel the inevitable “I told you so” defense mechanism. As user experience experts, we often are right in the midst of all of the compromises that happen in the product development cycle. We fight to get a usable product out the door, but there are so many factors that influence the end product. …
Open source goes beyond software. It can also serve as a business’s operating model, where work is grounded in the principles of transparency, collaboration, releasing early and often, meritocracy, and community.
For some designers, designing in the open sounds scary — that’s understandable. Imagine transitioning from having a password-protected portfolio to having your work accessed by anyone through a quick Google search.
But designing with an open source mindset increases a designer’s visibility, influence, and impact. PatternFly is a great example of open design’s benefits. With design and development information out in the open, knowledge is democratized. Solutions are shared. …
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