(January 2010) Is user experience becoming a commodity?
Posted: January 5th, 2010 | Author: Robert Barlow-Busch | Filed under: Events | Tags: aesthetics, commodity, RIM, usability, ux | No Comments »Monday January 18, 2010
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]
In November, Kem-Laurin Kramer of Research in Motion (RIM) wrote a provocative article for JohnnyHolland magazine that opened with these words:
After 10 years in the field, I woke up one day to realise that my service as a UX practitioner had become a commodity. Usability had become the “in thing” and everyone could do it and show that their products were better than the competition. Usability as a buzzword, populated Product Lifecycle processes in many organizations. So it comes as no suprise when the general attitude of stakeholders these days is one of a shopper saying: “One McUser Experience with usability fries please.”
On January 18, Kem will lead us into a deep dive on this question of whether our practice has become commoditized. Are we producing goods or services that lack differentiation? Is it a problem that user experience is concerned with aesthetics? Can anyone do our job?
Hope you can join us for what’s sure to be a lively, perhaps even heated, UX Group get-together!
RSVPs requested
If you’re hoping to attend, please help us anticipate numbers by RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks!