URID.org

After sleeping on it...

Well, the shock has begun to sink in, and after some thinking, some amusing distractions (i.e., The Daily Show), and singing along — loudly — to Wilco I’m feeling a good deal better about what John accurately describes as a Brave New World.

A few random thoughts:

• Many of us have often joked that URID sounded either like the name of a disease or a Balkan nation (as in URIDstan). Well, in keeping with the nation metaphor, I think it’s appropriate to think of URID’s future as a loose confederation of states that will continue to work closely together to achieve common goals.

• In many ways, URID.org becomes more important in this brave new world. Because we will be decentralized, there is an even greater need for a single place where we can exchange and archive information.

• For me, at least, the key to making peace with this new world is to continue to see myself as a usability professional who will be able to make a greater impact by working from a position that gives me greater control over the product development lifecycle. I think a big part of my reaction yesterday was in thinking that this identity as an expert was going to disappear and that we would just be assimilated into the product management machine. I now realize that this doesn’t have to happen.

A final comment. When I was talking to Gerette last night about the fact that one of the goals of these changes was to bring a more user-centered design perspective to the product/project management process, she said “It’s like Usability Eye for the Project Guys”. I laughed, but she said — quite accurately it turns out — “I guarantee you’ll be using that line at some point tomorrow.”