collaboration, perspective and (unsexy) role play
Once upon a time, I worked with a management type who insisted upon inserting himself into the UX/creative process. It was his ‘favorite bit.’ I tried to tell him that there was a cordon sanitaire necessary between the account and UX/creative functions of an interactive agency, but it was like I was speaking in a foreign language.
I pointed out that if he was introducing taglines and layouts into the discussion then he was changing his relationship to the work produced by the creative team. He was sacrificing his objectivity. He was losing the strategic perspective that no one else in the room had any hope of achieving. As a team, we needed a view from outside and above the scrum, and he (privy to all of the meetings and strategy and thinking that had led up to this effort) was in a perfect position to provide just that.
I didn’t point out that he didn’t have a damn bit of accountability when it came to the quality of the work. Maybe I should have. When I finished he looked at me blankly.
And we went on exactly as we had done before.
3 years ago