Educating Rita (or: How to train your SMEs)

[Geoff Hart <Geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Sarah Stegall has a <<...software developer/engineer who...
Recently started working on a new version of a software
product, and has asked me for a copy of some technical
illustrations from an old manual to use in devising the
interface for the product. This is where the light bulb over my
head went on:  she's designing a user GUI with no previous
training or experience... I would very much like to get my oar
in before the development of this interface goes too far, so
that we don't get some god-awful...>>

If she's actually gone to the trouble of asking you, this sounds
like an ideal time to sit down with her and the old illustrations
and explain (based on facts as much as possible) why the
design was adopted and which aspects of it don't work. Turn
this into a collaboration rather than an "I know more than you
do and intend to prove it" encounter and you should end up
with a very mutually rewarding relationship: she doesn't have
to reinvent the wheel, and you won't have to live with (and
document) a five-cornered wheel (admittedly, an
improvement on the old four-cornered version, but not all that
elegant a solution you must admit).

<<What's an effective way to approach a touchy, rather
defensive SME to offer help in designing a GUI?>>

Are you sure we're talking about the same person? The fact
that she came to you for the illustrations in the first place,
instead of blindly forging ahead with her own brilliant [sic]
design, suggests that she either recognizes the usefulness of
consistency with the past, or is willing to learn from people
who know more than she does (such as you and the designers
of the previous interface). That being the case--and as I
always recommend--start by building a relationship that
emphasizes how you're both in this together and can help
each other. People will accept an awful lot more criticism
(constructive or otherwise) from people they respect and like
to work with. If you can bolster this opinion of you by
supporting your interface recommendations with facts or at
least persuasive logic, you should be on your way to a great
collaboration.


--Geoff Hart @8^{)}     Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

"Patience comes to those who wait."--Anon.

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