Why Great Technologies Don't Make Great Designs

This essay explains why so many technologies fail to solve people's problems, and offers a business and engineering philosophy for creating better technologies.

Berkun, Scott. UIWeb (2000). Design>Usability>Engineering

Why Smart People Defend Bad Ideas

We all know someone that's intelligent, but who occasionally defends obviously bad ideas. Why does this happen? How can smart people take up positions that defy any reasonable logic? Having spent many years working with smart people I’ve catalogued many of the ways this happens, and I have advice on what to do about it. I feel qualified to write this essay as I’m a recovering smart person myself and I’ve defended several very bad ideas.

Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2006). Articles>Management>Collaboration

Why You Must Lead or Follow

Something curious happens when we confront things we don’t like. Instead of the useful choices of taking action to improve things or accepting things as they are, we often just sit on our asses, point fingers and complain. We’ve developed the passive habits of spectators, rather than the active roles of creators and supporters.

Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2006). Articles>Collaboration>Management

Why Designers Fail: The Report

Last week I announced a study on why designers fail - exploring the reasons why designers, and people who work with designers, believe designers don’t achieve the results they desire. I presented the results as UIE 13 last week, and as promised here is a summary. Prize winners will be announced soon. Many top reasons for failure are not typically considered design issues, such as collaboration skills, persuasion skills, and receiving critical feedback.

Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2008). Articles>Document Design>Assessment