Becoming a Usability Professional
In Jakob’s latest column, he describes what he thinks makes a good usability specialist. I agree with his points about experience and ability at detecting patterns, but I don’t buy his claim that the ability to arrive at a “conceptual insight that can drive the design” is one of the most important skills to have - it seems that the usability specialist is acting as a designer at that point, rather than an evaluator.
It’s a subtle point, but clearly differentiating your observations and patterns surmised from any of your design recommendations is one of the most valuable ways to gain credibility with team members. It’s fine to serve in the roles of a usability specialist and an interaction designer/information architect, but it’s worth making a definite distinction between the two roles that are being played (even if many of the skills are the same).
Experience counts for so much. If you have the means, work with older, more experienced (but not dogmatic) usability professionals. The mix of doing a lot of testing alongside someone who’s a seasoned vet is worth…so…much.
He also plugs NNG’s 230 Tips and Tricks for Better Usability Testing. It’s good, not life-changing, but definitely worth buying if it’s on the company, and much more concise than most of worthwhile usability books on the shelves. If you’re allergic to Jakob (I’m not, but some I know are a bit sensitive to his sensibilities), note that it’s written by Rolf Molich, who has done some great work of his own.