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Editorial

Editorial editorial acm interactions is a bimonthly publication of the ACM, The Association for Computing T here ™s an old adage in business: œThe customer is always right.  The notion of a customer-centric approach to product design is starting to take root in the CHI community, but it has meant a shift in strategy among designers, developers, managers, and others within companies and other organizations. This issue features a special section on Contextual Design, a process that, in a nutshell, is the approach to designing products directly from an understanding of how the customer works. The section is guest-edited by Karen Holtzblatt, one of the pioneers in Contextual Design and a member of the interactions Editorial Board. As Holtzblatt explains in her introduction (p. 30): œCustomer-centered design involves organizational change. Organizational change is not easily embraced, but it is necessary in order to make good products that support the customer.  Leading off the section is an article by Holtzblatt and Hugh Beyer (p. 32) that defines the parameters of Contextual Design and details how designers must adapt their way of working to accommodate this new strategy as well as satisfy their clients ™ needs. The rest of the section consists of a trio of articles from practitioners trained by Holtzblatt and Beyer: Teresa Cleary (p. 44) describes how the use of contextual data streamlined network device management at Cabletron Systems; Chris Rockwell (p. 50) tells how marketing techniques such as customer œvalue propositions  helped speed the adoption of a software product for Hewlett-Packard workstations; and John Ims (p. 58) relates DST Systems ™ collaborative approach ” including a mentoring process and brainstorming sessions ” to updating a key piece of call-center technology. The Design column in this issue (p. 21) deals with a very different context: the way œcultural probes  can foster interaction between groups in a research project. Bill Gaver, Tony Dunne and Elena Pacenti detail how packages containing maps, postcards, a disposable camera and other materials allowed their target audience ” a diverse group of senior citizens ” to think outside the box and provide valuable feedback for their design effort. œDesign Methodology and Design Practice  by Jonas Löwgren and Erik Stolterman (p. 13) takes the Methods & Tools space. The authors explain how software design can be aided by more traditional methods such as function analysis, why-chains, and innovation by boundary shifting. ” Jay Blickstein, Executive Editor PUBLICATIONS OFFICE: ACM, 1515 Broadway, New York, New York 10036, USA +1-212-869-7440 FAX: +1-212-869-0481 Editor-in-Chief: Steven Pemberton Executive Editor: Jay Blickstein Managing Editor: Jennifer Bruer Art Director: Susan Fung Production Manager: Jane Fallon Advertising Director: Walter Andrzejewski Column Editors: Business - Susan Dray (dray@acm.org) Design - Kate Ehrlich (Kate_Ehrlich@crd.lotus.com) Methods & Tools - Michael Muller (mullerm@acm.org) Finn Kensing (kensing@dat.ruc.dk) Founding Editors: John Rheinfrank & Bill Hefley interactions (ISSN 1072-5220) is published six times a year in January, March, May, July, September, and November, by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc., 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY 10001 and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to interactions, ACM, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. http://www.acm.org/interactions Editorial Information: To contact interactions, e-mail our editors at interactions@acm.org or: feedback@interactions.acm.org letters@interactions.acm.org ideas@interactions.acm.org submissions@interactions.acm.org Submission information: All manuscripts should be submitted to interactions, ACM, 1515 Broadway, New York, New York 10036 or submissions@interactions.acm.org. Advertising Sales Representatives: Southeast/Foreign: Walter Andrzejewski (andrzejewski@acm.org) +1-212-626-0685, FAX: +1-212-869-0481 New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Eastern Canada The Summit Group (hersh@ibm.net) +1-908-876-1249, FAX: +1-908-876-9332 Midwest (includes Texas), Central Canada Bart Engels (engels1@aol.com) +1-847-854-6050, FAX: +1-847-854-8183 West Coast Marshall Rubin (mrubin@westworld.com) +1-818-995-8828, FAX: +1-818-995-6366 interactions...january + february 1999 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png interactions Association for Computing Machinery

Editorial

Pemberton, Steven; Blickstein, Jay
interactions , Volume 6 (1) – Jan 1, 1999
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Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 by ACM Inc.
ISSN
1072-5520
DOI
10.1145/291224.313008
Publisher site
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Abstract

editorial acm interactions is a bimonthly publication of the ACM, The Association for Computing T here ™s an old adage in business: œThe customer is always right.  The notion of a customer-centric approach to product design is starting to take root in the CHI community, but it has meant a shift in strategy among designers, developers, managers, and others within companies and other organizations. This issue features a special section on Contextual Design, a process that, in a nutshell, is the approach to designing products directly from an understanding of how the customer works. The section is guest-edited by Karen Holtzblatt, one of the pioneers in Contextual Design and a member of the interactions Editorial Board. As Holtzblatt explains in her introduction (p. 30): œCustomer-centered design involves organizational change. Organizational change is not easily embraced, but it is necessary in order to make good products that support the customer.  Leading off the section is an article by Holtzblatt and Hugh Beyer (p. 32) that defines the parameters of Contextual Design and details how designers must adapt their way of working to accommodate this new strategy as well as satisfy their clients ™ needs. The rest of the section consists of a trio of articles from practitioners trained by Holtzblatt and Beyer: Teresa Cleary (p. 44) describes how the use of contextual data streamlined network device management at Cabletron Systems; Chris Rockwell (p. 50) tells how marketing techniques such as customer œvalue propositions  helped speed the adoption of a software product for Hewlett-Packard workstations; and John Ims (p. 58) relates DST Systems ™ collaborative approach ” including a mentoring process and brainstorming sessions ” to updating a key piece of call-center technology. The Design column in this issue (p. 21) deals with a very different context: the way œcultural probes  can foster interaction between groups in a research project. Bill Gaver, Tony Dunne and Elena Pacenti detail how packages containing maps, postcards, a disposable camera and other materials allowed their target audience ” a diverse group of senior citizens ” to think outside the box and provide valuable feedback for their design effort. œDesign Methodology and Design Practice  by Jonas Löwgren and Erik Stolterman (p. 13) takes the Methods & Tools space. The authors explain how software design can be aided by more traditional methods such as function analysis, why-chains, and innovation by boundary shifting. ” Jay Blickstein, Executive Editor PUBLICATIONS OFFICE: ACM, 1515 Broadway, New York, New York 10036, USA +1-212-869-7440 FAX: +1-212-869-0481 Editor-in-Chief: Steven Pemberton Executive Editor: Jay Blickstein Managing Editor: Jennifer Bruer Art Director: Susan Fung Production Manager: Jane Fallon Advertising Director: Walter Andrzejewski Column Editors: Business - Susan Dray (dray@acm.org) Design - Kate Ehrlich (Kate_Ehrlich@crd.lotus.com) Methods & Tools - Michael Muller (mullerm@acm.org) Finn Kensing (kensing@dat.ruc.dk) Founding Editors: John Rheinfrank & Bill Hefley interactions (ISSN 1072-5220) is published six times a year in January, March, May, July, September, and November, by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc., 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY 10001 and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to interactions, ACM, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. http://www.acm.org/interactions Editorial Information: To contact interactions, e-mail our editors at interactions@acm.org or: feedback@interactions.acm.org letters@interactions.acm.org ideas@interactions.acm.org submissions@interactions.acm.org Submission information: All manuscripts should be submitted to interactions, ACM, 1515 Broadway, New York, New York 10036 or submissions@interactions.acm.org. Advertising Sales Representatives: Southeast/Foreign: Walter Andrzejewski (andrzejewski@acm.org) +1-212-626-0685, FAX: +1-212-869-0481 New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Eastern Canada The Summit Group (hersh@ibm.net) +1-908-876-1249, FAX: +1-908-876-9332 Midwest (includes Texas), Central Canada Bart Engels (engels1@aol.com) +1-847-854-6050, FAX: +1-847-854-8183 West Coast Marshall Rubin (mrubin@westworld.com) +1-818-995-8828, FAX: +1-818-995-6366 interactions...january + february 1999

Journal

interactions – Association for Computing Machinery

Published: Jan 1, 1999

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