Micro-Interactions and Fuzzy Agencies

This is an interesting speech at Interaction '08 with examples about moving brands beyond typical marketing campaigns into a "micro-interaction" model; and about a company model in which the distinct positions blur into each other to reveal the real potential in that overlap of functions.

Some escencial things new companies that come from old failures should mind

I found this posted at 37 signals and it reminded me of some funny incidents that happened at the office I'm working at (not "for"), related to eating earlier than 12:30 (which was the established rule) and getting a bottle of wine taken away from Kim's hand (while she was looking for beer) with the remark that "you can only drink on Fridays"...

The post was about Maverick: The Success Behind the World’s Most Unusual Workplace,

Treat employees like adults:

We simply do not believe our employees have an interest in coming in late, leaving early, and doing as little as possible for as much money as their union can wheedle out of us. After all, these are the same people that raise children, join the PTA, elect mayors, governors, senators, and presidents. They are adults. At Semco, we treat them like adults. We trust them. We don’t make our employees ask permission to go to the bathroom, nor have security guards search them as they leave for the day. We get out of their way and let them do their jobs.

Surprisingly, someone has to write about it! so that some individuals with management-delusional* behaviors realize the rest are adult people too, not children.

* In Ecuador we used to call these people "the clowns who perceive themselves as the owners of the circus"

Looking for the similarities rather than the differences on the description of my job title

By chance I ran into a description of my job title, and while reading it I thought it was as vague as I had intended it to be when I gave myself the nomination. I didn't want to be called an Information Architect, because I'm not only that. I'm also not a Concept Developer only, neither am I a Interaction Design solely. Experience Architect was the best name I could find to not describe me as anything specific, so that I could do all the things I want and like under the umbrella of a name no one really understands.

Here are some of the descriptions I found:

The Experience Architect is that person relentlessly focused on creating remarkable individual experiences. This person facilitates positive encounters with your organization through products, services, digital interactions, spaces, or events. Whether an architect or a sushi chef, the Experience Architect maps out how to turn something ordinary into something distinctive—even delightful—every chance they get.

Later, more clarification:
1. Interaction Designers are User Experience Architects. They are the primary role responsible for writing scenarios.

2. Business Analyst is also responsible for writing scenarios but less from a perspective of design and more from a perspective of goal writing (where the scenarios come from) and ensuring the scenarios meet the goals of the customer. It's entirely possible for a Business Analyst to not write a single word within a scenario but they should know it well.

3. Business Analysts are the knowledge people. They understand the priorities, the functionality, the domain and provide a bridge between the user experience and technical design.

4. Business Analysts are the primary role to write functional requirements. They could write them side by side with a solution architect or with strong collaboration but they are ultimatly responsible for functional requirements.

5. For domain modeling. I imagine a BA and SA sitting side by side building it together. Both should understand the technique.

(little note: still, me, as an experience architect play all these rolls, we just charge differently per the knowledge of each role)

... tired of researching, I'll conclude this post later