Mathew Hodgson, an IA/UX type, writes and speaks about agile project management. I have never done an agile project, and this is not a piece about agile versus waterfall. What struck me to think about that article and Tamara’s story was a blog post and graphic that Mathew published a few weeks ago about careers and the Agile team.

In the team roles are categorised into groups, as being focussed on either:

• Process
• Output
• Analysis
• Build
• Customer, or the
• Client

The usual job titles can still be found in there, there’s an Information Architect, a DBA, a BA, a Developer an Interaction designer; but there is an emphasis on what people are doing, and what their preference is.

I wish I had thought about what job suited my personality when I was younger—I may have come to my career a lot sooner. I think this graphic would be a handy tool for any career advisor to show kids who are considering a job in IT, and especially for those who may not yet be considering the field, what they may be suited to and encourage them to think about what it is that they enjoy doing.

The article articulates the role and value of the front end web developer and spurns a debate of sorts in the comments (now closed) between the generalists and the specialists.

Will Peavey’s comment cuts close to the bone, (mine specifically!) when he says:

“I think being a front-end dev should be a prerequisite to doing IA/UX work. In my experience I’ve seen lots of IA/UX/Usability “experts” that come from art school or academic backgrounds, and attempt to design interfaces that look good as Photoshop mockups, but fail in the browser.”

Ah yes, I must confess to 4 years of art school, and only rudimentary and increasingly fading HTML/CSS skills.

I think the generalist/specialist debate really depends on the type of business you work in and the projects you work on. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend the last three years working in a great team of developers that includes a dedicated front end dev. We all bounce off each other’s specific skill sets and are constantly sharing and learning from one another.

I appreciate this article all the more as the front end dev is considering what he can do to broaden his skill set and shape his career. Not that he isn’t busy enough already.

Enough of me, read the article and shout your friendly front end dev a drink.

I thought I would start with my job title: Producer. For this post I am republishing an email I sent in September 2008 to a student of a friend who teaches Online Journalism at UTS.

Hi Exxx

Here is a little run down for your student who is interested in being a web producer.

Where do I start? The role of a web or online producer has to be one of the vaguest job descriptions going round. It depends on the size of the organisation and the nature of the business. Most commonly you can be a web producer at a development/design company, advertising agency or media outlet. You can also be a client side web producer working in house for corporates or anyone with a significant web presence. This sort of role can sometimes be called “Online Coordinator”.

At an advertising agency a web/online producer is a coordinator. There may be various levels of producers (senior, junior) working alongside a technical producer, information architect and the design and development teams and under an account manager. You are a coordinator. You make ads, flash sites and campaign sites.

I work for a web development company with a technical focus so my role is that of a producer/information architect (IA). My job is split 50/50 between the two roles. As an IA I make wireframes for websites. These are basically blueprints of the site for designers and developers. As a producer I liaise with the client and manage the build. I work for a small company which means my work is a lot more hands on than an ad agency where roles are more specialised. My background before this was as a graphic designer so I had some web experience and do know HTML/CSS. This has helped a great deal because I know how to make websites. That being said my focus is more technical/UI focussed and this is definitely not the case for all web producers.

A Producer client side may be someone with a journalistic background or web background. An in house client side producer may or may not have an in house development and design team. If not, they will write briefs, liaise with external agencies and be responsible for the project. A client side web producer is often responsible for collating, writing and publishing content.

This brings me to the last home of a web producer which is the media outlet—think MySpace or Austereo. Here your role is about bringing together the product with a heavy focus on managing the content. This is quite different to what I do which is defining and managing the build. Media outlets have a heavy advertising focus.

Many jobs will expect you to know HTML, but you dont have to be a master coder. This is still a relatively new field — the popular internet has only been round since 1995 give or take a year so loads of experience is not essential. In all roles I have described you are dependant on others. You must agitate and advocate constantly.  People most often do not cooperate so be prepared for the management part of the role. This could be short campaign management or longer project and timeline management.

…

So, did I get it right? Did I give the right advice?