The Business-Savvy UXCentrist

In the January issue of STC's Intercom magazine, Chauncey Wilson gazes into his crystal ball (PDF ahead!) and concludes that:

...in the next decade I believe that practitioners will need to expand their repertoire of knowledge and skills beyond traditional usability and design activities and move from tactical to strategic thinking.

He then describes six trends that will challenge UX practitioners in the future. From my perspective, he's beautifully on target. I particularly agree that "Business skills and savvy will become more important criteria in hiring usability and user experience practitioners."

My grasp of business fundamentals from marketing to strategic planning (honed while managing retail stores during the early days of my career) has been a key distinctive of my UX practice. Clients appreciate my ability to talk turkey with stakeholders from various disciplines and our projects have benefitted. UXCentrists realize that Client stakeholders are our "First Users;" their perspectives, needs and wishes for a site must be understood along with those of end users. Brushing up on your business skills can help you build bridges across these oft-divergent audiences.

Via UI Designer.