I’ve been meaning to do this for some time, and now is that time! As 2010 rolls on and Fuzzy Math nears its first birthday (April Fool’s Day, for you present-buying types), it’s time to yap about what we do here, and not just for self-aggrandizement, believe it or not. In 2010 we’ll be more and more transparent with our work; this is a step in that direction.

Our profession is still so new we don’t have a name for ourselves (interaction designer, information architect, user experience designer and others come to mind quickly). Heck, it was nearly 6 years ago that the thoughtful and talented Peter Boersma was discussing the relationship between IA and UX on his blog and our roles and tasks are more splintered than ever with social media, augmented reality, and ubicomp dished up hot and steaming on our plates. It leads one to long for a simple job fixing motorcycles.

I spoke my piece about jobs, roles and organizations two years ago at IDEA 2008 before I was part of the Fuzzy Math crew:

I don’t want to open that can of worms again.

Instead, this series is about the stuff we produce. Whatever you want to call us, the meaning of our work is found in its end result. Over the next few months I will write an article a week about our methods and work products, describing the what, how and why of each deliverable, the problem it solves, the way it solves that problem, and resources for you to learn more.

I want to do these articles for two reasons: to share our techniques with the community, and to learn what things we do are useful, new, old, or tired. Our nameless profession has seen many documents evolve, fall in or out of vogue, or get standardized into canon over the past decade. Let’s talk about those documents we think are important, how we produce them, and what use we assign to them.

Drop a line to let me know if you like the idea, and challenge us or cheerlead us along the way.

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