Nancy Lyons

Presentations

Dawn of the Devs

The interactive industry has a little PR problem: half the world sees us as reclusive loners sitting in dark rooms, and the other half sees us as app-happy adult kids riding through offices on scooters. However inaccurate this is, we have to change it. Future projects are riding on it, our industry is depending on it, and end users need it.

Interactive is only 50% technology; the other 50% is about people. The quality of our technological work directly correlates to how well we work with people, and people's experiences with what we build. We have a responsibility to make projects better and to create end products that are actually--in practice--the best solutions for our clients' problems. We have to learn to talk about what we do and how we do it, we have to teach clients how to think intelligently about the possibilities and realities of interactive products, and we have to ask our team members to do the same.

We'll discuss the framework the Geek Girls Guide developed to establish a high standard, industry-wide way of approaching digital projects. We'll outline how to collaborate well no matter what role you play on the team, give a high-level overview of an interactive process that works with any type of interactive product, and articulate the kind of thinking that's required for successful, effective results.