I’ve only worked once with a UX person and all they did was order other people to produce design documents before any software was written. Like, he didn’t design anything himself and didn’t even critique others’ designs. He made over $300K and eventually left for a job on the west coast making twice as much. He stopped talking to me entirely after the client had me write a prototype TV guide-type app for Blackberry. I created it entirely myself and the client loved it and wanted it released to the public exactly as it was. UX guy insisted (client didn’t care at all) that all software needed a design document before any coding could take place, so he was forced to order somebody else to produce a design document for my app which already existed. He wouldn’t even look at me when we passed in the hall after this.

I assume that this is not actually what a UX person is supposed to be doing, but I have no idea what their real job is.

I’m guessing that the design documents might’ve been something in the vein of ‘user stories’ (if I correctly recall their name), which describe what some typical users would want to do with the app, so that the actual UI design would focus on these features being available front and center. This is a very legitimate design technique, and a good designer should always question why any elements must be present in the UI and whether they solve the user’s goals.

This Blueman thing would definitely benefit from such approach, because right now it exposes a lot of technical details about which I don’t care, while simultaneously making my everyday operations with it inconvenient.

By the way, @[email protected], I brought up user stories in particular because they should be initially written or at least verbalized by either the target users or clients like managers. Neither designers nor programmers can know exactly what the target user’s needs are, or they may think they know but be mistaken.

Of course, another major tool in a designer’s workflow is testing with target users before release, including with rough mockups — so any misunderstanding of users’ goals and workflow can be caught in time.