U-Pods herald New Structure for Managers to Exchange Support

U-Pods is a new organisation aimed at managers of usability facilities. Set up by Ali Vassigh and Philip Hodgson, in Whirlpool Corporation's GCD-User Experience Group, the goal is to form a usability manager's support group where ideas and information can be shared.

U-Pods will comprise a number of small groups (or "pods") in which members from non-competing companies can benefit from the experiences and insights of their peers with respect to managing usability or human factors teams and establishing these disciplines in companies. Teams of five to six people is becoming the norm.

The organisers say that membership of U-Pods is open to anyone, worldwide, who currently manages, or is about to find themselves managing, a usability or Human Factors group. You do not need to be a usability specialist to make it worth joining, but you do need to be in charge of those you are. Groups will be formed to encourage the possibility of actually meeting, so, for instance, one may be based in a particular part of the country, though much exchange can take place online. And it is anticipated that different groups will be more or less active, reflecting the enthusiasm of the people in the group and the kind of issues that arise for them, said UK participant David Travis, of Userfocus Ltd.

'U-Pods is free at present, and we intend to support functionality as cheaply as possible, using spare time and yahoo groups,' Travis continued. 'It is intended to be democratic and inclusive, with semi-autonomous pods.'

So far more than 100 members have signed up over the last six weeks. About 20% are from the UK and 70% from North America with a broad spread worldwide representing the other 10%.

The organisers have listed the following benefits to the structure and to signing up:

* U-Pods' focus on the business of usability / HFE management and leadership directly relates to one's job, responsibilities, and issues. You can share non-confidential items that are of general interest (such as: organisational pros/cons, job descriptions, interviewing questions, processes)

* Pods comprising non-competing members allow open, meaningful, and valuable discussions around subjects too sensitive for public forums.

* Small intimate pods allow people to establish deeper relationshipds with fellow pod members. 'We will know each other better and can ground discussions in our reality, to network with peers on-line and off-line', say the organisers.

* A majority of participation and communication will be within one's pod. This allows for greater continuity and history.

* It avoids being overwhelmed with tons of email from a large ListServ type community.

* Members of pods are true peers discussing and sharing thoughts relevant and valuable to all.

* Members can do more than talk. They can actually plan and do things (activities, experiments, studies, etc.).

* Research (ie surveys, questionnaires, studies, etc.) can be sponsored and shared at the individual pod level and / or at the higher U-Pods organisation level.

* As a large organisation of managers, U-Pods could tackle industry / discipline issues and help create tools, standards, etc.

* When speaking to people within one's company or department, one can address issues with more confidence, knowing if the challenges, issues, and solutions being faced are unique or common to others as well. This may give more credibility.

Associated Link: U-Pods

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