.At the the back end of 1999 I was working for Harlequin (database visualisation and print rips) and led a five strong HCI team there. I had an opportunity then to talk at IEEE about the interfaces and politics of HCI and software engineering. I’d already done an article for Interactions in 1998 called ‘The Holistic Product Interface’ so my views were solid that the focus should be on the user experience not just usability.

Anyhow the abstract to ‘Repositioning HCI’ was interesting to refind, as it shows how little my core ideas have changed, even when my ability to deliver and methods have.

My memory of this event, though, is mixed. When I asked for a headcount, I was the only full-time industry HCI/usability professional there, and that annoyed me. Lots of individuals said they did bits of usability, cared a little about customers, read Jakob Neilsen, were interested. But they were all part timers. As my conference piece was about the centrality of HCI, you may imagine my frustration. Was there really no-one else? I remember at the panel session getting animated. Nobody would trust enough to push and take HCI and usability to the next step, nobody would move into that profession.

Times have changed, of course, due to the dominance of the web and mass interaction. But its chastening to remember that its not long since that HCI & Usability was merely an interest and not a profession.

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