I've been "forced" to read a few quality books focusing on
Six Sigma. I understand the ideas very well, but I am having
a tough time with something. The project managers and
executives I know are much more willing to embrace Six
Sigma than they are usability. Why? Six Sigma is at least
as complicated as usability, if not significantly more. I face
a serious uphill battle on this issue.

I know that it has come up here time and again but why
is usability so hard to sell? Why are less concrete and less
rigorous methodologies and concepts more accepted by
those in power?

Since this has not been answered well enough, I'll suggest
an answer. Usability professionals suck as sales people.
This might seem obvious once you read it, but it really
means something. If true, and I think it is, it indicates that
we do not understand people as well as we think we do.
Give our knowledge of How People Work (TM), we
should be able to kick some ass on the sales front. But
we don't. Why?

These are issues for me. Six Sigma, while great, will
suck away resources that could go to some excellent,
high-leverage research. Let's get real here. We have
to *justify* usability while the Six Sigma movement,
for example, gets people frothing at the mouth. Some
of my (simple) research indicates that those consultants
are doing much better than us.

What should we do, folks?

John S. Rhodes
WebWord.com -- Industrial Strength Usability
http://webword.com
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