Mieke Daniels
What sort of work did you do when you started at Namahn?
I worked on an interesting variety of projects and learned new skills, such as mastering XML and XSLT. I did some technical writing as well as carrying out contextual enquiries and interaction design.
What exactly is a contextual enquiry?
Going and watching people actually doing a job or carrying out specific tasks. For example, we observed people who were working in a call centre and were able to see how difficult it was for them to retrieve the information they needed for customers, particularly when they were beginners. Experienced users had devised "work arounds" but these were not always a good solution. The understanding gathered from the enquiry made it easier to design the right interface.
But after two years you left.
Yes. The job at Namahn was my first, and I wanted to broaden my experience, so I took up a post as a project manager.
And why did you decide to come back?
Something was wrong with the cheese.
With the cheese?
I became unsettled, and a friend suggested that I read the book "Who moved my cheese?" by Spencer Johnson. It's a story about two mice and two people who live in a maze and who are supplied with cheese. Then the cheese is taken away and the book examines the different ways in which they react to this situation and their attitudes towards the cheese, on which they are dependent and which represents some important aspect of their lives. It put things into perspective and clarified for me what "my cheese" really was. I realised that the range of projects, the variety of the work and the "camaraderie" in the team at Namahn was something I valued highly and when I was given the opportunity to return I accepted. I am far more enthusiastic about having real hands-on involvement in projects rather than just managing them.
What about the other aspects of your life—that go with the cheese?
Reading is very important to me. Jane Austen is my favourite author and I re-read her books regularly. I admire the way she portrays people and her humour in describing the serious business of getting a husband, which for women in her days was desperately important. I love music. I studied the piano for ten years and really enjoy playing. I also have great fun playing computer games. A game such as Age of Empires is both challenging and creative because it requires you to build strategies which you can then share with others over the net. But I have recently moved into my first home and such pastimes are on hold while I master the delights of painting and decorating.
What do you regard as your greatest achievement?
Finishing my music exams. I had a strict and demanding teacher and being naturally shy I found performing in public an ordeal.
Do you have ambitions and achievements that are as yet unrealised?
That's a tough one. I would like to get involved in more music making, playing piano duets and singing in a choir. And I would like to travel more. Last year I went to the US for the first time and was surprised how much better the scenery, food and culture were than I had anticipated. More travel would maybe give it another perspective, allow me to work on my personal contextual enquiry.
