I’m exhausted. Beat. Dead tired. I just got home after a long, delayed flight from Phoenix to Chicago, returning here merely 36 hours after I departed. It was a quick, gruelling trip that tested my patience.

And I loved every minute of it.

Yesterday I saw one of my oldest friends in the world, Tami, which is always a treat. We had lunch with her little sis Rebecca (who I’ve known and loved since she was a wee little one), and her boyfriend Michael. Tami and I hung out for the rest of the day and caught up, which was nice.

The real reason I was in Phoenix was for work, of course. We’re in the process of doing some Contextual Design work, which is quite possibly (no, definitely) my favorite part of being an Interaction Designer.

The first part of the Contextual Design process is Contextual Inquiry. This is where an observer (me) goes to where a user of a piece of software (or potential piece of software) and learns about that user’s context of work. The inquiry fits a master/apprentice model, where the observant teaches the observer about the ins and outs of their job. This nearly always reveals interesting results, far different from what one would expect before the observation.

It’s also really nice to get to know the people you’re designing for. And by get to know, I really mean it…I get to know them in a real way. We laugh, we talk, we joke about the hoops they have to jump through just to get their job done.

And then I take away my data and begin to redesign. Rinse. Repeat. In the end, the finished product will be much better than before. For today though, I’ll be happy enough that I am getting to do the kind of work I love to do.