SIGIA-L Mail Archives: Re: SIGIA-L: MBAs?
Re: SIGIA-L: MBAs?
From: Jeff Lash (jeff_at_jefflash.com)
Date: Fri Sep 07 2001 - 00:55:14 EDT
An interesting discussion, and I thought I'd add my $.01 (it was $.02 but I
invested it in stocks at the beginning of the year, and, well, you know the
rest).
My main points, summarized in top-of-page Nielsen style:
MBAs are useful but usually overrated, especially if you choose to pursue a
non-traditional discipline (like IA). You gain more knowledge on the job
than in the classroom. Most MBA students are more interested in networking
(with other people, not computer networking) and getting funding for a
startup project than learning applicable skills. Make sure you look at the
classes you'll be taking and decide if you really want to learn all of that
stuff. Having an MBA degree will always be helpful, just maybe not in the
way you'd expect/hope.
Okay, now for the more extended version. I graduated about a year and a half
ago with a BSBA (the undergrad version of an MBA) in Marketing. Many of the
classes I took were often offered in an MBA version, which was basically the
same class but graded slightly harder or required an extra report or
project. While I enjoyed the classes and learned a lot of good stuff, I'm
not sure how much is applicable to IA.
In the year-and-a-half that I've been out of school I've learned more about
business than I did in all of business school. In fact, these past two
months I've been working in a large (Fortune 500) company, and have learned
more about business in these two months than I ever did in any class in
school. I think on-the-job skills are much more important, applicable and
valuable.
>From what I've heard about most b-schools (especially the top-tier ones) and
based on my observations and experiences with MBAs when I was an undergrad,
what you learn is not important, it's being able to say you have an MBA,
making contacts with fellow students and alumni, and getting more money
after graduation for doing essentially the same thing you were doing before
you started the program. (Oh, boy, let's hope the people at my alumni
association don't read this!)
MBA programs sound like a good idea; you learn about business, learn how
organizations work, learn how to understand business better, right? But look
at the courses you'd be taking. It seems like the discussion here is
revolving around soft skills (management, organizational development) rather
than hard skills (financial analysis, quantative business analysis,
macroeconomics, financial accounting). It's not just marketing fluff --
there's some damn technical stuff you'll be doing.
I took two semesters each of accounting, economics, operations and
manufacturing management, and statistics. While these are very useful things
to know, I can tell you that very very little of the things I learned apply
to IA/Usability/UX/Whatever. (They do have their uses: finance and
accounting are useful for any investor; everyone should have a good
knowledge of micro and macroeconomics; two semesters of quantities business
analysis have prepared me well for figuring out statistical probabilities of
winning in roulette and blackjack; I can never go by a Taco Bell without
thinking about the case study I did on improving assembly line efficiency in
assembling tacos.)
With most MBA programs, at least half of the classes are quantative core
courses like this. Do you really want to spend a full school year (8-10
courses?) and a full year's tuition ($10-20K?) on things that probably won't
be applicable to IA? Granted, classes in management, organizational
behavior, and some of the "softer" side of marketing are more applicable to
IA, but these (in my opinion and experience) are in the minority.
I'm not saying you should or shouldn't get an MBA; I just want to enlighten
everyone on my experiences and make everyone sure they know what they'll be
getting in to. If I went back to school to get an MBA (and I'm considering
it, since my employer would fit the bill), I would do it with the intention
of having something very nice to put on my resume and bump up my salary and
to help fuel my newfound interest in the bond market. It would also help if
I wanted to move up to a management position (where I could be someone who
tells people what to do, as opposed to my current position, where I'm the
one who gets told what to do).
My feeling is, if you're thinking about getting your MBA to help understand
how business works and balance the needs of stakeholders, well, you're not
going to learn that in b-school. You might gloss over it at some point along
with the thousands of other things, but at least in my experience (yes, BSBA
is probably different but I'd be willing to bet not as much as most people
think) you don't spend a lot of time on it. If you want to learn how
business works, learn about business. Watch CNBC. Read the WSJ. Talk to
people in your business and your clients' businesses. Pore over trade
publications, annual reports, CEO autobiographies and online class
notes/presentations. Knowing how to calculate the future inflation-adjusted
value of a zero-coupon municipal bond is not going to help you make a better
sitemap. (But, at the same time, your clients or supervisor will most likely
be impressed by an MBA, and it's something that undoubtedly will make you a
more valuable employee or consultant for the rest of your career.)
Two related closing thoughts:
1) "The New MBA is an MFA" -- George Olsen hits the bullseye with this one
<http://www.interactionbydesign.com/thoughts/thumbnails/00000053.html>. See
also <http://www.cdf.org/> for good design/business curriculum info.
2) If I did get an MBA, I'd look for a curriculum like that of Cardean
University (http://cardean.edu/). In addition to the "traditional" courses
(finance, accounting, marketing, economics, human resources, organizational
behavior), they have courses in Internet User Experience (designed by
Neilsen and Norman), Internet Marketing, "Vision, Strategy, and
Organizational Alignment," Developing and Managing Brands, Strategies for
Technology Industries, and other neat non-traditional neo-business MBA fare.
(I am not a paid endorser, just someone who appreciates a new approach to
this degree.) I think that bringing a combination of design, technology and
strategy into the MBA program will keep it fresh and applicable as the
economy alters itself.
.jeff.
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