Staffing up in UX in South Africa is hard. There are very few people with much experience in UX. The experienced ones cost a fortune (only the BIG corporates can really afford them). Many who have the experience have been poorly trained. There are no schools which teach this kind of thing. So, what's a company to do?

It occurred to me that I got into this field without any formal training and most of the great people I know have stumbled into UX from totally unrelated fields. So I started looking for people who revealed a passion for the web and digital interactions but perhaps without any direct experience. People who revealed an inherent empathy for users, frustration over poor UX and strong middle brain thinking.

Introducing Kathy: Kathy was one of our sample users for some lo-fi testing on new Pam Golding designs. While conducting the testing she spent more time suggesting UX ideas for the interface than just trying to accomplish tasks. I found a winner: no experience in design what-so-ever, a blogger with over three years experience 'living the Web' and a natural flair for UX and in particular IA.

I'm delighted to have Kathy onboard.