DESIGN COMPETENCES IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TEAMS: THE PERCEPTION OF DESIGN FOR IT MANAGERS FROM FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS OF THE SIG-UFRN NETWORK

Abstract

This paper shows research results on Design competences for working in Information Technology (IT) management teams are discussed, considering the technical cooperation network of federal educational institutions and Brazilian federal agencies users of integrated management systems as a target population developed by the IT Superintendency of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil (n=18). The research is descriptive and consisted in a survey answered by IT managers from federal institutions, about the role and insertion of Design in their respective units. As a result, it was found that most of the institutions investigated do not have designers inserted in the IT management processes and that, although working for about 10 years, there are no research practices with users and stakeholders on their experience in using the systems. Respondents indicated the main knowledge and skills that they assess to be relevant to the competence of IT designers, whose occurrences focused on operational activities in the design of interfaces, usability and accessibility, as well as the understanding that designers should be associated to the Requirements Gathering and the Development processes.