Our world is drastically changing and some agents of change act behind the curtain and lead this revolution. They are what we call Superusers! The famous Randy Deutsch just published an exciting book on the subject.
Superusers are design professionals with the wherewithal to recognize a tool, curiosity to inquire into a tool, confidence to mess with a tool, capacity to learn a tool, creativity to combine tools, and the interpersonal intelligence to connect with others to achieve actionable results. They are design professionals who leverage tools and technology to do more, and be more, with the people skills to accomplish all they do with and by means of others, often to astonishing results. And Superusers are what we will all need to aim to become to be design professionals in the 2020s and beyond. The book explains the distinguishing features and attributes common to all Superusers. A Superuser isn’t a tech genius – far from it. In fact, of the ten defining features that make up a Superuser, no fewer than nine are considered attitudes, mindsets or softskills. The book addresses the future of Superusers in our industry.
Superusers: Design Technology Specialists and the Future of Practice by Randy Deutsch will help you identify who they are, the value they provide, how you can attract them, how you can retain them, how you can become one yourself, what career opportunities they have what obstacles they face and how to lead them.
You can purchase this book here.
About the Author
Randy Deutsch AIA, LEED AP is the Associate Director for Graduate Studies and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA, teaching and conducting research in design, professional practice, building technology, and digital technology. Randy is an international keynote speaker, workshop leader, and design technology authority. An architect responsible for the design of over 100 large, complex sustainable projects, Randy has been an Exec Ed program leader at Harvard GSD. He has written for DesignIntelligence, has been featured in ARCHITECT magazine and Architectural Record, and is the author of three books: Convergence: The Redesign of Design (2017) on the nature of the ongoing convergence of technology and work processes in the profession and industry; Data Driven Design and Construction: Strategies for Capturing, Analyzing and Applying Building Data (2015, translated into Chinese in 2019) on the innovative individuals and firms who are leveraging data to advance their practices; and BIM and Integrated Design: Strategies for Architectural Practice (2011, translated into Chinese in 2018) tracking the social and organizational impacts of the new technologies and collaborative work processes, among other publications. More at www.randydeutsch.com.