Today I got really excited about my job

We are running user tests, according to what was recommended initially, on a key, capital, software project.

This may seem like a simple statement but the very fact of this, is what has made me say 'I am really excited about my job today'.

Today, I wanted to work through lunch, (I know, WOW, wanting to is big for me)

to provide feedback to a project team that wanted to listen. (Like I said, WOW :)

For anyone else working in an internal User Experience team, you know that this is huge, and for those that don't, think about the implications of this, and the state most companies must be in, that have UX teams, and extremely under-utilize them.

Unless you have the luxury of being hired by a firm that already values and has positioned their UX team well, you need to keep evangelizing, and that this is about 50% of the job (otherwise known as strategic usability), if you are ever going to contribute value.

So today I love my job a lot more, because it looks a little like it might actually be paying off. The feedback we got is auto-correcting the direction of the design, before we make the mistakes in development, another user test was done, corroborating the new direction, and another test has been requested to test the final design before it goes to development. Our involvement has also been requested, right through QA, and a partner that needed to be impressed, was, thanks to her perception of UX being great due diligence on the project.

I am looking forward to spending my efforts now (the other 50%) on producing great UX results, and finessing and simplifying my reporting so that the feedback provides maximum value while it remains in the spotlight. Speaking of which, keeping UX in the spotlight, and providing maximum value when it is in the spotlight, is how I think about my job.

How do you think about yours, and do you have any celebratory moments where you get excited about your job?