Brian Shackel

I learned last night that Brian Shackel died on May 9th in England. For anyone even remotely familiar with the literature on usability and HCI, Brian was a foundational figure who led the development of operational definitions and measures of usability. I worked with Brian for eight years at the HUSAT Research Institute in Loughborough, a group he founded in 1970 to advance human and social research in the area of sofware design. He was an incredible character, full of commitment to user-centered design and the development of the science of human-computer interaction. To those who worked with him he was always known as “Prof”, and his eye for detail in proofreading the many reports we produced was legendary – he would pull out his multi-colored pen, push it to red and invariably find constructions or wordings that irked him (you could never say ‘overall’ in a report without Brian inking it and noting in the margins: “Overalls are what workmen wear!”). Brian could be a somewhat combative character when discussing issues of importance and he was tenacious in ensuring his points were noted, but he had the remarkable skill of all great leaders in being able to argue the point heatedly without ever allowing disagreements to interfere with his treatment of you as a person. Brian opened many doors for me in my career and he took great pride in seeing the influence of HUSAT spread across the globe through its projects and its people. Unlike many academics, Brian keenly understood the importance of influencing practice and he committed a large part of his life to ensuring the development of international standards that have shaped technology design for millions. There’s a formal obituary at: http://www.ergonomics.org.uk/page.php?s=7&p=101 which outlines his diverse career highlights. Brian was a one-off, we’ll not see his kind in academia again and I miss him already.