These comments by Avinash Kaushik, Google’s analytics guru, are true for many corporate websites. He “thinks one of the reasons why so many websites ‘suck’ today is because of the hippo – as in the ‘highest paid person’s opinion.’

And, yes, you’re likely a hippo – a successful advertising executive, CMO or brand manager, pulling in a six-figure income, often found pontificating about what does and doesn’t work online. You use tried-and-true metrics such as unique visitors and click-through rates to decide on the best design for your landing page or what content is best suited on your product site. “
[Source: AdAge]

In my experience it is often the least qualified person in the building who gets to decide the design and functionality for the company website.

This is a a fascinating phenomenon. In many other industries people actually take notice of their domain knowledge specialists. You don’t find people telling the bridge engineers to move this pillar over 3 metres to suit a personal aesthetic. But in web everyone is an expert and can tell you how to do your job.

Many people working in advertising and marketing are steeped in print media tradition and knowledge and have little understanding of what the web is like and how people consume that media. I do wonder if this will change with a new generation coming through or not?

Source: Carruthers via Aide-mémoire