Warning: This is a rant. I have multiple hobbies, things I enjoy doing either on my own or with my family. I write, I love to travel, I collect ephemera, and I like cooking. These things bring me pleasure. But…
When it comes to filling key leadership roles, many large companies are asking candidates to detail their plan for the 30, 60 and 90 day on the job during the interview process. What is the new hire going to do…
I’ve worked on many projects and several different software development teams in the past, and these teams have had great success in applying Agile best practices in their work. Unfortunately, the integration of UX processes into the Agile methodology is…
A few weeks ago I noticed that the bill for my DirectV service had become “unbundled” from our AT&T bill, which was set to auto-debit from one of our credit cards. This was not done by my wife or I,…
I have worked with clients around the world, in multiple industries. When I was been brought in varied, depending on the project. Sometimes I came in before the project started and was tasked with planning out the UX approach and…
I’ve seen a frustrating trend lately regarding how many outside of user experience teams think of the discipline. Their opinion may be simply ignorance, or may have been influenced by how UX folks on our side “sold” themselves (or the…
Some suggestions: Identify the problem you are trying to solve in the design. Is it to accomplish a task, to enjoy a free moment, to communicate or capture a moment? Have a clear-cut problem statement and direction for what you…
As I work on more and more Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning engagements, I’m seeing more similarities to UX engagements than differences. Compare and contrast: User Experience design is an iterative process. UX practitioners learn, define a candidate experience, test…
Let’s go back in time a bit – over a decade ago. Macworld, 2007. Steve Jobs stood before a crowd of True Believers and revealed not just one, but THREE revolutionary new products. A new, Innovative widescreen iPod. A next-generation…
I’ve already written about how, when I approach a design problem, I start with the assumption that “I am probably wrong.” Now I’d like to write about a way you can “test” and refine your designs without taking them to…
I love movie trailers… Especially older trailers, because A) they didn’t reveal the entire movie’s plot in 2 minutes time and B) they had the BEST voice-overs. Orson Welles, for example, did the voice over for the first trailer for…
“How do you use this?” Whenever any new piece of technology is released, this is the core (usually unspoken) question that consumers of said technology have. How does it work? What does it do? The better designed devices and applications…
I’ve been involved in a lot of projects in my many MANY years as a UX professional – some good, some bad, most… interesting. One thing I’m beginning to see as a trend is the rise of what I consider…
It’s summertime, and to many of us that means one thing: vacation. I’m one such person, with two trips scheduled, with a third (potentially) in the offering. Travel of any sort often comes many anxieties… Delayed flights, lost reservations, and…
Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, published a blog posting a while back that claimed that technology was making us more self-involved and narcissistic, that the end result of this self-centeredness would be a culture of sociopaths who are more…
As anyone who follows me on Twitter knows, I travel for business. A LOT. To date in 2018 I’ve traveled internationally twice, and to various cities in the US over a dozen times. As a frequent business traveler, I have…