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What kind of User Experience Professional am I?
Friend and colleague Jeff Patton floated an idea a few weeks ago around the thought that there are 3 types of User Experience Professionals: Before-, During-, and After-People. I think this is a brilliant way to characterize UXers…simple and to the point, with no big-giant-confusing-wordiness. Of course, all the qualities of these different types of…
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In Response to Kevin
In response to me beaming about my job, Kevin wrote: Would you say that you are doing all the things you were trained to do at the School of Informatics? I got to see Matt and Apurva over the weekend, and one of the things that came up was how little their jobs resembled what…
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On Innovation
I’ve been hearing a lot of talk around the office lately about Innovation. This subject is pretty close to my heart…and I’ve got some pretty strong beliefs about what innovation is and is not. For now, though, I’ll just let someone else do the talking: “For a company, innovation is something of a two-edged sword:…
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Hey, that’s why I blog too!
Tiffanie succinctly described my main reason for blogging. Sure, there are other positives as well, but I love the fact that I’ll be able to look back at my life over the years, and that others will be able to do so as well. I can’t wait for the future. 😉
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Agile + User Centered Design
So, Marc says User Centered Design is compatible with Agile. I think I agree, but with a caveat or two. They’ve Got Different Foci The User Centered Design methodology is based on one simple concept: the person who will eventually use the system should be the focus of the design process. There are many processes,…
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Today reminded me why I love my job
I’m exhausted. Beat. Dead tired. I just got home after a long, delayed flight from Phoenix to Chicago, returning here merely 36 hours after I departed. It was a quick, gruelling trip that tested my patience. And I loved every minute of it. Yesterday I saw one of my oldest friends in the world, Tami,…
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Changing Our Slideware Culture
This has been a long time coming. Back in May I completed my Master’s Degree education by presenting my Capstone Project: Prepare. Project. Present. Using Technology to Encourage Effective Presentations. The video of my presentation is now up on YouTube, in three parts. Watch them below by pressing the play button: YouTube Link to part…
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All Employees Deserve GREAT Software
I’m not here to help build mediocre software. Quite the opposite, actually. No one should be subjected to sub-par tools, whether they’re using their software at home, school, work, or somewhere in-between. One of my UCD-minded colleagues pointed out to me last week that often business users are considered a “special” set of users because…
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Googled
FYI, my blog returns the top Google result for the phrase “cause all you really need are a few good friends“. Aww yeah. I love it.
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The Basis of Web Design = Typography
First I read this. Then I read the follow up. And finally I found myself at this page, remembering, yet again, that the key to usability is readability. Now, if what you do every day has little to do with usability, design, or typography, you might think this stuff doesn’t really matter to you. If…