Ok so the title isn’t 100% accurate since it’s actually been 7 months, but it should go to show how behind I am with my fatherhood writings. The first half of Tristan’s first year has been crazy, hectic, and completely wonderful. Being able to sit back and watch him figure out how to do something is enlightening. Observing him learning reminds me how to learn things too, something I’ve forgotten somewhere along the way. Continue reading →
Later this month, the very first St. Louis Innovation Camp will be held. This is a unique event in St. Louis, hosted and organized by a group of people that are tired of seeing all the crazy cool things happen on one of the coasts. For a long time now there has been a ton of untapped talent in the St. Louis area, and those that really do shine normally end up getting whisked away to one of the those alluring coastal cities. Hopefully, St. Louis can finally peek it’s head out of the bushes and show those other cities it knows how to play with the big dogs too. Continue reading →
Based on several articles I’ve read over the past months, and the session Eric Reiss gave at last years IA Summit on ‘ROI: Speaking the Language of Business‘, I wrote out this mind dump of how I think about selling User Experience. These ideas are fairly rough and are intended to see how closely my thought process aligns with that of my peers. Hope you enjoy! Continue reading →
I’m normally not one for making New Year Resolutions simply because I know I wouldn’t be able to follow through with them. By posting them here, it’s my hope that I can use this post as a prolonged ‘To-Do’ list for the new year and be a gentle reminder that I always have something I could be working on. Between now and Dec. 31st, I’m going to be adding things to this post as they come to me. I know some of these resolutions will require the help of other people, so I’ll need to step out of my comfort zone a bit and be more willing to ask for help from my peers. Hopefully, by the end of 2010 I will have made some headway on this pesky things and be a better person for it. Continue reading →
I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on Jeff Parks i.a. podcast. This was my first time being both interviewed and recorded, and kudos to Jeff for making it an awesome experience! The conversation we had revolved around failure and why it’s so important for designers. The topics include concepts I brought up in my three part posting on the importance of failure, and feedback we received on the wiki he set up. Thank you to Christian Crumlish, Daniel Szuc, Jan Jursa, Valeska O’Leary, and Eric Reiss for that feedback btw! You can listen to the podcast either here or via iTunes. Hope you enjoy!
In the final part of this series on the importance of failure, I’ll be getting a little philosophical on the subject. Part 1 and Part 2 covered some practical means to take advantage of failure. The final two methods are meant more to change the mindsets of both individuals and organizational leadership to encourage an environment that takes full advantage of failure. Failure always has a negative connotation to it, and these final two approaches are perfect for finally putting a positive spin on the subject. Continue reading →
In Part 1, I showcased the first two methods for dealing with failure and learning from it. Part 2 will focus on activities that can be during a retrospective, or stand alone. These next two methods have a certain risk associated with them due to the emotions that can arise during the resulting conversations. If done successfully however, the passion these emotions invoke can help solidify the lessons that are available to be learned. Continue reading →
It’s been just about 3 months since Tristan has joined our world, and everyone in our household is finally getting settled down with the new addition. My wife and I made it through the transition fairly well, and I can state with much pride that I’m able to successfully work on a computer with an infant AND a dog in my lap. Speaking of our dog, Loki, he seems to be the one taking it the hardest making the adjustment. Continue reading →
I’ve recently been working on a framework to help designers deal with failure. Failure can occur many times over the course of a project, and knowing how to use that failure effectively helps a team continue to work without losing steam. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be posting the methods I’ve identified two at a time that form the framework. The goal of these posts is to gather feedback on the value of these methods, and any suggestions you want to see that will help flush them out. In other words, have a nice virtual conversation around how to scare off the bogeyman that is Failure. Continue reading →
The key to any advanced prototypes using Blend 3 w/ Skecthflow is using the SketchFlow Animation Panel, the more advanced States panel, or by adding common interactive behavior to controls. Now, if you happen to have any Flash background, setting up animations will feel very comfortable for you. Below are my thoughts on how to set up some of the behavior that is exhibited by another Silverlight Prototype I put together. (Please explore the prototype to see how feedback and annotations work.) Continue reading →