Author Archives: Jeff Gothelf

About Jeff Gothelf

Jeff Gothelf has spent a 14 year career as an interaction designer, Agile practitioner, user experience team leader and blogger. He is one of the leading voices on the topic of Agile UX and Lean UX. In addition, Jeff is the author of the upcoming O'Reilly book (2012), Lean UX: Getting Out of the Deliverables Business. He is a highly sought-after international speaker having presented at EuroIA, SXSW, IA Summit, the Agile conference and Startup Lessons Learned. Jeff has led cross-functional product design teams at TheLadders, Publicis Modem, WebTrends, Fidelity, and AOL while maintaining a strong advisory and mentorship presence in the startup communities of New York City and Silicon Valley. He has recently launched Proof, a product design and innovation studio that combines lean processes with strategy, design and technology.

Lean UX presentation audio now available

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Jeff Gothelf

Just a quick note that the audio from my South by Southwest presentation, Lean UX: Getting Out of the Deliverables Business is now available on the SXSW site. The slides are available on Slideshare. I’ll work on melding the two … Continue reading →

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Unicorn: a visual designer with UX chops

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Jeff Gothelf

I was speaking to an entrepreneur the other day when he mentioned he was looking for a “creative director with UX skills.” He added,”…someone whose aesthetic I really like.” I responded ,”Good luck.”

Posted in design, portfolio, Uncategorized, ux team | 76 Comments

Users are not snowflakes

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Jeff Gothelf

Every person grows up thinking they are unique and special. Your mother told you that and, to this day, you believe it. The customers coming to your web site are no different. They each come expecting you to deliver an … Continue reading →

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Rock bands and Startups

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Jeff Gothelf

For a good portion of the 90’s and early 00’s I was a touring musician. There were 5 or 6 of us (depending on the band), we were young, determined and hungry – both figuratively (we wanted to be rock … Continue reading →

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UX Designer as Product Owner

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Jeff Gothelf

For the past 4 months I’ve been functioning as the Product Owner for my Scrum team. Interestingly, I’m also the UX designer for the team. Many articles point to the challenges, at times seemingly insurmountable, that this dual-role creates. While … Continue reading →

Posted in agile, ux team | 21 Comments

Empathy

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Jeff Gothelf

I once sat next to a newly-diagnosed MS patient while walking him through an online description of the progression of that disease. It was devastating. Another time I interviewed a long-suffering Psoriasis  patient about her frustration with the lack of … Continue reading →

Posted in design, Productivity, Research, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

You Don’t Need a UX Portfolio

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Jeff Gothelf

“Can they draw straight lines?” That’s what my boss asks me each time I meet a new UX Design candidate. I’ve interviewed a lot of UX Designers over the past two years. Inevitably (and at my request in most cases) … Continue reading →

Posted in career path, design, portfolio | Tagged , , , , , , | 45 Comments

I was Agile before it was cool

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Jeff Gothelf

I totally wasn’t. And the image below proves it: I received this illustrious award after coining the phrase “rogue developer” while on the AOL Explorer project (a surprisingly successful browser AOL launched in the early-mid 00′s). To me, a rogue … Continue reading →

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Designing The Damn Thing

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Jeff Gothelf

Over and over again, it seems, practitioners within the User Experience world stir up flame wars and heated debates about what it is exactly that we do and what it should be called. From Interaction Design to User Experience Design … Continue reading →

Posted in career path, design, ux team | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Why I spent my weekend talking Agile and User Experience

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Jeff Gothelf

“What are you going to do this weekend?” “I’m going to hang out in the Financial District with a bunch of folks from various disciplines and locations to discuss the intersection of Agile and User Experience.” “All weekend? Um, that … Continue reading →

Posted in agile, Conferences, design, ROI, startups, ux team, work ethic | 9 Comments