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Category Archives: startups
What The Karate Kid Can Teach Us About Agile and UX
In the Karate Kid (the first one, aka the good one) the seemingly innocuous Mr. Miyagi takes on wayward Daniel-san and teaches him to totally kick-ass in karate. While the movie is a prized trinket of 80’s pop culture, heartwarming … Continue reading
Posted in agile, design, Lean UX, Productivity, startups, ux team, work ethic
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Lean UX is not just for lean startups
As the conversation around Lean UX heats up in the blogs, Twitters and conferences a lot of reference is made to the ideas of lean startup promoted by Eric Ries, Steve Blank and others. Many discussions focus on how user experience … Continue reading
Posted in agile, design, Lean UX, Productivity, startups, Uncategorized
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Rock bands and Startups
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
Posted in career path, startups, work ethic
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Why I spent my weekend talking Agile and User Experience
“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
Call Their Baby Ugly and 4 Other Tips for Designing with CEO’s
CEO’s can be a tough group to design for – after all, it’s their vision with which you are now entrusted. I’ve been fortunate enough throughout my career to work closely with several CEO’s. From fledgling ideas to high-growth companies … Continue reading
Lean IA: Getting out of the deliverables business
Updated: This topic has been expanded with a broader focus from Lean IA to Lean UX. The full essay version of the topic can be found on Smashing Magazine while the most recent presentation deck version can be found on … Continue reading
Posted in agile, Productivity, startups, Uncategorized, ux team, work ethic
Tagged agile, collaboration, deliverables, experience, lean IA, value
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The Case for a Designer in Residence
Design is one of the key differentiators in the success of a start-up. It’s been exemplified in success stories like Mint.com, Gilt Group’s end-to-end aesthetic and experience and even larger successes such as Facebook’s clean and constrained interface trouncing MySpace’s … Continue reading
We are all designers
I work in an Agile shop. It’s been challenging making the transition and we’re still far from comfortable but we’re making progress. There are many changes to the way “we’ve always designed” when adopting an Agile philosophy. This post will … Continue reading
Posted in agile, Productivity, startups
Tagged agile, design, ixd, process, Productivity, visual design
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The Maker’s Schedule
In an email exchange with Jason Putorti (@novaurora) this week the term “The Maker’s Schedule” was brought up. I’d never heard it before and decided to investigate. My first inclination was that this was some kind of religious phrase that … Continue reading
Posted in Productivity, startups, work ethic
Tagged design, makers schedule, Productivity, schedule
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Can an existing org get real?
I just finished reading @37Signals product design/development manifesto, “Getting Real.” I came out on the other side of this read so full of energy — motivated to go back to work in the morning, fire everyone except my favorite developer … Continue reading