Category Archives: work ethic

Designing with remote teams

I will be speaking on working and designing with distributed teams at this year’s IA Summit in Baltimore, MD. As the author of a book on collaboration – a book that touts the benefits of collocated teams – the reality … Continue reading

Posted in agile, design, enterprise, Lean UX, Productivity, Uncategorized, ux team, work ethic | 8 Comments

Take that meeting…

“I don’t really use LinkedIn or Twitter.” “I don’t go to meetups.” “I don’t really have time to meet people.” These are just a few of the phrases I hear all the time from people I come across — whether … Continue reading

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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 | 7 Comments

Adding Game Mechanics To Agile Processes Part 2: Limiting In-Flight Cards

In the second part of this two-part series on adding game mechanics to Agile (read Part 1) processes, I want to discuss limiting the amount of cards a team has “in flight” at any given time.   By in-flight, I … Continue reading

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Adding Game Mechanics to Agile Processes Part 1: Card Aging

Seems like everybody wants to gamify everything these days. Far be it for me to not jump on this bandwagon as well . When properly harnessed, adding game mechanics to certain processes can make them more fun, engage the team … Continue reading

Posted in agile, Productivity, ROI, work ethic | 3 Comments

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 | 1 Comment

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

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The Battle of Phase 2 vs The Shiny Object

“We’ll take care of it in Phase 2.” Famous last words. This is the cry of compromise. It’s a phrase that echoes the silenced screaming of a thousand designers agreeing to less than 100% of the approved design being launched. … Continue reading

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Agile 2010

I just returned from a week in hot, sweaty and rainy Orlando, FL where I spent the bulk of my time at the Agile 2010 conference. It was my first time at such a specialized, non-design conference and I was … Continue reading

Posted in agile, Conferences, Productivity, Uncategorized, ux team, work ethic | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment