ugleah

Interesting discussion on IXDA about success metrics for an in-house UX group

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:21:00 -0700

Interesting discussion on IXDA about success metrics for an in-house UX group:

While I’m not sure if I agree with the actual metrics themselves (number of layouts delivered seems sort of meaningless and easy to inflate, as Scott Berkun points out in the discussion thread), but I’m interested in the basic idea of regularly measuring yourself as a group (or as a team of one, natch), and gauging your own progress against that.

Even just asking your clients in a regular and structured way about how happy they are with your contribution and how much they think you’ve improved their product and/or process would be kind of groovy.

"Can In-house Design Departments Be Respectable?"

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:29:00 -0700

"Can In-house Design Departments Be Respectable?":

Intersting article on the AIGA web site right now that seems very relevant to the team of one scenario. Interestingly, a lot of the tips are around relationships management and internal marketing. Here’s an excerpt:

In-house designers continually express concern about why their opinions are not valued, why they are given very little time to get work done, why the plum jobs get sent to outside boutique shops and why there seems to be little appreciation for what they do.
What follows, then, are six suggestions to enable in-house departments to become valuable partners to their internal clients.

3 mins / Montana bound

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:34:00 -0700

I worked from home today, trying to get email and time entry and other odds and ends done, and felt incredibly guilty all day long. What’s wrong with me? I was productive! I swear! It’s just that if I’m not physically in the office, I worry that people won’t believe that I’m actually working. I think this comes from some kind of second generation lapsed Catholic guilt. My beloved grandmother’s influence is strong.

I’ve been feeling weird and strange about all things work related all day, as a matter of fact. Is this just the post conference funk? After being so sociable and voluble all last week, I feel strange and delinquent and anti-social this week. It’s causing me to seriously reconsider my public/private life balance. I’m having strange fantasies of quitting my job and moving to Montana. Montana, which I’ve never visited, is code in my house for opting out of one’s present life and starting fresh as a simpler, quieter person. I escape into this fantasy about once a week.

Ah, scrap it

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:54:13 -0700

I feel weird about using my blog to shill for panel pickers and the like. Please ignore the previous post. Hell, I’m taking it down. Blogs are weird. I am weird. Ok. Must stop typing now.

5 minutes

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:41:00 -0700

Here’s a personal and embarrassing admission: I’m pretty self conscious when I post to my blog. If you look through this site, you’ll see that I’ve been posting my photos for a lot longer than I’ve been posting my words, and that’s because I have more ego and self-esteem bound up in my words. I labor over what I write. I think more about the impression it’ll make on other people. They don’t just flow. They’re hard won.

But the thing is, for a long time, I’ve wanted to write more often. I’ve wanted to just feel free and easy posting whatever comes to mind whenever it seems to come.

I’ve been doing The Artist’s Way off and on for the past few months. (More embarrassing admissions.) One very interesting thing about the Artist’s Way, which is basically a program for sparking your creativity, is that you’re required to write “morning pages” every day — 3 pages of stream of conscious writing first thing in the morning before your internal editor has fully awoken. So, taking a tip from morning pages, I think I’m going to start forcing myself to write an evening blog post. Every day. For 3 minutes. No editing. No self consciousness. Just write whatever comes out. Starting tomorrow. Today would count, except I’ve already gone on for five minutes. So, 3 minutes of unadulterated stream of conscience begins tomorrow. Brace yourself, world.

Feeling really nostalgic for NYC after talking to cool New Yorkers today.

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:15:32 -0700

Feeling really nostalgic for NYC after talking to cool New Yorkers today.

I just stumbled upon this clever use of flickr to document...

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:47:00 -0700

I just stumbled upon this clever use of flickr to document quickly sketched screen concepts. Very cool example of clever hackery. (Be sure to hover over each screen after clicking through to flickr to get the full effect). Well done, dgray_xplane.

Jake Barton: my new hero

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:38:00 -0700

Sitting here at UX Week. This morning featured a really inspiring presentation from Jake Barton, of Local Projects. They’ve done work on StoryCorps and the National September 11 Memorial Museum and other really amazing interactive public installations.

I am officially inspired.

Jake showed how physical space design and interactivity can be merged to create not just a tangible feeling for the person in the space, but really among people in and through and as a byproduct of that space. It’s like exhibit design for the big wide world.

I’ve never felt terribly intrigued by museum/exhibit design because it seems sort of irrelevant when you think about the masses who never set foot inside a museum (and also probably because I was secretly insecure about being so uncultured and ignorant compared to all those lovely art history girls at Barnard). But this seems like a way to bring all the richness of of that experience out into the world and share it with everybody.

This physical + interactive thing seems to combine my lifelong fasctination with the design of physical spaces and the interaction design that has come to figure so prominently in my adult life. Wow! Wow! I’m so excited. Ok, calm down, Leah.

Comedy of errors

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:36:06 -0700

I just spent the last 5 minutes watching a man on the bus try to tear into a bag of dried fruit. First he tried to rip it open for the top. Then he tried to use his teeth. Then he grabbed opposite ends and pulled with all his might. At last, he got it open. It looks like he’s enjoying some dried pineapple right now. I don’t know why, but the whole scene filled me with delight. So much comedy! So much drama! Finally, victory! Life is sweet.

OH: Pam’s the man.

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:10:31 -0700

OH: Pam’s the man.

thanks @kaleemux, will investigate

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:09:26 -0700

thanks @kaleemux, will investigate

Just posted a sneak peek of “Good Design Faster” workshop design challenge here:...

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:09:26 -0700

Just posted a sneak peek of “Good Design Faster” workshop design challenge here: http://uxweek.crowdvine.com/talks/show/542

I’ve discovered the ScanSnap. Nothing will ever be the same again.

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:44:00 -0700

I’ve discovered the ScanSnap. Nothing will ever be the same again.

Should I buy some new T-Shirts?

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:40:00 -0700

Should I buy some new T-Shirts?:

A friend just turned me on to this web site, palmercash.com, which sells some interesting looking tee shirts. I’m thinking it might be time for a shirt-buying spree. Maybe a cute owl tee? (Or are those 60s owls kinda passe now?)

By the way, I have to apologize if my posts lately seem like my site has been hijacked by a spambot. I’m experimenting with pulling in my delicious feed, but unfortunately I’m not in the habit yet of naming my links in a blog-worthy manner. It’ll get better, I promise.

P&G Changes Its Game

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:40:00 -0700

P&G Changes Its Game: Good BusinessWeek article about design thinking at Proctor&Gamble. They use designy workshops as a counterfoil to MBA-style planning. This led to the web site olayforyou.com. (Try it! I did. Evidently I need eyecream.)

Wow, I just realized that delicious got a big makover. It looks great. When did this happen? Have I...

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:11:00 -0700

Wow, I just realized that delicious got a big makover. It looks great. When did this happen? Have I been under a rock?

Dragging my feet on my way to work. Dreading all that awaits me when I get there....

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:37:00 -0700

Dragging my feet on my way to work. Dreading all that awaits me when I get there. http://tinyurl.com/67s6et

(Just a quick addendum for the kind folks who sent their concerns and best wishes after this sulky post. All is well! Just very busy and feeling sorry for myself. You know, the usual. Thanks for the kind words, in any case.)

Silverback — guerrilla usability testing

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:39:19 -0700

Silverback — guerrilla usability testing

Seen on the floor of the #30 bus. What is this, New York in the...

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:52:00 -0700

Seen on the floor of the #30 bus. What is this, New York in the 80s?

Leah speaks!

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:51:00 -0700

Ok, so I’m pretty sure the only people who read this thing are family members and the odd friends from way back when. (Ben and Sarah, I’m looking at you.)

But just in case you’re somebody who’s interested in user experience and you’ve somehow found your way to my humble, silly blog, please know that I’m about to commence upon a spate of speaking engagements.

First up, I’ll be in Toronto on August 7th doing a workshop on sketchboards and prototypes with Adaptive Path’s senior technologist and an all around good-guy, Dan Harrelson.

Then comes the event of the season: UX Week in San Francisco, August 12-15. I’ll be speaking about being a UX team of one, and co-presenting a workshop with my not-so-secret hero, Brandon Schauer, on how to produce better designs faster using sprints and sketchboards. You can use the discount code “FOLB” when you register for 15% off registration.

Finally, if you’re lucky enough to find yourself in Copenhagen in October (sorry, not to rub it in, or anything, but I am!) please visit me and sock puppet wizard Kate Rutter at EPIC 2008, where we’ll be doing a workshop on pen and paper techniques for moving quickly from user research to design.

If you give a damn about user experience and happen to find yourself in one of those cities at the time, please get in touch (email me at leah at adaptivepath dot com) and let’s hang out and talk shop. Cocktails will make it fun, fun, fun.