ugleah

Big Art

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:31:59 -0800

Interesting compendium of massive, hyperrealistic sculptures of people. Why do I find this so mesmerizing? It’s like a feather tickling me in one of my tickliest spots: the fascination of the human experience. Via Webdesigner Depot

Lessons From Failure

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:43:52 -0800

I wrote a cathartic article for the Adaptive Path newsletter a few weeks ago wherein I gazed deep into my own navel and tried to make sense of some recent challenging project experiences. I’m reproducing the article here because this blog is the Official Record of Humiliation and Growth, Leah Buley style. (Also, because Chris is sick of looking at pictures of my coworkers making dumb faces.)

How to Recover From Project Failures
A Disaster Action Plan

Not long ago, I found myself sitting in a client conference room, moments before a meeting— summoning every trick of breath and mind control that I could think of to keep myself from crying. How had I gotten here? What had gone wrong? And more importantly, what could I do to put things back on track?

My friends, I was in the project soup.

We’ve all been here before. That redesign that you began with such optimism has become troubled, sickly, hard to maneuver. First it was small things: a few discussions with thoughtful but collegial disagreement, then a growing sense of strife. Soon you’re mumbling, “Who the hell does he think he is?” after every meeting. Eventually, you’re in an outright downward spiral with your project timeline, your team relationships, and the quality of your work all crashing together with swift and certain doom.

The good news is this situation is salvageable. Here’s how.

Step 1: Figure out what’s really going wrong.

Once things start to slip, the practical, interpersonal, and creative issues get so entangled that unraveling them can feel next to impossible. But from what I’ve seen, many project problems fall into just a few categories:

Absence of Trust — Even in the friendliest group of people, if this is your first time working together, there hasn’t been an opportunity for trust to grow yet. So when things are unclear or worries arise, there’s a layer of dramatic anticipation as everyone on the team watches to see which way things will go. Will it be a swift, easy resolution? (Trust grows.) Will it be a difficult, unsatisfactory resolution? (Trust diminishes.) But if questions or worries remain open as the work itself moves forward in an attempt to resolve them — a very common situation on design projects — the anticipation is never dispelled, and bit-by-bit it can curdle into tension as “we’ll wait and see” turns into “we haven’t seen it yet.”

Work Not Moving Fast Enough — In design projects, it can take a while to get from understanding the problem to figuring out what you’re going to do about it. If people on the team are unfamiliar with how this design process works, it’s natural for them to get antsy and worried. This can be compounded if you’re also dealing with the issue above: they don’t quite know what you’re doing and they don’t yet trust that you’re in charge of things on your end. Often, simply showing your work to date (or hurrying a little to make the design more real) will quell concerns.

Need For Better Continuity in Deliverables — Much as project sponsors and team members are excited about the prospect of a new design, they may not have a clear picture of the project outcome. (Or, the picture in their heads may be quite different from the one in yours.) In that situation, it’s natural to focus on the deliverables as the outcome, and measure the progress of the project by the progress of deliverables. You’ll be doing your client and yourself a big favor if you can demonstrate continuity in thinking in the evolution of each deliverable and in the handoffs from one to the other.

Communication Breakdown — Who among us hasn’t entertained a perverse fantasy to carry a secret audio recorder to capture an accurate record of each conversation? There’s nothing more frustrating than discovering that someone has a completely different memory of a conversation that you were both in. The same happens on projects. It’s all too easy for people to walk away from a discussion with very different memories of what was agreed to. Sending around notes after each meeting with a recap of major decisions and next steps can help everyone remember things the same way.

Notice that I didn’t list quality here. It’s true, in very rare circumstances, that quality of the work is a problem. But I have found that this is extremely uncommon. Most of the time, once the work gets rolling, people are excited to see the results. The real sticky wickets in project work are interpersonal. Which means, for better or worse, the solutions must be as well.

To figure out what your problem is, you might just have to ask.

Be Direct — if your relationship will allow it, talk directly to the people on the project team where you’re feeling the tension, and tell them what you’re seeing and why it concerns you. In my case, I cornered my teammate in a hallway and said, “Um, things feel weird?” That’s probably not the most adult and in-charge way of handling things, but at least it got the conversation going. If you have the presence of mind, maybe plan out how you want to approach the conversation and what you want to say in advance. Don’t expect that you have to solve everything in that conversation. The goal should be simply to assess whether what you’re feeling is real, and to get as specific as possible about what the issues are.

Be Introspective — Try this. Take a pad of post-it notes, and write the name of each major phase, deliverable, or part of a system you’re working on — one item per post-it note. Lay them all out in front of you. Now put a star on any post-it where you know people are less than satisfied and (this is harder) put a star on any post-it where you yourself know that something is problematic, incomplete, or not fully thought out. For everyone that has a star, write down what you think the problem is. Then, for each one, write down one idea for a solution.

Get Help — If you can’t see the problem and for whatever reason talking directly with the person you’re having conflicts with won’t work, enlist the help of a buddy who can be a neutral fact gatherer for you. Your boss is a good candidate for this, or maybe your project manager.

Step 2: Take actions to correct it.

Once you have a handle on what’s wrong, you’re in a much better position to do something it.

To get ourselves back on track, we hosted a Project Realignment Workshop. Notice I didn’t says Project Realignment Meeting. The goal here is not to ruminate over everything that’s been going wrong. That can cause the team to further stew in their resentments. Here, we want to be constructive and forward looking in assessing where we stand, and figuring out how we’re going to move the work forward with transparency and a shared purpose. Those are the things that will bring trust, speed, and continuity, and good communications to the project.

Here’s how to run a Project Realignment Workshop:

1. Find a room with a lot of wall space

2. Section up the space on the wall so that you have a spot for each deliverable and/or phase of the work. (We used big sticky notes, because we can move them around if we need to.)

3. Under each section, we tacked up the latest version of the deliverable (and any previous versions that still contained unresolved issues.)

4. Block off as much time as you can get from the team for a work session. (We blocked off a full afternoon: four hot and stuffy but well-worth-it hours.)

5. In the work session walk through each of the phases and/or deliverables from beginning to end.

6. For each item on the wall, Add a sticky note for every open issue, unanswered question, or major thing still to be figured out.

7. Revisit the project schedule. Knowing what you know now about the number of remaining issues and the work still be done, have an honest conversation about whether it needs to be adjusted. Don’t be afraid to blow your project plan if that’s what it takes.

8. Lastly, agree on the form that reviews and hand-offs will take going forward. Agree on how many review cycles a deliverable will have before it’s finished, and on a protocol for capturing and resolving feedback. (Ideally, this should all have been done at the beginning of the project, but if it didn’t happen then make sure it happens now. Or if the plan you started out with isn’t working, make it more realistic. In our case, we originally assumed that one review cycle would suffice. It turned out that we needed one review cycle at several levels in the organization, so in our new plan, we made sure we factored in for the three review cycles that would be necessary to move the design up the chain of command.)

A Project Realignment Workshop may sound like a big effort, but it works. In our case, it helped the whole team understand the total state of our work to date, and identify where we needed to re-focus our efforts to move the work forward. Looking to the wall of deliverables, we were also able to visualize the work still to be done and put specific estimates around it.

Step 3: Learn from your mistakes.

I’ll admit it: after this experience, I was a bit shaken. I blamed myself for allowing the situation to get out of hand in the first place, and I questioned whether I simply lacked the foresight and leadership skills for project success.

Thankfully, with the help of my advocate, I was able to recognize this as a learning opportunity. He suggested that I start observing other people who I thought of as good leaders, and writing down what they did that worked well in a “leadership notebook.” Since then, I’ve been carrying my little black leadership notebook with me everywhere I go. Here’s one from just the other day.

Taken 15 seconds after Dan said to Brian, “honey,...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:36:45 -0700

Taken 15 seconds after Dan said to Brian, “honey, you’re embarrasing me.” It’s been a long week with my coworker.

Thank you, Apple

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:59:00 -0700

Almost CCed the wrong person today on a totally stupid and embarrassing email. I had a half second of panic as I watched mail sending… sending… sending, and then, salvation! I clicked on the Airport icon and turned off the Internets. How I love macs.

Still married

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:56:00 -0700

More wedding photos added. The love never ends!

We did it!

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:52:10 -0700

We did it!

Sigh.

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:36:00 -0700

Sigh.:

Super 8 - 1974 from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

I know it’s 1974 and full of oil embargos and watergate and disco, but I wish I lived in this world.

Toe might be broken. Apparently if you try pulling on it, you...

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:17:35 -0700

Toe might be broken. Apparently if you try pulling on it, you can find out for sure, but if I pull on it, I might wretch.

Brandon is looking at my blog now. Trippy picture in picture...

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:23:36 -0700

Brandon is looking at my blog now. Trippy picture in picture effect. I feel too goofy today.

Brandon Schauer’s “Do Not Dusturb” sign. Oh,...

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:09:33 -0700

Brandon Schauer’s “Do Not Dusturb” sign. Oh, my clever co-workers.

One Hour Design Competition at Core77

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:45:00 -0700

This is awesome:

We’re inviting designers to create the most number of ideation sketches, on any subject, in 60 minutes.

My only gripe is that they’re not really giving you a specific problem to solve: “If you love shoes, sketch ‘em. If you’re feelin’ it for cars, we want to see those. If you’re into cellphones, gadgets, gizmos, fashion, or accessories, have at it!”

Call me lazy, but I don’t really start getting ideas until someone sets me up with a specific challenge. That’s probably what makes me a designer and not an artist (and I feel a little silly even calling myself that).

UX Week Discount

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:54:36 -0700

Hi folks,

Just wanted to pass along news about a deal on UX Week, now through July 5th. I thought some of you might be interested.

xo Leah

UX Week Special Extended Through Sunday, July 12th

In honor of Independence Day we’re offering UX Week registration for $1,776 through July 12th (regular price $2,495)

Use the code FOLB and get an additional 15% off that.

Go! Register! UX Week is going to be awesome. We promise.
http://www.uxweek.com/

Awesome d-bag vanity plate I parked behind this morning.

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:07:34 -0700

Awesome d-bag vanity plate I parked behind this morning.

What tools do you use to sketch?

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:03:00 -0700

I wrote an article a few weeks ago for the Adaptive Path newsletter about the tools I use for design-related sketching.

Imagine my delight to see other people now sharing their favorite sketching tools. Some cool additions to the toolkit:

Manga pens (from Jackson Fox)

11x17 graph paper (from Beck Tench)

Exacto knife qua pencil sharpener (from Michael Angeles)

Beck Tench also has a tip I love, which is:

“The first thing I do in a sketchbook is go through each page and number it w/ a soft pencil. This helps me reference and later find a specific sketch and also gives me a nice sense of progression as I sketch my way through a book.”

So, what do you use? Tell, oh tell!

Off to SXSW tomorrow and IA Summit next week. Drop me a line if you’ll be at either one. Let...

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:29:27 -0700

Off to SXSW tomorrow and IA Summit next week. Drop me a line if you’ll be at either one. Let the conference season begin!

A product’s design should not make you want to poke at the...

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:12:36 -0700

A product’s design should not make you want to poke at the back of people’s heads.

Burndowns and Flareups in Agile Design

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:09:00 -0800

Warning to my sisters and my aunties: this is about work. Feel free to read past. User experience aficionados, read on…

It’s a rare and special moment when life hands you a new first. I had one just a few weeks ago, when I found myself on my first panel discussion. It was at a gathering of software product managers who use Scrum, an Agile software development approach.

Here’s what I learned: when speaking on a panel, you never know what question you’re going to get next. That makes each one feel a bit like the pop-up that gave me a black eye the last time I tried to play softball. I could see it coming; it appeared to be slow and easy. But alas, I just couldn’t land it in my mitt.

Normally I love to spout off. To an audience? Even better. But this was a little different, because I’m sensitive to the way that the Agile and UX communities talk and think about each other, and, frankly, because the questions coming from the audience were so very specific about how to run an Agile project. So I was kind of shy. I did a fairly good job dodging questions until someone threw a zinger aimed straight for me…

“How do UX people measure burndown?”

Crack. Swish. Thud. No answer.

Burndown, in case you’re wondering, is basically a measurement of how quickly the team is doing the work. Each day, everyone gives an estimate of how many hours of work they have left, and the estimates are all added up, and that’s the burndown, or velocity, of the work. If you measure this regularly, you should see a steady and precipitous drop, steep and to the right. That’s a healthy project. Because Agile evolved as an antidote to slow, unfathomably-difficult-to-predict waterfall projects, knowing that things are progressing at a brisk pace and that the work is actually likely to finish when predicted is understandably important.

But I have to say, the question stumped me. Part of me wanted to quickly manufacture a way to actually measure UX burndown, to show that us UX folks can play nicely. But another part of me — the rude, argumentative part — wanted to say, “that’s not the point!”

Flareups, not burndowns

I’ve thought more about this since then, and here’s my beef: where UX design really has the most to offer Agile is not in getting the nitty gritty design work done. Placing the buttons and aligning the labels must be done just as surely as dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s. But that’s not the high value UX work.

No, what UX designers offer that’s special is help building a vision for what the product can and should be. This is not a reductive “getting things done” approach. It’s a generative “what does this have the potential to be” kind of approach. A good UX designer should encourage the team to ask that question, facilitate a process that brings the whole team along in answering it, and then make those answers tangible, doable, and, yes, a little bit pretty. (Jeff Patton, who is one of the strongest and most coherent voices for Agile + UX unity, has more to say on the importance of the designer as facilitator over on his blog, Agile Product Design.) Basically, I’m talking about the opposite of a burndown. Dare I say it? A design flareup!

Sprinting with design

That’s not to suggest that design must equal bloat. In fact, at Adaptive Path we have some ideas that we’ll be sharing in our upcoming two-day workshop Good Design Faster for how to make design as lean, swift, and results-oriented as Agile. Much like Agile development, our take on design sprints includes short, fixed periods of productive abundance and a “finished” product at the end — in our case an interactive prototype. (You can find out more if you’re interested, and register with the code “FOLB” to save 15%.)

I do believe that Agile and UX can find a way to work peaceably and productively together. In fact, many teams are doing so already. But we haven’t gotten very good at sharing the hows and the whys with folks in the Agile community yet. It’s time. If you’re doing interesting work with Agile teams as a UX designer, please consider submitting to Agile 2009, so we can all learn from each other.

NYC Nostalgia

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:01:00 -0800

NYC Nostalgia:

More lego cleverness here. I’ve also been listening to this song a lot lately, which just makes me ache with stupid nostalgia. How I miss New York.

Bird Mask & Cape Set

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:38:25 -0800

Bird Mask & Cape Set:

How awesome is this bird costume? It makes me wish that I had a little pint-sized friend to dress in one. Or that it came in adult sizes.

Things I wish my clothes could do...

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:26:00 -0800

Things I wish my clothes could do...:

This is an inspiring wish list from design blogger (and my big sister) Jen Buley. To think I’ve been undermining my own wardrobe with low expectations for so many years. All I’ve ever asked it to do is make me look thinner.