There are strategic UX leaders, and then there are tactical UX implementers. To be a strategic leader, one needs to broaden thinking beyond design and usability, and start thinking holistically about critical business goals and risks. As the broader UX profession moves from being artifact-based to results-based, this is going to be critical. However, I see the online UX community …
Learning to Think
At breakfast, my 6 year old daughter wanted to draw a peacock, so I pulled up a picture from Google. Her goal was to draw, and like most children, she has no challenge being creatively expressive. The teaching lesson became one of how to see, not how to draw. A few minutes later, I glanced at AVC and saw Fred …
The hardest thing about user testing and 5 tips to help
There are two established New York tech companies who do a great job of getting close and staying close to their customers: Meetup and The Ladders. Andres Glusman (VP of Strategy, Meetup) and Jeff Gothelf (Dir of UX, The Ladders) established regular, lightweight usability sessions at their respective companies (that’s them above giving Lean Ignite talks — see bottom for …
UX, prod mgr, HCI, UI, IA, wha?
I have been interviewing for product jobs, and it is staggering how there is no common language for product people. To some, UX means wireframe deliverables and visual information architect, and maybe even graphic designer. To me, UX means figuring out what should be built and why, how those concepts manifest in an actual product experience (with an emphasis on …
Quantitative vs Qualitative
I got into a really interesting discussion yesterday where I found myself defending lightweight usability testing. My core point: Analytics are great for What’s. For example, “A is better than B”, or “this is a problem area” What analytics do less well is help you understand Why’s. If you don’t understand the root cause, you can end up spinning your wheels …
Entertainment or Utility? (more on gamification)
Several years back, over beers one evening at GDC (Game Developers Conference), I debated design principles with Bernie Yee, my colleague at Electric Sheep who had previously worked at Sony (Everquest) and at Harmonix (Rock Band). He argued that any product had to choose between being an entertainment property or a utility. There are a lot of people challenging that …
Free Your Mind
A core concept in “lean startup” is that validated learning needs to be your initial measure of progress, not deliverables of other kinds. However, I suspect that many people struggle to internalize this and fully put it to work. Learning doesn’t feel like traditional measures of success. It’s not a line up and to the right; it’s not a successfully …
Lean Wireframing
Will Evans, who does UX design at The Ladders with agile-UX champion Jeff Gothelf, recently wrote a tweet that caught my eye: The hi-fidelity vs. lo-fidelity wireframe debate is silly. You use the weapons you need based on the war you face. (link) A wireframe is meant to communicate and test. You want to do the least amount of work …
12 Tips for Customer Development Interviews (revised)
UPDATE: CLICK HERE FOR A REVISED LIST OF 12 TIPS A year ago, I gave a talk at the very first Lean Startup Machine about giving customer development interviews. Tomorrow, I am doing the same with a new batch of LSM warriors and I have revised and updated my list (and accompanying text) as follows: 1. One person at …
A Product-Person Continuum
Since we ceased work on Aprizi in April, I have taken on some interesting UX-centric consulting projects and started to interview for “head of product” roles here in New York. I’m still on the hunt for the right fit. One silver lining to interviewing is you get asked interesting questions that can increase self-awareness. For example, the head of one …