product

Blog Post: We Are All #UX Designers

Whether that headline refers to your chosen profession or not, there is something about what we do that is affected by your product’s user experience. Whether the product refers to your job, your hobby, even your family, the interactions others have means everything.

The beauty of this piece from Smashing Magazine detailing 13 tenets of UX is the theme that we can’t work in a vacuum. We must involve others in the process.

Sometimes that means gathering large amounts of data. With the advent of big data, it brought along with it many means of collecting it. At my company, we can measure every click, hover and eye movement on a website. People measure steps, calories and heart rate with their mobile device. Data is everywhere.

Other times we must involve people. Every user will not experience your product the same. You may not be able to incorporate every opinion into your design, but enough feedback can be gathered to help most of them.

While gathering all of that can seem like a large task, it is part of a strategic plan. It does require bravery and a bold vision to execute. If you view any interaction with your product as all part of the same plan, you think about design differently.

That does require attention to detail, but that should not be a deterrent. Great UX is iterated upon cycle after cycle. Take each detail on one at a time, and before you know it a full experience is mastered.

Blog Post: We Are All #UX Designers

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Blog Post: This Is How We Innovate?

So let me get this straight: when you and your biggest competitor are working on updates to the same product, the idea is to wait until they release and then try to beat it? Not only did Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai decide this would be the approach for his company’s pending release of the PS4, he announced it for all to hear!

Granted, I work on product development of smaller pieces in the grand scheme of the technology industry. After the longevity the Play Station has demonstrated in the gaming industry, it’s hard to look at what you are doing in terms of a minimum viable product (I dare you to find a product manager who doesn’t know what MVP stands for). I still find it hard to believe that this is in any way a smart decision in terms of product development.

I can only imagine that blogs and tech journalists are going to lambaste Hirai for publicly admitting this, as will some rationalize the statement. Regardless, this is a statement made from a position of weakness instead of power.

So many people aren’t willing to stick their necks out there when it comes to big decision making. Smaller, safer decisions don’t get you fired by themselves. As a result, we go with the safer call. It happens if you are building a product, a company, even a professional sports team. 

Don’t let yourself make decisions from a place of weakness. Do your homework, inform your decisions, then put it out there.

Blog Post: This Is How We Innovate?

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Blog Post: This Blog as a Service

Fun weekend reading here. It does seem a little ridiculous that marketing is doing its very best to brand everything this way.

What happened to making a great product and letting that be its own service?

Blog Post: This Blog as a Service

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Blog Post: Open Source Art and the Rise of ‘Creative Coding’ – I wanted to share a unique community of developers who aren’t necessarily people considered “developers” a generation ago. These are true artists who want to use libraries and fellow creators to enhance the world around us. What an amazing notion.

Please pass this around and remember, the world adapts to people who choose a path and rally others to a cause. Decide what you want to make. I guarantee there are like-minded individuals who want to aid you in your journey.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
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Blog Post: Why You Don’t Need a Product Roadmap

I first started getting into the thoughts and ideas of 37 Signals because of my boss (who is an avid fan). They continue to show that you don’t need the biggest or most commercial of ideas to be successful. Swimming against the stream is natural for them, not a marketing choice (which so many companies try).

This post is by David Heinemeier Hansson who probably doesn’t need an introduction. It poses new and interesting thoughts behind age old business concepts. Definitely worth a read this Sunday.

Blog Post: Why You Don’t Need a Product Roadmap

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