Musings and Bloviations
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During the height of the pandemic, organizations were struggling to adjust to a completely different way of working together. But the pandemic merely highlighted a slew of longstanding questions about collaboration in the workplace. In this presentation I distinguish among a variety of ways of working together, most of which…
Organizations, and their leaders, are struggling in the years after the pandemic to define their return-to-office playbook. What is the right narrative that will bring people back into the office? What are the benefits of working in a collocated space that outweigh the costs of the commute and loss of…
One of the workplace activities we rarely notice—bumping into people in the hall on our way to and from other places—turns out to be an unsung hero of innovation. As we find ourselves coming back to the office, many of us are rediscovering the delightful serendipity of this seemingly insignificant…
this second article on the UX Playbook (published on productcraft.com), I highlight each of the four Mega-plays and decompose one into its constituent micro-plays.
COVID and the global pandemic’s impact on working norms continue to raise questions about the nature of work and the “new normal.” How much time should employees be “in the office?” What is the impact of a fully remote workforce on an organization’s productivity, innovation and culture? By shifting work…
Design Operations - the optimization of people, processes and tools in service of design benefits from applying Design Thinking frameworks.
How can UX, Product and Engineering work together better if our frameworks aren't aligned?
In a series of articles I've written for UXMatters, I describe an approach to writing proposals for services that distinguish your value proposition from your competition by leveraging three key principles: 1. Bill by "piece work" 2. Be transparent 3. Put your customer in control of the scope of effort
Finally, after almost a dozen articles, I'm prepared to discuss a framework for a UX architecture, what I've called the PQRS Model, or Puzzle-piece Framework. To review, I've been mining Architecture (as in bricks-and-mortar) in the hopes of discovering ways to discuss UX architecture. Architecture has historically been strategic, no…
In this installment I propose a need for, and an example of, a model for UX architecture. Models allow us to discuss a system without specifying particularities about the system. This is important if we want to understand how the system can be put to good (or better) use. Models also…
Throughout this series, I've been using Architecture (bricks-and-mortar Architecture, capitalized) as an analogy for UX architecture (lower-case). Because Architecture has "had a seat at the table" for hundreds of years, perhaps we can learn from its success and apply those lessons to UX architecture, thereby increasing UX architecture's strategic value. In…
I argue, in the initial articles of this series, that a UX architecture exists. I argue that it is akin to Architecture itself even if UX architecture doesn't share the strategic position of its older and more established relation. I've also suggested that UX architecture will eventually get a seat at…
Continuing the thoughts from the most recent article, I dig deeper into how UX architecture pervades the entire enterprise, assuming the enterprise has anything to do with people. World-class UX architecture is world-class systems design. It takes an ecosystem approach to considering the users' experience of the enterprise's products and services.…
In the first set of articles, I’ve argued that Architecture is both strategic and political. These are two ways in which it differs from design. I suggested Architecture isn't just design on steroids: it's a broader activity, extending beyond the brief to which any specific design responds. Architecture is both the context…
We'd like to think we're successful because we do good work. But it's a little more complicated than that. To be successful, our good work has to be recognized as good, and that means the people we work with and for understand what we do. For UX architecture to enable…
The point of these blogs is to sketch out the notion of "UX architecture," something that many people talk about (or at least they post job descriptions for UX architects; I assume those people will be working on UX architectures...) but for which there is little documentation. I've been thinking…
In the first few installments of this commentary, I propose Architecture is (by definition) a political act and an essential strategic element of business. Within the corporate cubicles, whether as employees or as creative consultants, user experience professionals advocate for users—their agendas, their needs and their emotional experiences. We promote…
In this continuation of a series of articles about UX Architecture, I suggest that Architecture, by definition, is a strategic asset. Its strategic impact makes Architecture different from other types of design.
About eight years ago I published a series of articles on CHIFOO (the Oregon and SW Washington chapter of the ACM's SIGCHI) having to do with UX Architecture. I've re-discovered those articles and made them current, but as it turns out, not so much has changed in the ensuing years. For…
Season 2 Episode 1 - the premier episode for the season - in Portland, featuring Leo as one of the judges. A fun little exercise in helping startups get better acquainted with the ways in which UX can help them attract more customers, investors and improve their revenue.
In this keynote address closing the first day of Interact London 16, I offer persuasive and cautionary tales of time travel and its odd effect on the artifacts we design.
A 30 minute presentation to UX recruiters, helping them help ::us.:: In this short video, I suggest ways to write UX job reqs that avoid attracting mythical beasts.
In which Frishberg and Lambdin present Presumptive Design in a webinar format, specifically in the context of Agile, comparing and contrasting it to Lean UX.
In which I suggest the MVP has been misunderstood. It's about user stories, right? Enter the MTU.
In which I suggest that UX's responsibility for delivering emotional experiences may be more than most organizations are ready for.
In which I suggest we should fail intelligently as early as possible to avoid costly failures down the road.
