January 28, 2013 at 6:37pm
If you are a designer, you should read this.
Read it and memorize it. What you will read below is what makes a difference between a professional and “the guy who makes nice stuff*”
When you’re doing work for a client who needs this website to serve his profitability, you’re directly affecting the fortunes of every employee of that company. This is a serious responsibility and something to keep in mind during the design process. As I’ve mentioned in other articles, you do actually have to care about the client’s enterprise. Else you can’t do your best work for them.
We’re the design experts. We’re the ones who understand how to bring focus to an important message on a web page or how to consistently communicate certain values visually, page to page. We’re the ones who understand what sorts of interface elements or mechanisms facilitate online shopping or that engender user confidence. But to do this we have to discover what needs to happen according to the client’s business aims and marketing plan and customer service model and user habits and expectations. These, rather than design issues, are some of the things that clients can help with.
This pertains to all kind of professionals actually. You need to care about your client and their business.
* Replace with wireframes, code, photoshop comps or alike.
Andy Rutledge, on Design Professionalism and Design Questions.
Read the whole article here.
January 4, 2013 at 10:23am
UX is a process, not a step
Quite a comprehensive list of UX Design process examples.
Some UX design process examples:
Don’t forget to check out more guidelines at UXMyths.com.
December 3, 2012 at 10:00am
So says wise Andy Rutledge.
November 28, 2012 at 10:00am
How diagrams help locate and capture value
James Kalbach described the model of value exchange diagrams like Business Model Canvas, Customer Journey Map or Mental Models.
It’s good to know why you are using particular tools. If you know that, and you can prove the value, it’s far easier to convince the client to use it.
November 27, 2012 at 10:00am
A handy cheatsheet for solving design problems. Keep it in the drawer next to your favorite pencil.
November 26, 2012 at 10:00am
“People don’t want a quarter-inch drill—they want a quarter-inch hole”
Jobs To Be Done theory for designers explained:
1. People ‘hire’ products and services to get a job done
People want to get things done (their jobs) and they ‘hire’ products & services to do them.
2. People encounter situations that drive the need for a job
Management guru Peter Drucker has said that “The customer rarely buys what the business thinks it sells him”.
3. People have criteria to evaluate the success of a job
People have criteria, either implicit or explicit, when looking to hire products or services to get a job done.
Please follow up to PebbleRoad blog, they kind of nailed it.
November 22, 2012 at 4:07pm
Execute, because done is better than perfect.
Fast-paced execution is becoming a standard in the competitive landscape. To keep up with the pace of adoption of individual customers it is necessary to deliver on the spot. This has been true for web-based companies for a while now, and I assume it will be true for any other kind of a company in a foreseeable future.
This is why companies need to stay connected, networked, just as regular people are. That is how startups disrupt markets, and how quickly iterated products, like Google Chrome, outperform sloppy delivery, like Internet Explorer.
It’s a thought I’ve been playing with for a while now. I like to think that the future belongs to small, agile companies that can react and pivot swiftly.
The majors could learn so much from startups (and actually, they do). You cannot adapt quickly if you lack a manageable, dedicated, focused team that is small enough to quickly resolve conflicts and make decisions.
Fast-paced iteration works to your advantage in yet another dimension. In case you deliver a flawed product, it will be far easier to fix it with continuous product improvement and delivery.
This is why done is better than perfect.
November 21, 2012 at 1:03am
You need focus, now more than ever.
The number of entities calling for our attention is growing. Updates, news, emails, and notifications are invading our mental space. And since our attention is limited, it becomes a scarce and valuable resource.
We can’t afford to get distracted.
If you consider time and money as important assets, I encourage you to put attention in the first place. It’s hardly possible to build anything meaningful if there is no sense of direction in our actions.
Hence, the ability to focus is becoming an essential life skill. It allows us to distinguish the important from the irrelevant and makes our actions meaningful and valuable.
This actually works on so many levels, from private life to business strategies. Focus puts your actions into a story that is clear and comprehensible to others. It gives you a structure that makes you credible. If you’re trustworthy, people will be more likely invest their time into any sustainable relationship with you.
And no matter whether you’re building a startup, a brand or trying to find yourself some nice company for life, you need this sustainability.
There’s no place for fuzzy, wide-spread and unclear agenda. You need to focus. I need it too.
October 6, 2012 at 7:49pm
Fight hesitation, make a decision and move on.
Do you need to make an important decision now? Ask yourself a question:
How much data you need to decide? Do you need it at all?
The real question isn’t whether you have all the facts. The real question is, “do I know enough to make a useful decision?” (and no decision is still a decision).
If you don’t, then the follow up question is, “What would I need to know, what fact would I need to see, before I take action?”
If you can’t answer that, then you’re not actually waiting for all the facts to come in.
Why is it so important?
Well, you can never have all the answers. To make a leap forward it is necessary to embrace uncertainty. Good enough is fine and done is so much better than perfect (especially in the era of transient abundance).
As a designer I often experience this problem*. I feel I can always make things better. But I need to move on and this is my way of dealing with that issue. Perfecting things is usually a kind of procrastination, and another form of waste.
It is applicable as much in business as in everyday life.
* I just revised this post 6 times.
Inspired by Seth Godin and Jason Fried.
