on getting to done

From John Swartzwelder, a writer for The Simpsons: But I do have a trick that makes things easier for me. Since writing is very hard and rewriting is comparatively easy and rather fun, I always write my scripts all the way through as fast as I can, the first day, if possible, putting in crap jokes and pattern dialogue—’Homer, I don’t want you to do that.’ ‘Then I won’t do it.’ Then the next day, when I get up, the script’s been written. It’s lousy, but it’s a script. The hard part is done. It’s like a crappy little elf has snuck into my office and badly done all my work for me, and then left with a tip of his crappy hat. All I have to do from that point on is fix it. So I’ve taken a very hard job, writing, and turned it into an easy one,…

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roi and inherent worth

I’ve been thinking lately about the impact of being asked, year after year, to define the “ROI of UX”. Early in my career, this was never a question asked of…

about “assume good intent”

Some time ago, I was having a discussion with a few other “people who sometimes give talks at conferences” (don’t want to call us “speakers” because none of us make…

understanding is an outcome of good design

As a manager, the most consistent challenge I see with early-career designers is the belief that with enough research, with enough information, with enough bench-marking, whatever, there will be a…

design fidelity and decision making

one thing that often doesn’t come up in discussions about design fidelity is the need to layer decision-making. if you start the process with high fidelity mockups, you are essentially…

a short thought about SAFe, et all

I could say a lot about particular delivery frameworks (SAFe, SCRUM, lean, etc.), but I think in general, the key questions to consider in evaluating their effectiveness are: Are you…

ideas are promises

In my new talk, I share that I like to think of ideas as promises. The word “promise” holds dual meanings, each of which is equally valuable AND necessary to…

designing serendipity

Resources and references from my recent talk Designing serendipity: intentionally crafting our success From the Sky Down documentary OK Go: How to find a wonderful idea (Ted Talk) OK Go…

what Wordle can teach us about mistake tolerance

If you struggle to understand the very direct relationship between mistake tolerance and creativity, I often reference Wordle (and similar games) to demonstrate this. How would your approach (and attitude)…