Tag Archives: teamwork

To be truly great, designers must think critically and analytically

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 0 Comments

“To be truly great, we have to understand the motivation of our clients, maintain constant two-way communication with shockingly uncreative people, get a firm handle on copywriting and how that craft exists symbiotically with the visual element, and foresee how the finished whole will be greater than the sum of the bits and pieces we spent hours obsessing over. All of these factors cascade into the final product.” - Kevin Potts

“To be truly great, we have to understand the motivation of our clients, maintain constant two-way communication with shockingly uncreative people, get a firm handle on copywriting and how that craft exists symbiotically with the visual element, and foresee how the finished whole will be greater than the sum of the bits and pieces we spent hours obsessing over. All of these factors cascade into the final product.” – Kevin Potts

Read Kevin’s article “The Details That Matter” for his thoughts on how successful designers think critically and analytically about the details of a project.

Filed Under: Kevin Potts

UX suffers when we wall ourselves off from the rest of the organization

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 0 Comments

“UX suffers when we wall ourselves off from the rest of the organization. Getting people from other disciplines involved gives them the opportunity to feel that you’re all working toward a common goal. At the same time, it gives you the opportunity to advocate user-centered thinking and gain that critical buy-in.” - John Ferrara

“UX suffers when we wall ourselves off from the rest of the organization. Getting people from other disciplines involved gives them the opportunity to feel that you’re all working toward a common goal. At the same time, it gives you the opportunity to advocate user-centered thinking and gain that critical buy-in.” – John Ferrara

Read more from John and other UX professionals on the topic of “Evangelizing UX Across an Entire Organization” in the UXmatters article by Janet M. Six.

(It’s about time I quoted a fellow Vanguard Information Architect ;) )

Filed Under: John Ferrara

A good UX designer should ask “what does this have the potential to be?”

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 1 Comment

“What UX designers offer that’s special is help building a vision for what the product can and should be. This is not a reductive ‘getting things done’ approach. It’s a generative ‘what does this have the potential to be’ kind of approach. A good UX designer should encourage the team to ask that question, facilitate a process that brings the whole team along in answering it, and then make those answers tangible, doable, and, yes, a little bit pretty.” - Leah Buley

“What UX designers offer that’s special is help building a vision for what the product can and should be. This is not a reductive ‘getting things done’ approach. It’s a generative ‘what does this have the potential to be’ kind of approach. A good UX designer should encourage the team to ask that question, facilitate a process that brings the whole team along in answering it, and then make those answers tangible, doable, and, yes, a little bit pretty.” – Leah Buley

Read Leah’s article “Burndowns and Flareups in Agile Design” here.

Filed Under: Leah Buley

A successful company is one where everybody owns the same mission

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 2 Comments

“I think a successful company is one where everybody owns the same mission. Out of necessity, we divide ourselves up into discipline groups. But the goal when you are actually doing the work is to somehow forget what discipline group you are in and come together. So in that sense, nobody should own user experience; everybody should own it.” - Don Norman

“I think a successful company is one where everybody owns the same mission. Out of necessity, we divide ourselves up into discipline groups. But the goal when you are actually doing the work is to somehow forget what discipline group you are in and come together. So in that sense, nobody should own user experience; everybody should own it.” – Don Norman

Read more from an interview with Don Norman on where user experience should be positioned within a company in this article.

Filed Under: Don Norman

Begin any design project with the mindset of “I don’t know what I don’t know”

Posted on February 20, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 0 Comments

“I think if you’re starting out early in the process by talking about your ideas for solutions, you’re already not listening. I think you need to enter into any design project with that zen learner’s mind of ‘I don’t know what I don’t know.’” - Kim Goodwin

“I think if you’re starting out early in the process by talking about your ideas for solutions, you’re already not listening. I think you need to enter into any design project with that zen learner’s mind of ‘I don’t know what I don’t know.’” – Kim Goodwin

Hear more from Kim Goodwin on “Excelling at Interaction Design” in this podcast from Jared Spool.

Filed Under: Kim Goodwin

Collaborating to provide insights can lead to positive customer experiences

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 0 Comments

“My definition of a ‘customer centric’ culture is where people are asking the right questions to the right people, who are able and willing to collaborate to provide their insights. In such a culture, over time, individuals ask the right questions more often and get the right answers more often. This is a reinforcing feedback loop. As this culture takes hold, more and more of the solutions coming out of the group would yield positive customer experiences.” - Secil Watson

“My definition of a ‘customer centric’ culture is where people are asking the right questions to the right people, who are able and willing to collaborate to provide their insights. In such a culture, over time, individuals ask the right questions more often and get the right answers more often. This is a reinforcing feedback loop. As this culture takes hold, more and more of the solutions coming out of the group would yield positive customer experiences.” – Secil Watson

Read more from Secil in Richard Anderson’s Riander Blog entry “Breaking Silos.” Secil describes why collaboration and integrated work practices are critical to the success of any team.

Filed Under: Secil Watson