Writings
Random Musings on UX & Life
A Tale of Two UX Teams
In the sprawling suburbs of Chicago, there existed two organizations devoted to making life better for humankind. Each one developed products and provided services intended to improve the health of its customers. But their products were not always widely...
Top 10 Articles of 2018 – My Greatest Hits
A little more than a year ago, I decided to implement a system. I wanted to write more as part of an overarching career theme to increase my professional standing within the UX community. I have been writing for years but was never consistent in sitting down routinely...
Why Your UX Design Really Failed
Originally published on Medium. After more than a decade in UX design, I have seen a number of design projects fail. I have seen even fewer design projects reach success. And, I have watched entire programs fail in some instances. It would be easy to sit back, play...
Confessions of a UX Designer – Breaking Bad with UX Design
Originally published on medium.com I’m about to commit a cardinal sin against the gods of UX in penning this article. My design soul will likely suffer eternal damnation. And, like Judas Iscariot, I’ll be forever haunted by the sound of thirty pieces of...
Do You Really Want to be a UX Designer? (What You Never Learned in School.)
Originally published on Medium I have often wondered what drives people to become UX designers and why anyone in their right mind would pursue a career in this profession. When I step back and look at the overall challenges and hurdles, the trials and...
Service Design — How to Fail at the Checkout and Ruin Your User’s End Experience
Originally published on medium.com I have had something of an obsession with service design in recent years — especially as it relates to shopping and the checkout process at nearly any store to include e-commerce. If there is a single area where good...
9 Principles of Service Design
We all saw the videos of David Dao being dragged from United flight 3411. An entire nation watched in horror at how poorly Dao was treated. United Airlines faced a major PR nightmare and tumbling stock prices in light of worldwide rage over the incident....
Meeting Fatigue – Much Ado About All of Those Meetings
This is the fourth article in a series of articles I have written exploring the management of UX design meetings. The first article in the series explored the common mistakes we make in design meetings and how to avoid them. The second article explored 9...
Defending UX Design Decisions – 8 Essential Techniques
This is the third article in a series of articles I have written exploring the management of UX design meetings. The first article in the series explored the common mistakes we make in design meetings and how to avoid them. The second article explored 9...
Why I Write…or How Writing Makes You a Better Designer
I have been doing more and more writing lately - most of it surrounding user experience, leadership and creativity. Over the past year or so as I have assumed more and more leadership responsibilities in my day-to-day work, I have found writing to be a way...
IA Summit 2018 Chicago “Don’t Make Me Wait!” Resources
It was a pleasure and honor to speak this year at the IA Summit 2018 where I presented Don’t Make Me Wait! User Perception of Time & Software Speed. I always believe the best presentations are those that encourage further inquiry. This presentation was originally...
9 Ways to Improve Your Design Meetings
This is the second article in a series of articles where I am exploring presenting and communicating design in UX meetings. In the first article, I explored the common mistakes we make when presenting design to audiences and attempted to lay a foundation...
Design Meetings & Presenting Design – Mistakes, Foibles & Fumbles
This is the first article in a series of articles where I am exploring presenting and communicating design in UX meetings. In this article, I explore the common mistakes we make when presenting design to audiences. I also attempt to lay a foundation for...
The Illusion of Passion in Career and Work
A few years back, I developed this obsession with my career and my life. Perhaps, it was a bit of existential angst or maybe I had been reading too many self-help books. I’m not sure. But, several times (or sometimes more often) each year, I would begin grappling with...
Why Employee Engagement is Mostly Bullshit
This article was originally published on LinkedIn. I’ve lost track of the number of jobs I’ve had over my lifetime. If I could sit down and count them all, it could easily be more than fifty — I’m not exactly sure. But, I’d wager I have had a job for each...
Mastering the UX Interview: Techniques to Land Your Next Job in User Experience
This article was originally posted on Medium. I’ve lost count of the number of UX interviews I have sat through over the past eight or nine months. The number has to be close to a hundred or more. 2017 has been a huge hiring year for my group here at...
Why I Design in Healthcare UX
This article was originally published on Medium. Healthcare was something of accident for me. As I was working my way through graduate school, I never had any intentions of working in this profession — nor had I considered healthcare much of an option. Healthcare, to...
Trouble Recruiting for Usability Testing? Try Immersion Research
This article was original published on Medium. Read it on the Medium website. Let’s suppose you are designing a new app for a selected niche in a market. You’ve worked on the interface for the past month, prepared your specifications and even have a...