The User Experience Team of One, by Leah Buley Most of the smaller software vendors I work with struggle with UX. It is really difficult for them to find the talent, the resources and the time to do the design work they really want to. Even as they make uncomfortable compromises (engineering mostly wins) they know they are also making mistakes.
Before purchasing I checked out the complete Rosenfeld Media collection and discovered a plethora of engaging talks by the authors on YouTube (such as Steve Portigal's talks on interviewing users). I was tempted by most, if not all the titles... which should I read next?
My favourite aspect of Leah Buley's book was she didn't get bogged down in the 'how'. In fact she delivered a complete reading list near the beginning if that's what you were looking for. In a world where many publications claim to be all encompassing and the final authority on a topic, that was refreshing.
My biggest take away was less thinking, more testing. By testing I'm also talking about gathering qualitative data, to understand and empathise with the user experience.
One idea that sounded trivial at first, but is increasingly brilliant the more I think about it was the idea of attaching concepts to physical objects. How often do we do that? Not enough. We're reliant on our working memory to painfully move concepts around (in a fashion that rivals my poor parallel parking abilities). Stephen P. Anderson (another Rosenfeld Media author) expanded on this idea in his YouTube talk.
Of course most corporate environments might attach concepts to physical objects from time to time , "This marker pen is our distribution, Greg's phone is our customers, Carol's coffee cup is our data warehouse..." but Leah showed a glorious image of using dedicated props (from toys, cake decorations, you name it) with clear concept labels. Stuff you would actually want to interact with, move around, and find new relationships with. For teams discussing ideas, it looked invaluable.
Thanks for the recommendation, Donald. Looking forward to the next one!
I thoroughly enjoyed this recommendation.
Before purchasing I checked out the complete Rosenfeld Media collection and discovered a plethora of engaging talks by the authors on YouTube (such as Steve Portigal's talks on interviewing users). I was tempted by most, if not all the titles... which should I read next?
My favourite aspect of Leah Buley's book was she didn't get bogged down in the 'how'. In fact she delivered a complete reading list near the beginning if that's what you were looking for. In a world where many publications claim to be all encompassing and the final authority on a topic, that was refreshing.
My biggest take away was less thinking, more testing. By testing I'm also talking about gathering qualitative data, to understand and empathise with the user experience.
One idea that sounded trivial at first, but is increasingly brilliant the more I think about it was the idea of attaching concepts to physical objects. How often do we do that? Not enough. We're reliant on our working memory to painfully move concepts around (in a fashion that rivals my poor parallel parking abilities). Stephen P. Anderson (another Rosenfeld Media author) expanded on this idea in his YouTube talk.
Of course most corporate environments might attach concepts to physical objects from time to time , "This marker pen is our distribution, Greg's phone is our customers, Carol's coffee cup is our data warehouse..." but Leah showed a glorious image of using dedicated props (from toys, cake decorations, you name it) with clear concept labels. Stuff you would actually want to interact with, move around, and find new relationships with. For teams discussing ideas, it looked invaluable.
Thanks for the recommendation, Donald. Looking forward to the next one!