The minute I get started on something, I make enormous progress.  Things get accomplished.  The problem is starting to work on something versus procrastinating.

Simply stated, I procrastinate…then comes a magic moment, then I make huge progress.

What happens exactly in step 2?  Why did the moment start there?  Couldn’t I have started it further to the left?  Why don’t I start work right now?  What am I waiting for?  The Muse?  Inspiration?

This is a critical question to being a highly productive person.  The ability to force yourself to put down the stuff that wastes time and do the thing that needs doing is valuable indeed.

Hmmm…I need to cut this post short.  I have to work on something.  What could you be working on right now?  Make that magic moment happen.

People love the little things in life.  They also hate the little things.  I have a Projection DLP TV from Sony.  I appreciate the HD picture.  However, I hate, hate, hate nthe power button.  I always press it wrong.  How could they mess up a power button?

In my car, I love the little button that I can call Katie from the steering wheel.

These are just examples, but all of the time people get hung up on the details, either loving or hating them.  It’s the brains way of saying, “I can’t deal with all the input, let’s zoom down to a detail and I can make an easier judgement call.”

So if you are building a product.  Think about the little details.  Make sure to put a few things to love down in there.  Learn about the little things users hate, hate, hate and fix those little annoyances.  They usually are easy to fix but have enormous impact.

Don’t fight the brain.  Be one with the brain. Be the brain.

What does UX tell us about the iPad:

1. iPad was a stupid name.  The feminine product hook will remain a joke and bleed for a long time.  (Pun intended) Similar to the Tea Bagger movement.  Dumb name.  Tampod.
2. The iPad will kill the Kindle DX and not the normal Kindle.  Why?  The smaller kindle fits in a womans purse.  The DX does not, and neither does the iPad.  Also the battery life of the kindle is days, not hours. Kindle will also run cooler because it is not backlit.  Kindle is safe.  Kindle DX is in trouble.
3. The iPad will not kill the Windows netbook.  I am typing on a netbook right now.  It’s not that different from a iPad in fundamentals.  The iPad is lighter, and sleeker, but is it better?  I get more apps in Windows 7.  I get higher resolution native as well as projected.  Ipad is 1024×768 maximum on a projector.  Touch screen is cool, but my “killer app” is typing.  I am worried how easy it will be to type on a flat touch screen.

   Go to Best Buy or whatever electronics store nearby and try the newest netbooks.  They are getting faster and lighter and more flexible/powerful every day.  All for $400.   I imagine that touch screen netbooks are right around the corner.  All things being equal, I would rather use a full blown OS than the crippled iPad OS.  I understand they have all those cool apps, but that’s not my concern.

4. Lack of Camera and GPS on base models were huge mistakes.  They could have killed the TomTom /Magellen/etc navigators.  Lack of a camera means they also won’t kill some digital cameras.  Plus, GPS would have been huge for search and advertising.  Massive lost opportunity.  If I could suggest one thing to Apple, it would be to add in the camera and the GPS device.
5. The iPad will kill the Sony PSP and similar gaming devices.  Super sexy for gaming and bigger.  I see gaming to be the killer app here.  It’s the right size and has a ton of games already.  I could be wrong on this one, but hey, no guts, no glory.
6. The iPad will sell a bunch to “true believers”.  It’s super sexy.  However, I think it’s not the same sort of overwhelming win as the iPod or iPhone.  Looking forward to seeing it in action.

I recently read a book by Scott McCloud called Understanding Comics.  You might have seen his work on the Google Chrome comic strip.  Despite the fact that my blog is most text, I have been a huge fan of the image as a superior communications vehicle than text.  A picture is indeed worth a thousand words.

This is why mockups are so important.  Writing text is not nearly as effective in getting your point across to engineering or other stakeholders.  Comics are a great way to communicate a series of events.  Let’s say you wanted to explain the workflow of a particular application.  You could make a swimlane diagram or BPML, but it might be more effective to have a comic strip showing what the people do. Comics humanize the issue as well as let the user abstract away the complexity of the details and focus on the goals of the process.

Considering the fact that most people can only draw stick figures, the question is:  Are stick figures good enough for the task of communicating the flow of ideas?  Another question is:  How good does it have to be to use it as an external document?  If you look at Gaping Void by Hugh MacLeod, you can clearly see that “realism” is not required to look good and communicate an idea.  His drawings are distinct, but not particularly good when compared to traditional comics like Marvel.  So, I think the answer to the first question is Yes, stick figures are good enough.

The second question is harder.  Are stick figures good enough for external documents?  This example about the Google Content Network is gorgeous.  However, it’s simplicity is deceiving.  Clearly, this is the work of professional animators and artists.  I think there needs to be a professional touch to marketing materials.  Homemade stick figures won’t cut it.

This has me thinking that any decent sized company with a marketing budget should hire an animator/cartoonist.  If we make the assumption that comics and animations communicate better than text, then this sort of person could easily be used for Marketing, website, training materials, sales materials, etc.

Hmm.  I think I convinced myself that a full time animator/comic artist is a good thing to have in a company.  Maybe I am easier to convince than you are.

Your subconscious is much more powerful than you may realize.  It remembers everything and it can make quick judgments based on millions of experiences..  It’s a super computer right in your head.  The only problem is that it can’t be accessed in normal ways.  It tells you things in dreams and fragments and feelings.  However, I have discovered a specific trick that helps access the subconscious.

Let’s say you are trying to remember the name of a particular actress in a movie you saw long ago.  It’s right there, on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t remember it exactly.  It’s…It’s…Argh!

Here is what you do:

• Go through the alphabet and pretend that her first or last name starts with that letter.
• A – Ahhhhh, B- Bbbbb.
• Give each letter about 3-5 seconds.
• Eventually you will get to a letter and N – Nnnnnn NICOLE KIDMAN!

Your brain likes games and it loves associations.  Playing this little game gives your subconscious a way of shining through.  It has the information, you just need to give it a way to say it.

Next time you want to brainstorm a particular name for a product, or remember the company name of that guy, or remember the name of the restaurant, or a song, or book, or whatever….Just go through the alphabet and see if your hidden brain will help you out.