I gave notice to Intuit yesterday.  It is a sad moment for me.  There are some people there that I will miss terribly.  There have been a few people throughout my career that I have just loved working with.Ben Nadel, Tom Quaile, Sean Zimmerman, Florence Tang, Bill Mirbach, Chris Nesladek.

These are people I consider ultra-talented.  I wish I could work with them every day. The last 4 names are reasons why I would stay at Intuit.

Reasons I would leave:

1. Micromanagement is the norm.  In general, the powers that be don’t trust UX experts.  Everyone wants to be in the kitchen.  I know what I am doing and I collaborate, but I want to be able to weigh the different points of view and make an informed decision.  I don’t want to have a website-by-committee.  Telling me to change this color, or move this button or change this nav item name is just depressing.
2. Stretch.  Making money for Intuit is too easy for me.  I can beat the controls in the tests with my eyes closed.  Despite being able to do that, I am constantly fighting to maintain the design integrity because of #1 above.  I want to work on something harder.  Something that can make MORE money.  Something with more excitement.
3. Intuit bonus structure.  The total annual comp was fine and the benefits were great, but man, waiting for that one giant summer bonus was killing us.  We were in the red each month!
4. Career path.  I learned something very valuable at Intuit.  I don’t want to be a manager of managers and lose touch with the problem solving for  the user.  I would like to manage people on a team of contributors, but not a division where I only speak with managers of contributors.  I want to be a rockstar UX architect.
5. Intuit DNA.  The DNA of the organization seems more interested in HOW you conduct yourself on a project than with the end results of the project.  To be a rockstar UX architect, I would need some breathing room.  The DNA of Intuit says that everyone gets a vote and no one is the creative lead.  How is an important thing, but it isn’t the only thing.
6. Cubicles.  Cubicles suck.  I hate them.  I feel enclosed and cut off.  The walls are 5.5 feet high.  It’s a horrible physical environment.  This is something so fixable.  Like Ronald Reagan said, "Mr. Bennett (CEO, Intuit), Tear Down These Walls!"  Cubicles cause communication problems and severely diminish creativity.

I hope that I have had a positive effect on my colleagues at Intuit.  I hope that I have championed the user and made their lives a little easier.  I hope I influenced some people to make them better professionals.  I don’t know if I did any of these things, but I would like to think I had some success.

My new position is UX Architect for Marketo.  I am employee #1 or #2, not sure.  This is an exciting opportunity for me.  I have very high hopes.  Hopefully, this will be a moment that I remember years from now as the best thing I ever did.  My intent is to build a UX that is so compelling and so easy that users feel obsessed with using it.  The sales go through the roof and the company has a mega IPO.  I collect a bazillion dollars and have enough to buy a small fixer-upper house in Palo Alto or Menlo Park!

Technology note:  The new gig is not a jQuery shop.  Looks like I am going to have to learn YUI!  OK, well, new stuff is fun!  YUI and Marketo, here I come!  In two weeks.

Thanksgiving was a gala event at the Lipka house.  Scott, Rachel, Jim and Penny were over.  We had turkey and stuffing and lots of yummies.  I am so stuffed.  I must have eaten 40 lbs worth of food.  Katie asked us all to make Haiku’s before dinner.  You can read them on her blog.

Yesterday, I played tennis with Ethan and Jared.  They played the best tennis I have seen them play yet.  I had the longest rallies with each kid ever.  Ethan finally got the concept of racket face down and swinging low to high.  He has a two-handed backhand and a two handed forehand, like Monica Selis.  He needs to learn to grunt like her.  He expressed some desire to go one handed because that is what Jared does, but I think he should stick with the two hands.  He is making great progress.  We need Uncle Bruce to give them a lesson.

I made a pomegranate this morning.  We used to call it a Chinese apple.  My mom taught me how to peel one.  Put it in hot water and the whole thing falls apart.  Gently remove the seeds, and the skin rises to the top, while the seeds sink to the bottom.  Skim the skin.  Drain and voilà!  Yummy!

This has been a good Thanksgiving.

The Jets beat the Chicago bears, but lost the game.  They outplayed Chicago.  Two critical interceptions in the red zone took away the victory.  My heart sank.  I felt queasy.

Stress.  Stress is all around us.  We are disappointed all the time.  It is important not to let this dominate our lives?  So what if the Jets haven’t been to the SuperBowl since I was born?  Who cares if I do not have the perfect job?  Who cares if I don’t have enough money?  Are these things to dominate my outlook on life?

I say no.  There is always next season.  There is always next year.  If one works hard and is willing to take risks, then the possibility of success is open.  It is not the victory that is in my sites.  It is the journey to that victory that must be emphasized.  Give yourself a chance at success and whether or not you ever make it, you still have given your best.

It’s not optimism.  I don’t think that that unrealistic expectations are worthwhile.  Rather, I am a positivist.  I believe in trying something and believing in yourself.  A positive attitude is more important that winning.

In many ways, I feel the theme.  Make or Break.  I am reading in my book on Lyndon Johnson how he stole the 1948 Senate election. (Stole, bought, whatever).  I feel professionally that theme in my head.  And of course, the Jets are about to meet their destiny in a stadium in New Jersey, Sunday at 1:00pm EST.

The Jets will host the Chicago Bears.  Considered one of the best teams in the league, the Bears are favorites to win the SuperBowl.   it seems like they are unbeatable.  Thee jets can’t possibly win!  They can’t!  or Can they???!?

Oh yes, they will win.  I know it.  In fact, they will win by more points than has ever been scored in football in a shutout game.  Final Score: 79 - 0 (11 touchdowns and a safety)

Record: 64Philadelphia vs. Cincinnati, Nov. 6, 1934

This is the time.  This is the game.  The Jets will achieve their destiny.  It’s Make or Break.

Random Note: Today, I received some very significant news.

The Jets Win!  The Jets Win! The Jets Win!

Quicken just launched their new site.  I had nothing to do with it.  Sapient did pretty much all the work.  As an optimist, I wanted them to succeed, but looking at the site, I have trouble getting over some significant issues.  Task completion was definetely not a major part of the thought process.  The amount of text (not Sapient’s fault, I think) is entirely too long.  And the page sizes, my goodness.  The main Quicken product page is 380k.  That is insane!  The CSS is almost 4000 lines long.  How the heck did that happen?  My predictions on the site are coming true, unfortunately.  They are losing sales and customers are unhappy.  I am sure they will change the metrics of success to make this a win, but the site needs to be focused on task completion.  I could fix it.  No one is asking me.  Oh well.  Other fish to fry.

J-E-T-S!!!  Now for a prediction that I REALLY know about…The Jets will upset the hated Patriots.  The Patriots will call "mercy" at half-time with a score of Jets:106 (14 touchdowns and 3 safties), Patriots: 0.  This is a rock solid prediction.  It shall be.  Oh Yes, it shall be.

Believe it!  The Jets still have a chance at the superbowl.  Ok, I am starting to get depressed now.  I can’t keep up this charade.  We need help.  A running back, A defense!  Help!

Some of my work launched today on Intuit.com.  All of the account management features have had an overhaul.  Some improvements:

1. New design makes a frame around account management to clearly identify it
2. Dynamic error messaging/field validation.
3. Better Credit Card Info Management.
4. Order Status/History page redesign.
5. Email template enhancements.
6. Better workflow.
7. Bigger buttons!
8. We eliminated a ton of useless text.

Go create an account on one of Intuit’s websites.  You will see it in action.  I don’t think it’s perfect at all, but it is a significant improvement.