Very often, I think people do not understand what I mean by User Experience (UX). They think its paint that goes on AFTER a product has been defined and possibly built. Maybe it is deciding where the button goes. I think UX is different. UX is about looking at the world through special eyes. Eyes…
Quick history lesson: Apple Mac was easier. Windows 3.1 was more successful. Apple System 7 were easier/better then Windows 3.1. Windows 95 was as good as Mac System 7-8. Windows 98 was a little better, maybe. Windows 2000 was multi-threaded and was MUCH better than Mac System 9. Windows XP was a nice improvement and was MUCH…
Somebody at Google is trying to confuse me. They keep moving the Google Reader link. Sometimes, its in the menu and sometimes it’s at the top. I can’t deal with buttons moving. Is that lame? Ok, maybe. I wish Google would consider some more advanced UI for stuff like this. Check out this basic EXT…
Of course, I couldn’t help myself. I need my new beta software fix. Must use new software. The upgrade went flawlessly AS USUAL for WordPress. The UI is cleaned up and so far, I like it. I haven’t used it enough to really get a feel for it. Right now, I am trying the editor…
I went to a conference today at Yahoo. Nice campus. It was P-CAMP Unconference for Product Managers. I took alot away from it. Some learnings: There is a huge chasm between what serious Agile practitioners proscribe and what most companies who say they are doing agile actually do. One guy said, “You just have to…
I’m up early again. I get ideas in the middle of the night and need to wake up and record them. Anyway, this is a follow-up from the last post. I think I have a new idea how to manage predictions in a software project. This would fit in nicely with a program like TargetProcess.…
Project management is hard work. I feel for anyone who has to do it in the software industry. The problem is simple. To do any kind of prediction in project management, you need to be able to guess how long something will take. Let’s say you want to build a web page. How long will…
The Jets have made some great free agency moves. My general philosophy is that a team lives and dies on the line. O-line got improved with Alan Faneca. I expect D’Brick and Mangold to improve dramatically with Faneca in between them. They need his veteran presence. This will lead to Thomas Jones (RB) to having…
I downloaded Internet Explorer 8 to install. It gave me an error saying, “IE8 is not supported on this operating system.” I am running Vista. Seriously? It doesn’t work on Vista?? What OS are they using over there? Vista is the latest. Are they really using XP? Man, Microsoft needs to work on Vista. This…
I can hardly remember the growing pains from Koko. We had 30 people at the peak. I remember agonizing over organizational charts. I remember thinking about communications lines. I remember how hard it was to get engineering leaders to communicate effectively (at all) to account managers. I remember isolated incidents, but I really don’t remember…
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.…
Our washer and dryer is on its last legs. I think it was purchased about 20 years ago. Its a cheap stacked unit. Very small, breaks down alot. We are thinking of replacing it with two good modern units. However, there are a million options. Do you go with a top loader or a front…
Anyone interested in getting the flu? Well, come on down! You are the next contestant in, “The Virus is Right”! First it was Jared, then it was Katie, now its Matthew. All with high fevers and flu-like symptoms. Cough and fatigue mostly. I am trying to avoid getting too close to any of them. It’s…
At work, they promoted me to Director, UX and Product Management. I feel pretty excited about the whole thing. As part of taking on more product management responsibilities, I can also hire a product manager to report to me. I haven’t managed anyone since 2002. Very exciting! It brings back all these thoughts about mentoring…