My project intake process
A standardized intake process helps designers frame a project correctly. If we dive right into implementation, we can miss important contextual clues or problems. These often don’t …read more
Data tables, part 3: user feedback and messaging
At the end of 2015, my company went through an ‘open enrollment’ period, where employees have the option to change or upgrade their benefit elections. I went …read more
Tips from psychology to help you make better decisions in a complex world
The world is complex and crowded. In the minute that it took me to think of this introduction, Facebook alone recorded 2 million likes. According to a …read more
Gmail-style data-tables, part 2
Is anyone else obsessed with data tables? In enterprise UX design, I find that data-tables are central to user’s lives – and yet so often, they are …read more
Soft skills are way more important, according to research
When we think of what skills lead us to success in our careers, we’re nearly always wrong. Most people would list technical abilities as those skills that …read more
Why You Should Use Google’s Material Design for Your Enterprise App
Once upon a time, Android developers were making awful, terrible mobile applications. Enter Google’s Material Design. Suddenly, designers and developers had easy access to a fully-realized design …read more
When UX designers ignore this crucial technology, it hurts an app’s entire user experience
With so much to keep in mind when starting a project, it can be easy for product designers to take a given product’s technology stack for granted. …read more
Successful career transitions – The first week in a new job
Making a career transition is an exciting time – new people to meet, new processes to learn and new responsibilities to hold (and hopefully a salary bump …read more
5 Ways to Use ‘Lean’ Methodology to Hire the Best People
TL;DR Summary Get interviewees inside the real context of your business and your team immediately, and see how they perform. You’ve got an hour of their time …read more
Why I woke up at 4am and drove 300 miles to talk to 10 users on-site
I just got back from an on-site visit in Dallas, TX. It was a hit-the-road-at-4:30am and get back at 9pm kind of day. It can be easy …read more
I’m learning to be a product manager because I find it interesting. Here’s what I’ve learned so far
At my current company, we don’t have a product manager. As a result, I’ve found myself having to step up and take on tasks traditionally reserved for …read more
The Hidden Army of Workers Responsible for the Huge Success of Google Maps
I never thought about Google Maps much until I saw Luke Wroblewski speak at the UI19 conference in Boston. His talk covered a range of topics, but …read more
What designers get wrong when they talk about affordances
We all hate jargon and yet – we all use it. It’s one of the ways that we professionalize our work, and it helps us identify others …read more
How to make Gmail-style, user-friendly tables: Part 1
In my experience with enterprise software, it seems that no other data interaction tool gets as much use as the humble table. So let’s make sure we’re …read more
How flat design uses psychology to trick us into believing it’s better
It looks simple, and therefore it must be easy to use…right? But of course this isn’t always true. The disconnect between perceived complexity and operational complexity is one …read more
6 1/2 things to learn from the failure of the Amazon Fire phone
Successful people rack up their share of failures too. The Fire phone is the most recent, but certainly not the only example of an Amazon product flopping. What can …read more
Defending your design decisions
Something no one ever tells you about working as a product designer is that you are constantly defending your decisions. As soon as you start designing wire …read more
Why early wireframes need to look hand-drawn
There are many kinds of mockups to show users and stakeholders. Different levels of fidelity will elicit a variety of feedback. In UX, we generally assume that …read more
How to Hire Awesome UX Designers
This article first appeared on LinkedIn Pulse, LinkedIn’s effort to get its users to write and create LinkedIn content for free. I have mixed feelings about publishing on …read more
Make better infographics
Let’s face it; we’re living in an age of total data overwhelm. We need to be able to quickly understand what’s going on in a set of …read more