Late MX2012 Redux
Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 8:40PM 
Just a few of my stream of concious notes from Adaptive Path's MX 2012.
From Geneveive Bell, Director of Interaction and Experience, Intel Labs
- Geneveive Bell explained the difference between exogenous vs. endogenous organizations. It greatly impacts the organization's culture.
- UX needs to work ahead -- way ahead of the rest of the company.
- We have moved from an economy of interactions to a economy of relationships.
- UX Ethnography -- We're not just a bunch of glorified tape recorders.
- Remember, you are the custodian of your users' stories.
- Tell users' stories right. Give them power.
- On every new product or redesign ask the same question: where are your insights?
UX is a point of vew. UX is an assemblage. UX is an intervention. An intervention is disruptive.
"I am asking for a different outcome."
UX Recruiting in a Competitive Landscape by K. Myers and M. Fuentealba
- Make a roadmap for recruiting – Like requirements and features for a product, a resource can be planned for in the very same way.
- Create accurate job descriptions – A lot of managers make the descs too broad out of desperation and needing to cast a wider net. This is actually more detrimental to the remainder of the hiring lifecycle.
- Partner early with recruiters – Whether internal or external, frequent meetings to really mind meld about the person/hard skill set you are seeking.
- Rally your core interview team – Meet in advance and really have a plan for the interview. Never interview without them.
- Make them love you – This is a critical step. You have to differentiate why your company and particularly your team are better than any place else they may choose to work. Court them.
- Act fast – Most UX pros interviewing nearly always have multiple interviews. They will take a slow response to mean that they might need to take an offer elsewhere.
And now random stuff without much in the way of attribution.
- Organizations in which people feel they have little influence over matters that affect them become cultures of complaint. - from Exercising Influence by B. Kim Barnes
- Three trends creating new opportunities and threats: ubiquitous access, social networking and collaborating, Internet of Things (aka The Industrial Internet).
Earthshaking Day at MX
Monday, March 5, 2012 at 9:38PM 
View From the Wobbly Room
I was in San Francisco attending Adaptive Path's MX 2012 conference when I was 'gently' awakened by an earthquake. Although it was only a 4.0 on the Richter Scale, it felt like it was punching above its weight as I felt in on the 15th floor of my hotel. Nice bit of amplification indeed. Being in a wobbling highrise was a first for me. It was actually kind of cool. It would be even cooler if it never happens again.
Wheels Up for Germany
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 2:38AM 
Heading to Germany for a week of meetings and Ethnographic study. So many places to go. So little time to do it all.
Wheels Up for LAX
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 7:53AM 
Heading to Los Angeles
On the early Virgin America flight out to LAX. Two days of meetings. Two days of really listening and discovering how and where my team and I can improve a lot of existing applications that yearn to be overhauled from a user experience perspective.
It's always exciting to start new, really big projects like this. I wonder where we land at the end of it all. But for now, landing at LAX will be a good start.