I’m thrilled to have been invited to contribute a piece to Ladies in Tech, a new site celebrating and supporting female speakers in technology. Published today, Speak and Be Seen is a deeply personal story of how I first got involved in public speaking and the massive fears I’ve had to overcome along the way. [Keep Reading...]
The truth about the presentation process
February 21, 2013 by 5 Comments
Having the opportunity to speak to an audience who cares what you have to say and believes they can learn something new from you is a totally surreal experience. Especially when you consider that months of work pours out of you in under an hour. I’ve been speaking at conferences since the fall of 2008. [Keep Reading...]
What’s Your Problem? Putting Purpose Back into Your Projects
October 18, 2012 by 24 Comments
[This is the written form of my presentation What's Your Problem? Putting Purpose Back into Your Projects] Our story begins in the 1980s at Procter & Gamble, the largest consumer goods company in the world. They make Bounty, and Mister Clean, and Dawn and lots of other brands you know and love. P&G was raking [Keep Reading...]
Sketched
October 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I was sketched while presenting at An Event Apart Boston 2012 by the highly accomplished artist Fish McGill: The 5 Whys and Fishbone Diagram on either side of my head are techniques I discuss in my talk, What’s Your Problem? Putting Purpose Back into Your Projects. Check out all of his portraits from the event. [Keep Reading...]
Featured in The Art of Web Design by PBS Off Book
September 24, 2012 by 2 Comments
I’m honored to have been featured in the latest episode of Off Book, a documentary series by PBS, alongside greats Jeffrey Zeldman and Jason Santa Maria. Titled The Art of Web Design, the video gives a high-level overview of how the web is made and how it has evolved. Not surprisingly, I focused on why [Keep Reading...]
Designing the Company, Not the Product
August 15, 2012 by 4 Comments
In April, I posted a tweet that became one of my most retweeted of all time. Designing the product is all for naught if you don’t first take the time to design the organization. — Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) April 20, 2012 It was a single statement that was the culmination of 9 months of identity [Keep Reading...]
Knowing Why Beats Knowing How
August 6, 2012 by 12 Comments
Last year around this time, I started following an eating plan called The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss. At the same time, I was feverishly traveling the globe presenting my talk Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX. Midway through the book, Tim begins a chapter with a quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson that draws a [Keep Reading...]
