Whit Hour – Week 18

Thank you so much to the ~22 people who showed up for the eighteenth week of Whit Hour — my weekly one-hour video chat to answer any and all of your questions about user experience, consulting, and whatever else you throw at me.

Tune in every Monday night from 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour.

Whit Hour – Week 18

October 11, 2010, from 10:15-11:15pm ET

This Week’s Beer

No beer this week! (I was at mom & dad’s!)

Questions Asked and (Hopefully) Answered

1. Any tips for a newcomer to the UX consultancy field in NYC?
2. So what are the pros and cons from a UX standpoint to the various video stream platforms you mentioned (justin, livestream etc.)?
3. Do you get nervous when speaking in front of large audiences like an event apart?
4. What’s your response to recent refrain that companies are only hiring sr uxers
5. Can you recommend effective agile development methods? In terms of your direct experience.
6. What was your biggest mistake on a project?
7. Do you ever watch the videos of your talks afterword?
8. What is the best way to write user stories for someone in your field to work off of? I assume it is a diferent process than writing stories for a backened developer or designer with no UX experience
9. How much is UX is opinion-driven vs. data driven?
10. What advice would you give Ryan’s site gdgt?
11. What do you miss about an agency environment and what from typical agency environment and process do you most use as indie?
12. What’s the biggest surprise you’ve ever experienced on a project (e.g. what users did in testing was unexpected or something worked you didn’t think would etc.)?
13. If you could have any career (other than UXD) what would it be?
14. Can you be a designer working on a web project without knowing how to code? When I see a UX job post, they ask fot HTML, JS, CSS,… skills.
15. If you don’t code how do you do your job? are you just great at design (Adobe: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator) etc
16. How do you evaluate UX people?
17. How essential is UX to a web/tech startup’s succes (product/market fit)?

Full Text Chat

whitneyhess mod: anyone here?
Silvia: hello!
Silvia: I can hear you tiping
adamconnor: howdy
Ryan: So where did Barb and Lois eat today?
rowast: i keep meaning to come by and lurk and catch some wisdom, i guess this is my chance hooray.
adamconnor: no one ask a thing
Silvia: very excited to follow this live for the 1st time. Usually at this time I am sleeping in Zurich. It’s an honor to be in NY in these days!
rowast: does that bookshelf literally take up the entire wall?
mmo: test
jodyferry: hey!
adamconnor: no, but it’s funny
rowast: adam you don’t have to encourage me to just lurk and absorb whitney’s intellect
Silvia: thanks!
mmo: Any tips for a newcomer to the UX consultancy field in NYC?
rowast: theres an option below the input field
rowast: next to the underline button
mmo: Fresh HCI grad, never been to NYC
mmo: Never worked in UX consulting either
mmo: Job offer in hand
jponch: so what are the pros and cons from a UX standpoint to the various video stream platforms you mentioned (justin, livestream etc.)?
mmo: Great summary!
mmo: First
mmo: Correct
rowast: do you get nervous when speaking in front of large audiences like an event apart?
PICLYF: How much is user experience subjective vs. qualitative?
whitneyhess mod: IxDA NYC
mmo: Great. Thanks!
PICLYF: Hi, thanks for this event by the way. :)
brandonque: you have a great radio voice
whitneyhess mod: https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/11/13/new-to-new-york/
brandonque: what’s your response to recent refrain that companies are only hiring sr uxers
jodyferry: Mmo, see also: https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/06/30/so-you-wanna-be-a-user-experience-designer-step-1-resources/
mmo: Will do my best. Thanks for the help!
PICLYF: How do you rate a UX engineer? How do you rate yourself? How do other people measure your UX skills?
mmo: Thanks also, jodyferry
rowast: i miss that old yahoo streaming service that allowed a half dozen cams, whatever it was called.
jponch: I just signed up here and it was fast and easy, so bonus livestream
laurapeterson: hello
moorefilm: Hi Whit, can you recommend effective agile development methods? In terms of your direct experience.
rehumphries: Any interest in coming to speak at Pittsburgh’s Web Design Days since you went to CMU? http://www.webdesignday.com/
laurapeterson: Which was you biggest mistake in a project?
Ryan: Don’t do drugs
jponch: do you ever watch the videos of your talks afterword?
laurapeterson: and how did you fix it?
Ryan: Don’t laughh
rowast: You don’t try the imagine everybody naked routine
whitneyhess mod: Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun
PICLYF: sorry, i meant data-driven
willcole: What is the best way to write user stories for someone in your field to work off of? I assume it is a diferent process than writing stories for a backened developer or designer with no UX experience
PICLYF: im pronounced pick life by the way
PICLYF: how much is UX is opinion-driven vs. data driven?
Nana: hello
Nana: first time here Whit
whitneyhess mod: Y! Live
whitneyhess mod: Watchitoo
whitneyhess mod: Jeff Patton
whitneyhess mod: Agile UX meetup
moorefilm: thanks :)
rehumphries: oh wasn’t there that year!
Ryan: I-Justine is from Pitts
rehumphries: ok cool, i actually work with Val now
rowast: What advice would you give Ryan’s site gdgt?
rehumphries: bless you :)
brandonque: what do you miss about an agency environment and what from typical agency environment and process do you most use as indie?
laurapeterson: thanks :)
jponch: what’s the biggest surprise you’ve ever experienced on a project (e.g. what users did in testing was unexpected or something worked you didn’t think would etc.)?
adamconnor: If you could have any career (other than UXD) what would it be?
PICLYF: thanks for this great answer.
jponch: the jets game was delayed due to that lightning
PICLYF: i have a 2nd question. would love to have an answer for that,
Ryan: V’ thinks that when Dec. 31st comes; Lois should take the company cyber. It’s cheeper than buying buildings?
rowast: More immediate question: Did you bring an umbrella?
adamconnor: UX Team of 1. Isn’t Leah writing that book now? Should be a good read.
laurapeterson: Can you be a designer working on a web project without knowing how to code? When I see a UX job post, they ask fot HTML, JS, CSS,… skilld.
adamconnor: just one
moorefilm: same
laurapeterson: *skills
Nana: hello
Nana: Whit f you don’t code how do you do your job?
adamconnor: can you come design my new office?
Nana: are you just great at design (Adobe: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator) etc
whitneyhess mod: Leah Buley
whitneyhess mod: Rosenfeld Media
PICLYF: How do you evaluate UX people?
brandonque: agree!
laurapeterson: yay!!!
moorefilm: true.
laurapeterson: :D
brandonque: do NOT apply. But do be aware of the tech.
whitneyhess mod: Jeremy Keith
adamconnor: You don’t NEED to know, but it doesn’t hurt to knowing. Knowing how to build what you want to create has it’s advantages (but then, I used to be a developer)
whitneyhess mod: HTML 5 for Web Designers
moorefilm: learning the language
abr: What are the say, top 5, most important things to keep in mind while writing up standards for User Interface Design of a product? Audience for the document would be developers.
PICLYF: good enough, thanks
Shannon Lee: So were your and V’s parents really in the same place on the same night you guys were conc…?
PICLYF: how is UX essential to a web/tech startup’s success?
PICLYF: sorry – how essential is UX to a web/tech startup’s succes (product/market fit)?
whitneyhess mod: http://www.uxmag.com/strategy/when-you-startup-with-ux
PICLYF: hehe, didnt realize it was doozy.
whitneyhess mod: http://52weeksofux.com/post/890289075/startuxs
PICLYF: awesome
PICLYF: last one! what was your biggest failure in your ux career? :D
moorefilm: so UX designers are able to humanize business?
whitneyhess mod: @whitneyhess
PICLYF: you just acquired a new fan with me.
whitneyhess mod: http://formspring.me/whitneyghess
moorefilm: Bye Whit!
laurapeterson: bye
Silvia: bye
PICLYF: buhbye

JOIN ME NEXT WEEK

Monday, October 18, 10-11pm Eastern Time at http://www.livestream.com/whithour, and bring your questions!

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