I just turned down a lucrative contract because in my heart I’m ethically opposed to the company’s corporate owners. When I was first contacted by their director of engineering, I had a negative gut feeling that it just “wasn’t me,” but I put off the concern in an effort to challenge my assumptions. I wanted [Keep Reading…]
Lifework — A philosophy, a lifestyle, a revolution
Around this time three years ago, I started considering the possibilities of being independently-employed for the first time. Quite honestly it had never even really occurred to me before I met people who were doing it — and were happy, successful and encouraging. It wasn’t until August of that year that I actually took the [Keep Reading…]
My SXSW Core Conversation: “Breaking Taboos: Pros Get Real About Money Matters”
Money is a topic that most people dance around because they don’t want to be rude, or tacky, or misunderstood. But if we avoid talking about it, we avoid learning a very essential part of our business and our industry. In order to thrive as a professional community, we need to have a strong handle [Keep Reading…]
The Work I Love
The work I love is about helping companies who love their customers discover how to be better to them…not convincing them to care. The work I love is about empowering customers to get the service they deserve…not trying to get them to buy into what they don’t really need. The work I love is about [Keep Reading…]
What are you worth?
Perhaps not coincidentally, I had two totally separate conversations on Sunday within the same theme: how much should I charge? Later that day I tweeted: Several folks responded that they’d like to hear more about my reflection in a blog post, so here it is. One conversation was with a friend who’s interviewing for a [Keep Reading…]
Scientific American redesign by Happy Cog has launched
Wednesday the new ScientificAmerican.com went live. Happy Cog worked on the website redesign, while Roger Black Studios worked on a redesign of the print publication. As the user experience designer on the project, I had the immense pleasure of working alongside visual designer Mike Pick, front-end developer Tim Murtaugh, project manager Robb Rice, and executive [Keep Reading…]
My 2nd Indie Anniversary
On the afternoon of Friday, August 22, 2008, I “left work” for the last time. It was my last day at my full-time job and I was officially self-employed. The last two years have been a whirlwind, and the benefits and repercussions of that single action have been far more significant than I ever could [Keep Reading…]
Introducing StartUXs
I’m very excited to be the guest author on this week’s 52weeksofUX, a blog by Josh Porter and Josh Brewer, two people I greatly admire. My topic is the increasingly crucial role that user experience design plays in the success of a startup. I called the piece StartUXs (get it? startups with an X instead [Keep Reading…]
Watch me on The Big Web Show
Last Thursday I had the absolute pleasure of joining the lovely Jeffrey Zeldman and Dan Benjamin on the eighth episode of The Big Web Show (read my previous post). If you weren’t able to catch the live broadcast, be sure to check out the video and podcast. We talked about how I’ve used Twitter to [Keep Reading…]
Questions show passion, not doubt
I was recently contacted by someone to contribute to a project they’re working on. It was a well-connected and well-respected person whose work I’ve followed for years, so naturally I was quite excited by the inquiry. The initial email was a bit sparse — describing the project in just a couple sentences — and while [Keep Reading…]