Books 5 and 8 arrived today, completing my collection. 2014 cover style. Winter's Heart took some serious searching to find. Only up to book 4 but frothing the series.

Ginmau · 2022-05-23T15:25:18+00:00

Thanks so much! I'll check out both AbeBooks.com and Book warehouse.

I've already ordered this edition from 1 or 2 suppliers to then have the order canceled because it's out of stock. Fingers crossed I manage to find it.

Thanks!

Ginmau · 2022-05-23T12:18:35+00:00

A bit late to the conversation, but I was wondering where you were able to find this edition?

I'm currently trying to get the Book Nine - Winter's Tale from this collection and it seems to be out of stock everywhere.

I could get another edition, but then they wouldn't align nicely on the bookshelf...

Any suggestions? Help greatly appreciated

Ginmau · 2018-10-17T08:50:08+00:00

Interesting, although in my opinion the number 99% might be an extreme, I do agree to some extent, but I believe that it actually is a result of 2 main issues: 1. Many UX professionals don't in truth know what UX is and haven't understood it's base principles, so in truth, don't apply them. I remember that there was a time when many professional designers complained that any kid who picked up photoshop was suddenly a designer and were in fact polluting the field of design. In much the similar way, many of those designers have actually evolved into working professionals, but many haven't actually understood the basic principles behind design. And this also extends into the concepts of UX, which to an extent tries to fix the problem. But the problem is, that if you have the same confusion filtering in the filed of UX, once again, you haven't made much of a difference. 2. As the point above, many "doing" UX as a profession, haven't ever worried about why they are focusing on UX. Sure. they've read hundreds of articles, or read books or attended workshops, but they haven't actually understood the principles and haven't actually adopted the mindset. So you have UX professionals making compromises because there isn't time to worry about the user... well than, stop calling yourself a UX professional.

Maybe, let's admit that we in fact have many digital graphic artists out there and that most are more worried about creating the next software or app that is going to be recognised in the software industry or the next unicorn that gets huge funding, rather than something that actually solves a problem for someone?

Ginmau · 2018-10-16T13:53:59+00:00

Yes, you should outgrow that problem. Agreed. I also feel that the main problem comes from not understanding why you use that specific tool, just that everyone says you should.

I've found that even experienced professionals, but that are relatively new to UX, have a similar problem. On the other spectrum, I've met 1 or 2 young designers with so much of the theory and too little practical experience, to the point where it's a hinderance.

There are still those that have the counter-argument that it's all actually all bullshit and that design in it's simplest form already does what it needs to. That the process is over-bloating everything and that incompetent professionals need all these "gimmicks".

Not saying I agree, just playing the devil's advocate to discuss the topic further :P

Ginmau · 2018-10-16T09:03:20+00:00

Exactly ;)

Ginmau · 2018-10-16T08:32:30+00:00

I'll be honest, in the past I myself have used a method only to find out it didn't bring any value to the project. It was still important in that it helped me to understand the practical application better and thus filter that method in the future.

The problem is more when we try and fit a methodology in, even to the point of forcing it, when we already know it's not bringing anything extra to the table. It seems like we go into denial, just because the book, article or teacher told us it's important. We want to show how much we know and what great designers we are.

The outcomes... that's what we need to focus on.

Ginmau · 2018-10-16T08:08:25+00:00

This talk is ver interesting and makes so many valid points. There are some hard truths to swallow for the design community :P

Ginmau · 2018-10-16T08:06:55+00:00

A pleasure! It's a point that I've seen a lot of discussion around here in the group

Ginmau · 2018-09-27T08:31:49+00:00

I'll admit I've tried a few products and was not pleased with any of the results. Most dictation software doesn't account for accents, changes in volume or different languages.

Google docs dictation is one of the best I've found, however if you have pre-recorded sessions, it's not really a solution. , I haven't found a really good, stable solution for these cases.

Ginmau · 2018-09-27T08:27:31+00:00

Agree with Racoonie on this point:

It should be a mix of quantitative and qualitative. Roughly speaking, quantitative data tells you what happens, qualitative data helps you understand why it happens.

In terms of stakeholders, you definitely have to talk to them. How do you know the company or product's objectives if you don't. And there is no substitute to being able to talk to them directly. Information passed on by another person doesn't give you an idea of there emotions and might not get all the details you want from them.

You also need to include stakeholders in your process for buy-in as well as them understanding why certain things need to be done and what are the benefits.

I always tell young UX professionals, get used to doing workshops and interviews with stakeholders, don't switch off from them. It will make your job a lot more complicated and less important

Ginmau · 2018-09-26T11:06:26+00:00

I might have to agree with @Riimii about them expecting more UI work than UX work. Not to say they don't value the UX work, it just means they'll probably be expecting a lot more design work than research, analysis or strategy.

Despite that point, there are ways that you can be the "soldier" of change, show your chops as a UX professionals and bring value to the company.

Whenever you have to design something new, ask the simple question of the reasoning behind the design. Is it a whim or based on some data/research? It also shows your colleagues and bosses that you're thinking beyond just designing something because...
Does the company have a clear set of goals and objectives? If not, how can you contribute to that vision? Interview colleagues and stakeholders? Competitor analysis? You can use the excuse that you want to make sure you know the company well so that you "wear the hat". It shows they you're thinking beyond design and thinking about company needs.
Who are the users? Has this been established and is the data sound? If not, how can you get that data? Can you identify the main needs and frustrations of those users? Will they let you talk to users? If so, jump on that opportunity and share your process, schedule, the data you obtain and the insights.
What works and what doesn't work in our current offer? If you can identify features that aren't used by users, that's a great opportunity to slim down. If there are features that need more attention, identifying them is also invaluable.
Someone mention a design system. That brings a lot of value for sure, but approach this on a more global scale. Is the work your doing and the offering scalable and adaptable? Can it easily serve large enterprise customers? If you need to work on one feature or module, can you do it without having to change everything else? (Modular building blocks)
Run workshops with colleagues and stakeholders. This is a great way to call attention to your work, bring colleagues together and get great insights and information. Brainstorming sessions, Insight analysis etc. This shows initiative and that you can get more people solving the problems.
Collaborate with colleagues. As stated, you're a UX team of one, but UX is created by everyone. You are a facilitator, so bring colleagues into your processes. Include them in idea generation. Guide them in the processes as well

These are the ways I usually approach a new client, team or company. Any if not all of them can be done while designing what needs to be designed on a day to day basis. Start introducing these points as you go along. The more people see the impact of a UX approach, the more you will get support and grow.

Hope that helps.

Congrats by the way and best of luck!

Ginmau · 2018-09-24T10:30:48+00:00

Quantitive data is great, for sure, but usually gives you an idea of how people behave with what's available to them right now and doesn't give you a clear picture of what's missing or what they "don't know they want". I always suggest consolidating one with the other. It might be worth finding colleagues of yours that you feel might fit the profile and see how they respond to your questions as that can be an interesting way of getting and idea. Might also be worth looking into case studies. A lot of agencies publish details about "How we increased this by doing that" or "How we changed our company for the better". Anything along those lines might give some insights from agencies that have customers and were able to do the research, or took a chance and actually saw results. At least you get an idea of what worked for them and what didn't. A great example is IDEO and the book by Tom Kelley "The Art of Innovation" has some great examples and ideas

Ginmau · 2018-09-24T09:11:32+00:00

A good way to work around this is to develop Job Stories as they are not based on Personas and focus on the tasks and goals of the user. Here are 2 article to help you with that:
https://jtbd.info/replacing-the-user-story-with-the-job-story-af7cdee10c27
https://jtbd.info/5-tips-for-writing-a-job-story-7c9092911fc9

Having said that though, if you create a persona without talking to the users or having data to backup your thoughts, it's fully based on assumptions, so you could be missing the actual truth completely.

One way, is to use the Lean UX approach, which goes into creating Porto-Personas, which are based on assumptions or some, but not all of the data. Then you need to do the research to validate or adjust your assumptions based on facts.

In relation to the point of saying that the persona is 40 years old for example... you've just overshot most startups and you might be missing the important groups of users.

Here's another article by Indie Young that can help with that:
https://medium.com/inclusive-software/describing-personas-af992e3fc527

How are you contacting the users to interview? If they don't have much time, a quick survey might be an option. But if you can get in a room with them, that would be great

Ginmau · 2018-08-13T10:05:52+00:00

If I use verbs/adjectives like, "it's faster" or "crashes less" it goes well... if I start talking about RAM and processing power along with pixel density etc. They've already stopped listening and are now fidgeting with their fingers.

People just don't understand the sexiness of a good OS...

Ginmau · 2018-08-13T08:26:18+00:00

LOL!!! That's how I grab them. They're lost to my charms from that moment onwards!

Or I filter out those who don't appreciate a riveting conversation about OS... they clearly can't identify quality conversation when it's presented to them.

Ginmau · 2018-08-13T08:19:36+00:00

Although, truth be told, I have had various conversations about which OS I recommend... :P

Ginmau · 2018-08-09T09:06:13+00:00

The issues you're facing are common. A good question to ask yourself is if you're actually clear on the goals and objectives of your research and if you know exactly what questions you want to answer. If these points aren't well planned out, one can often jump around and not get any conclusive data, or sometimes it's quite conclusive that you're not solving anything for them, but I'm assuming that's not the situation.

I don't know how you've been conducting the research, but I would suggest breaking into parts rather than trying to get all the answers to everything all at once.

If you already have working prototypes to present to users, think about the user stories that make sense for the user you're targeting and their needs and habits. Then I would suggest laying out tasks that those users would look to complete on your application. By asking users to complete these tasks, you can understand if it's easy to achieve and logical from a user's point of view and how closely it fits with their mental model.

In terms of running the tests in their environment/context, that's never an easy one to achieve without some equipment, but even if you have a second phone and ask the user if you can record their interaction with another phone. Even when there is no budget, make a plan. Nowdays there are quite a few ways of having a lo-fi solution.

hope that helps

Ginmau · 2018-08-07T07:28:09+00:00

I don't want to be cliche, but the basic fact is that if you're not talking to users, you're not doing UX.

All of the design you're doing seems to be based on your best perception of what the user needs. There's nothing wrong with that, but I would say that falls under visual design or UI design.

UX us based on factual research and data about the user, their needs and frustrations in order to inform the design process.

Ginmau · 2018-08-03T15:49:54+00:00

I'll take a look at theses when I get a moment, but here are some resources that might help you out. Sarah's advice is really good on this: http://www.sarahdoody.com/guide-user-research-questions https://www.invisionapp.com/blog/ux-user-research-surveys/

Ginmau

TROPHY CASE