I did another experiment last week…
I launched something that wasn’t perfect. But I knew I needed to launch it so I could gather feedback. It was a series of emails. Because I wanted to give the user control, I had a link that people could click if they didn’t want to get those emails any more.
Quick update on what I’m working on and hopefully some lessons you can apply to your own projects!
First up, the re-design of the website for The UX Notebook. This week I did some quick feedback sessions with readers of this weekly newsletter as well as some other people in the UX industry. I wanted to get some fresh eyes on the project so that I could make sure I wasn’t stuck in a silo.
At the start of June, I spent 8.5 hours trapped in a toilet room, overnight, with a cat, in Paris. Very long story and I’m sure you have so many questions. So I published the story on Medium in case you want to hear what actually happened.
One of the hardest things to do is know when to execute on an idea. If you haven’t launched your product or idea yet, then my best advice to you is to just launch it. Stop debating the details. Stop worrying. Stop overthinking it. Just get your idea out there because you can’t test and measure an idea that you haven’t launched yet.
User research is often skipped by teams because they think it will slow them down. They think that it will be expensive, create distractions, and result in more process and meetings.
All of these assumptions, are wrong.
Want to know the truth? The truth is that if you skip user research, you’ll pay later. You’ll end up re-building because you’ll realize you built the wrong thing. You’ll end up launching and then hearing crickets, because you’ll realize that no one wants what you created.
You must treat user research as an investment, not an expense.
At the beginning of May I was in Toronto, Canada to run my second marathon. I wasn’t sure what to expect because the NYC marathon has 50,000 runners and this one only had 1,500.
To be honest, I was a bit concerned that it’d be really lonely because with that few runners, I thought I’d end up alone in spots and lose motivation. Well, Toronto proved me wrong.
When was the last time you took a risk?
I’ve taken a few risks lately … I submitted a talk proposal to a conference, I sent an email I’d been procrastinating about, and I’m changing a few big things in my business. And how could I forget, I’m running a marathon next weekend!
I spent almost 4 years living in Portland, Oregon at the beginning of my career. I was young and was fortunate to be hired by a big software company there, so I worked full time and finished school full time. It was a ton of work! But it was awesome to be getting real world experience while I was getting my degree.
Welcome to the last day of Q1 2017! At the beginning of the year, I encouraged you to set monthly goals. It’s easy to get distracted when you have a big grand vision in mind. I know I easily get paralyzed by the big picture. I see the vision, but then I get overwhelmed with all the different paths I could take to get there.
Something’s been on my mind for a while …
Many people email and ask me on Twitter about whether or not they’ll ever like they “know their stuff” when it comes to their role as a designer.