The art of compromise in product development

UX: How Regularly Do You Compromise On Your Work?

In any project, it’s inevitable that you’ll need to compromise.

You may need to compromise on your timeline, scope of work, or what you do versus what you delegate to others.

But … compromise is really hard! Why? Because we often have a grand vision of what we want something to be. And the longer we’re working on it, the more vivid that vision becomes.Continue reading

Focus On What You Do Best & Delegate The Rest.

Focus On What You Do Best. Delegate The Rest.

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.

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Launch Your Own Product: My Lessons Learned

Launch Your Own Product: My Lessons Learned

Want to put your design skills to the test? I highly recommend that you launch your own product. It’s a great way to put to practice things like project management, feature prioritization, identifying and validating a problem, market research, marketing, and more.

I promise, it will be the hardest thing you do. But you will also have a lot of fun, because it’s yours.

The re-design of my product, The UX Notebook website is going well. And yes, I’m trying to practice what I preach and not be my own worst client!

One thing that’s been helpful is that I have a few people working with me on the project, so I’m avoiding the situation of designing this in a silo.

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Designing With Lenses: See ideas through a different design lens

What is a design lens? Why is designing with lenses so important in user experience and product development?

As we know, it’s easy to get tunnel vision, to get stuck on your perspective, to design in a silo. Design lenses help us see our product and vet product ideas through different perspectives.

Recently, I’ve been doing this in one project of my own, a re-imagination of the website for The UX Notebook.

When I start any project, I allow myself time to go into research mode. I ask a ton of questions, talk to people, and explore similar products. But I create a deadline for research. Why?

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Why you must validate your product idea & not build too fast

Don't Get Caught Up In Building. Validate Your Idea First.

How do you validate your idea? What happens when you don’t validate your idea?

A friend of mine works in sales and has been watching me slowly venture into the world of online courses. While at lunch a few days ago he said that he wants to start doing online courses as well. I immediately blurted out, “you have no idea how much work it is”.

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