Adaptive Path Podcast

Google’s Margaret Gould Stewart and Graham Jenkin discuss their experience and ideas from their UX Week workshop about managing UX teams. Topics covered in this conversation include:

# Prioritization and project tracking

# How to gain insight into career development paths within a user experience team

# Finding out about performance management

# Discovering how to tailor your own management style

Margaret and Graham also tackled other tough issues during their session, such as:

# Building a culture of constructive feedback

# Developing leadership within a team

# Effectively managing team dynamics

# Evangelizing user experience practices

# Managing stakeholders

Margaret and Graham also had participants of their workshop develop haiku’s about the importance of working with and managing UX Teams. They were kind enough to compile this collection of Haiku’s from the workshop for you. They also provided an example of the leadership cards. These cards can be printed off and shared with members of your team about which characteristics of a leader they deem to be most essential. Not every leader will be strong in all categories, however. Such information can help leaders understand the expectations of those they are working with on a daily basis.

Jake Barton gave an emotionally powerful presentation at UX Week entitled “New Paradigms for Interaction in Physical Space”.

As the interaction designers for NPR’s StoryCorps and the co-leaad designer for the National September 11th Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center, Local Projects is creating new paradigms for interaction by tackling physical space.

Jake talks with me about how the interaction design process bends, accelerates and sometimes completely falls apart, when applied to the global community.

You can download Jake’s Presentation from UX Week.

On the last day of UX Week I had the pleasure of chatting with Adaptive Path’s new CEO Michael Meyer about his impressions of UX Week and the opportunities that come with this new position.

We discuss his past experiences as a nuclear engineer, time spent in the US Navy, as well as working at some of the leading design firms in the world such as frog and IDEO before arriving at Adaptive Path.

My heart-felt thanks to Michael and the entire team at Adaptive Path for allowing Boxes and Arrows to share these conversations with the community.

Designers often talk about the results of their work, and even about the design process, but what we don't often talk about is the careful framing of a project that allowed us to do the great work in the first place. Lulu Pachuau and Bob Medcalf of the New Zealand consultancy Provoke share tools and methods Lulu learned at Adaptive Path's UX Intensive workshop and applied to a web strategy project with Industrial Research Limited.

Andrew Crow is a senior experience designer, trainer, and speaker at Adaptive Path. He has a passion for developing innovative design solutions for customers' needs.Initially a print and web designer, Andrew moved into information architecture and interaction design to promote holistic user experiences to corporate clients. Andrew has over 12 years of design, technical, and strategic experience in the technology industry.

Before joining Adaptive Path, Andrew managed the web and user experience team at Princess Cruises where he led the development of an entirely new online booking system, e-ticket solution, and online branding and marketing initiatives. Prior to that, he worked with element18 and Interfocus Advertising in Los Angeles.

Continually obsessed with the latest technologies in the mobile and gaming space, Andrew advises on the design of Palm, Windows Mobile and iPhone applications, social networking, and collaboration software. He is an advocate of ubiquitous computing, and approaches projects with a desire to ensure that the experience of the device fits into the overall product strategy.

Past clients and employers include Ameriprise, MyRide.com, Cunard Line, ICTV, ILIO Entertainment, Millimeter Magazine, Princess Cruises, and Second Life.

Andrew is a member of American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), Interaction Design Association (IxDA), and the Information Architecture Institute (IAI).

We spoke to Andrew in San Francisco at the Adaptive Path Conference in April 2008.

Visit Andrew's Personal Site: http://www.concretebrain.com/

Andrew Crow is a senior experience designer, trainer, and speaker at Adaptive Path. He has a passion for developing innovative design solutions for customers' needs.Initially a print and web designer, Andrew moved into information architecture and interaction design to promote holistic user experiences to corporate clients. Andrew has over 12 years of design, technical, and strategic experience in the technology industry.

Before joining Adaptive Path, Andrew managed the web and user experience team at Princess Cruises where he led the development of an entirely new online booking system, e-ticket solution, and online branding and marketing initiatives. Prior to that, he worked with element18 and Interfocus Advertising in Los Angeles.

Continually obsessed with the latest technologies in the mobile and gaming space, Andrew advises on the design of Palm, Windows Mobile and iPhone applications, social networking, and collaboration software. He is an advocate of ubiquitous computing, and approaches projects with a desire to ensure that the experience of the device fits into the overall product strategy.

Past clients and employers include Ameriprise, MyRide.com, Cunard Line, ICTV, ILIO Entertainment, Millimeter Magazine, Princess Cruises, and Second Life.

Andrew is a member of American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), Interaction Design Association (IxDA), and the Information Architecture Institute (IAI).

We spoke to Andrew in San Francisco at the Adaptive Path Conference in April 2008.

Visit Andrew's Personal Site: http://www.concretebrain.com/

Andrew Crow is a senior experience designer, trainer, and speaker at Adaptive Path. He has a passion for developing innovative design solutions for customers' needs.

Initially a print and web designer, Andrew moved into information architecture and interaction design to promote holistic user experiences to corporate clients. Andrew has over 12 years of design, technical, and strategic experience in the technology industry.

Before joining Adaptive Path, Andrew managed the web and user experience team at Princess Cruises where he led the development of an entirely new online booking system, e-ticket solution, and online branding and marketing initiatives. Prior to that, he worked with element18 and Interfocus Advertising in Los Angeles.

Continually obsessed with the latest technologies in the mobile and gaming space, Andrew advises on the design of Palm, Windows Mobile and iPhone applications, social networking, and collaboration software. He is an advocate of ubiquitous computing, and approaches projects with a desire to ensure that the experience of the device fits into the overall product strategy.

Past clients and employers include Ameriprise, MyRide.com, Cunard Line, ICTV, ILIO Entertainment, Millimeter Magazine, Princess Cruises, and Second Life.

Andrew is a member of American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), Interaction Design Association (IxDA), and the Information Architecture Institute (IAI).

We spoke to Andrew in San Francisco at the Adaptive Path Conference in April 2008.

Visit Andrew's Personal Site: http://www.concretebrain.com/

Part one of our intervew with Chiara Fox from Adaptive Path.

Chiara Fox is a senior information architect for Adaptive Path. Chiara has developed successful information architectures for intranets, informational websites, and e-commerce sites for Fortune 100 and 500 companies. Chiara specializes in content analysis, metadata and taxonomy development, and building architectures from the bottom up.

Part two of our intervew with Chiara Fox from Adaptive Path.

Chiara Fox is a senior information architect for Adaptive Path. Chiara has developed successful information architectures for intranets, informational websites, and e-commerce sites for Fortune 100 and 500 companies. Chiara specializes in content analysis, metadata and taxonomy development, and building architectures from the bottom up.

A website costs money. It's your job, as a web professional, to make sure your website is written and designed well, that visitors can use it easily, that it's accurate, and that it's contributing to the achievement of your company's mission.