Metric

By Metric

What's Metric about?

"The user experience is a metric." Brief high-level practical design strategy by Michael Schofield. Metric was ranked by DScout as one of the best podcasts for leveling-up. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/metric/support

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Metric episodes:

11.19.2021
Is UX Certification worth it?
Episode 60 Rebroadcast. Tim Broadwater has a UX Master Certificate from Nielsen Norman Group, and he and I talk about whether it was worth it. We talk about the diversification of UX roles, leadership, and management. A transcript of our...
10.26.2020
Exnovation, the Iceberg Model, and Expertise is Over-valued
I want to share a few totally unrelated pieces of thinking that caught my eye. This will be a shorty but I think you’ll find it interesting. 1 I am taken with this concept of exnovation, which is the...
03.23.2020
The Value of Design in Hard Times
When the market’s taken a spill, when your earned revenue is down — people aren’t leaving their homes, folks have lost work, uncertainty leads to spending scarcity - then the easiest line-items to cut are those that involve external consultants....
03.09.2020
What is the difference between UX and CX?
Let’s be clear, many folks have thrown-in. This question has loads of answers, and this writeup will likely not make it to the top of the search engines. So, what more is there to say? This: it’s not the answer...
02.03.2020
Gutenberg doesn't disrupt WordPress
Gutenberg isn’t a breakthrough innovation that made WordPress better. It’s a disruptive innovation making WordPress more affordable and accessible. — Mark Uraine, “Disrupting WordPress” A couple weeks ago I read Mark Uraine’s writeup about the disruptive role Gutenberg...
12.13.2019
UX Design is Morally Gray
Folks tend to disagree with me whenever I say that user experience design is morally gray: there is no inherent requirement to making user experiences people like and prefer to competing experiences that leave users — morally or ethically —...
11.11.2019
Can jobs-to-be-done replace "Front End Developer"?
The “front end” is pretty nebulous. What makes a good front end developer? Its definitions, and so its answers, are all over the place. It’s not just the introduction of new front end frameworks that have changed how we talk...
10.21.2019
The Temporal Midpoint of the Sprint
The two-week sprint is totally arbitrary. We adopt the convention without really questioning the wisdom, but by such dogma of what’s-good-for-the-gander bake someone else’s practice into our organizational infrastructure. The thinking is that two weeks is just about the right...
09.09.2019
The Service Reactor
We pitch this idea of operational user research as a means to scale and democratize user experience design practice across an organization. For decision makers already familiar with our user-centric-business gospel — reminder: aggregation theory demonstrates how the user experience...
03.18.2019
Spark Joy
In this episode of Metric: the UX Podcast,we talk about how we deal with signal overload and notification fatigue in our design work (and in life), and our strategies for staying sane in a super neurotic discipline. Follow Metric:...
03.11.2019
What UX Can Learn from Ouija Boards
In this episode of Metric: the UX Podcast, we investigate what ouija boards and World War 1 teach us about design solutions, that innovation lies in not immediately thinking that the problem can be solved by an app. ...
03.04.2019
Questions UXers should ask in Job Interviews
In this episode of Metric, we talk about questions UXers should ask during job interviews, and what about that interview or organization are red flags. In the gloss, look for chatter about the origins of our usernames, how to...
02.18.2019
Thirsty UXers
How do you get the experience you need -- or want -- to take that next step in your career? In this episode of Metric: the User Experience Podcast, Michael Schofield and Tim Broadwater try to define how they want...
02.11.2019
French Creek Freddie
What can regional ground hogs teach us about UX design? In this episode of Metric, we talk about designing services and products that have a demonstrable need. Hear everything you ever wanted to know about about projects that never get...
02.04.2019
The Persona Zoo
In this episode of Metric, we pick up where we left off in 65: Mazes and Monsters and hit the user archetypes known as whales, fish, and barnacles - the persona zoo! We start with a travelogue about visiting creepy...
02.04.2019
Mazes and Monsters
This episode of Metric is about tabletop game design and play testing. Enter the awkward ass world of Michael explaining to Tim his slack-based Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Hear Tim's crazy interesting foray into play testing and its cross-overs...
01.23.2019
Fitness and Gamification (?) - and Goth LARPing
How do you title this episode? Tim Broadwater and Michael Schofield expertly tangent between fitness, gamification of health, tabletop games, Follow Michael on Twitter: @schoeyfield Follow Tim on Twitter: @uxbear Support Metric on Patreon to...
10.08.2018
Measure the Future
Jason Griffey on ethically designing a service to heatmap physical spaces that respects users' privacy - on open software, to boot. Jason Griffey is a librarian, technologist, consultant, writer and speaker, an Affiliate Fellow at...
04.30.2018
62: Service Design and User Experience Design
This episode of Metric: The User Experience Design Podcast is a no-guester: a shorty, but a goodie. It's about how to talk about service design and user experience design in the same sentence - which nobody can seem to figure...
03.26.2018
61: Personal Information in the name of "User Experience" with Donna Lanclos
In this episode of Metric: The User Experience Podcast, Donna Lanclos - an unaplogetic anthropologist and folklorist - talks about the ethics of gathering personal data in the name of good UX, and how that's incredibly complicated to justify. We...
03.05.2018
60: The Worth of UX Certification to Tim Broadwater
In this episode of Metric: The User Experience Podcast, I chat with friend-of-the-show Tim Broadwater, a UX Master Certificate recipient, about the value of User Experience Certification, or even that of a more traditional route through college. This covers everything...
07.10.2017
Writing for the User Experience with Rebecca Blakiston - A LibUX Webinar
Join Rebecca Blakiston -- author of books on on usability testing and writing with clarity; Library Journal mover and shaker -- as she talks shop and makes the case for content strategy, using active and authentic voice, removing unnecessary words, writing meaningful titles/headings, using...
04.25.2017
On design in user stories and user experience departments
One more over coffee edition of Metric before a string of interviews to round-out the month of April. In this episode: What role does photoshop play in UX? Should "design" be part of a user story? What are the necessary technical...
04.19.2017
Over Coffee: Ugh, UX Ph.D's
This episode of Metric is a little special: no guests, no post, just loaded questions and loaded answers. In the actual recording I was thinking about calling it "coffee break," but I over-thought this and now feel like that suggests...
04.09.2017
Andy Priestner
Andy Priestner is a global trainer and consultant on user experience, leadership, social media, and LEGO Serious Play. He's the originator and chair of UXLibs, among many things a best-in-show UX conference, as well as the title of the book...
03.21.2017
Personas, Jobs to be Done - oh, and LITA
Recently, LITA embarked on a big persona-making project in order to better align their services to the needs of their members, the results of which they just revealed. This provides a solid talking point to introduce conceptual problems with personas and...
03.15.2017
The Accessibility Tree
If you thought your grip on web accessibility couldn't get any looser, let's talk about the Accessibility Tree. This is a hostful episode Amanda and Michael. Get full access to Metric by Michael Schofield at metricpodcast.com/subscribe
02.27.2017
Trey Gordner and Stephen Bateman from Koios
This week on Metric we are joined by Trey Gordner and Stephen Batemen from Koios, who are designing services that amplify the discoverability and searchability of libraries with real emphasis on the end-user experience. We chat about startup opportunities in this space,...
02.22.2017
Your front end is doomed
Metric alum Emily King swings by again to chat about conversational UIs and "interface aggregation" -- front ends other than yours using metadata and API to connect with your site, so that users don't actually have to visit your site directly. ...
02.13.2017
LITA Persona Task Force
This week Amanda L. Goodman (@godaisies) gives you a peek into the work of the LITA Persona Task Force, who are charged with defining and developing personas that are to be used in growing membership in the Library and Information...
01.17.2017
When Native Apps are Unethical
This episode of Metric is very much a companion to last week’s post on consciously infusing the ethics of the organization into design decisions. There is an opportunity for institutions that are positioned — either actively or by reputation...
01.09.2017
The Nintendo Switch
Even if you’re not much of a gamer, the modular design of the Nintendo Switch is super compelling. What you see in its reveal is an experience that moves not just between your living room screen and your backpack, but...
11.21.2016
Links Should Open in the Same Window [Redux]
Hey there. Michael Schofield here - thank you so much for tuning in to another Metric - a pretty good podcast about design and the user experience. This episode is a redux! I just recently updated the most popular post...
11.14.2016
The Election as a Design Problem
Can we talk about the voting process as a user experience problem? Our — the LibUX — approach to the user experience is that UX is a metric, a plottable, predictable, and improvable measurement of the end-user’s cumulative experience of...
11.07.2016
On Burnout
On this episode of Metric, a podcast about design and user experience, guests Camille Thomas, Charles Villard, and Tim Broadwater join panel-up with Michael to kvetch and commiserate about burnout - oy. Get full access to Metric by Michael Schofield...
11.01.2016
The Coffinettes
Each Halloween I get a little nostalgic for the best Halloweens I had ever had back when I was a punk rocker. Join me -- your pal, Michael Schofield -- in this special Halloween episode where I reminisce a little...
10.17.2016
A Thorough-as-hell Intro to the Kano Model
The Kano Model is a tool for visualizing the relationship among features in a meaningful way. It's awesome. You'll need to use your imagination a bit, but stick with it: it's -- and I totally mean this -- the most...
09.27.2016
Library Usage and Trends
In this episode I'm joined by not one but two (!) guests. Carli Spina (@carlispina) and Emily King (@emilykingatcsn) come on the show to talk about the 2016 Library Usage and Trends Report published earlier this month by the Pew...
09.19.2016
Carousels Are Okay
What's up! Let's make some enemies and defend the use of carousels on behalf of actually good user experiences - maybe. Thank you for your kind reviews! Your brief reviews wherever you listen to LibUX make it easier to discover...
09.14.2016
Mark Dodgson Talks about Bluespark's Awesome Process
The very cool Mark Dodsgon from Bluespark joins me for this week's episode! Bluespark is the team behind many a library website, including Indiana University Libraries, which I wrote about recently. I pretty much just let him talk about Bluespark's...
08.28.2016
Crafting Websites with Design Triggers (Repeat)
Hey, listeners! This week's episode is an oldie but a goodie. I used all my available storage on libsyn for August being so on point with this weekly show, that I can't upload anything new until the first full week of September. So,...
08.22.2016
Library Service Design with Joe Marquez
In their January design trends episode, Michael and Amanda guessed that this year would begin the library service design zeitgeist wherein seven months later ALA published Library Service Design, written by Joe Marquez and Annie Downey. #CalledIt. In this episode of...
08.17.2016
Circulating Ideas #99 - Cecily Walker
Circulating Ideas' host Steve Thomas generously allowed us to share the audio! We were stoked to guest-host. Guest hosts Michael Schofield and Amanda L. Goodman from LibUX chat with Cecily Walker from Vancouver Public Library. Cecily Walker is a librarian...
08.08.2016
042 - Answer to the Ultimate Question
As the summer winds down, Amanda and Michael reunite to get cracking on the Fall schedule of all things Team LibUX - but first they just need to catch up. Really! It's been awhile. We chat about carousels, summer redesigns,...
08.03.2016
041 - Steve Thomas Bears Witness
Fresh from a Summer's hiatus, this week on LibUX we -- Amanda and Michael -- talk shop with Steve Thomas, host of the popular podcast Circulating Ideas, about the process and grind of podcasting, metrics, quality, and monetization. Michael decided it...
06.09.2016
W3R - Thursday, June 9
It is Thursday, June 9th. You’re tuned in to W3 Radio (MP3), your weekly newscast about the world wide web in under ten minutes. Get full access to Metric by Michael Schofield at metricpodcast.com/subscribe
06.06.2016
040 - Tim Broadwater, UX Architect
Tim is an artist and front-end developer, presently the UX Architect at West Virginia University Libraries and several times certified by the Nielsen Norman Group. He’s written two articles for LibUX ( “Value vs. Feasibility” / “Why am I doing...
06.02.2016
W3R - Thursday, June 2
Progress toward HTML5 DRM continues; whether Trust API is the end of passwords; the Internet of Things is way big; internet giants pledge to remove hate speech and promote "independent counter-narratives" #bigbrother; Chrome 51 updates; people use ad blockers to...
05.30.2016
039 - Jean Felisme
Jean Felisme is an entrepreneur, speaker, WordCamp Miami organizer, and developer at the School of Computing and Information Sciences at Florida International University. I’ve known Jean Felisme for awhile through WordCamp Miami. We see each other quite a bit at...
05.29.2016
Promo for W3 Radio
Do you need your web design news right now in ten minutes or less? Well it’s just your luck that soon I Michael Schofield am starting a new podcast W3 Radio - bite sized best-of the world wide web. You’ll soon...

What's Metric about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Metric episodes:

Is UX Certification worth it?

Exnovation, the Iceberg Model, and Expertise is Over-valued

The Value of Design in Hard Times

What is the difference between UX and CX?

Gutenberg doesn't disrupt WordPress

UX Design is Morally Gray

Can jobs-to-be-done replace "Front End Developer"?

The Temporal Midpoint of the Sprint

The Service Reactor

Spark Joy

What UX Can Learn from Ouija Boards

Questions UXers should ask in Job Interviews

Thirsty UXers

French Creek Freddie

The Persona Zoo

Mazes and Monsters

Fitness and Gamification (?) - and Goth LARPing

Measure the Future

62: Service Design and User Experience Design

61: Personal Information in the name of "User Experience" with Donna Lanclos

60: The Worth of UX Certification to Tim Broadwater

Writing for the User Experience with Rebecca Blakiston - A LibUX Webinar

On design in user stories and user experience departments

Over Coffee: Ugh, UX Ph.D's

Andy Priestner

Personas, Jobs to be Done - oh, and LITA

The Accessibility Tree

Trey Gordner and Stephen Bateman from Koios

Your front end is doomed

LITA Persona Task Force

When Native Apps are Unethical

The Nintendo Switch

Links Should Open in the Same Window [Redux]

The Election as a Design Problem

On Burnout

The Coffinettes

A Thorough-as-hell Intro to the Kano Model

Library Usage and Trends

Carousels Are Okay

Mark Dodgson Talks about Bluespark's Awesome Process

Crafting Websites with Design Triggers (Repeat)

Library Service Design with Joe Marquez

Circulating Ideas #99 - Cecily Walker

042 - Answer to the Ultimate Question

041 - Steve Thomas Bears Witness

W3R - Thursday, June 9

040 - Tim Broadwater, UX Architect

W3R - Thursday, June 2

039 - Jean Felisme

Promo for W3 Radio