The Informed Life

Jodi Forlizzi is the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Forlizzi has a distinguished career as a service designer, researcher, design leader, and academic. In this conversation, we discuss the changing role of design in the face of disruptive new technologies such as AI.

See full show notes at:
https://theinformed.life/2024/08/11/episode-146-jodi-forlizzi/

Greg Petroff is a renowned executive design leader. He’s built and led design teams for companies like GE, Google, Compass, and Cisco. In this conversation, we discuss the state of design and how designers can have more relevance in today’s changing environment.

See full show notes at:
https://theinformed.life/2024/07/28/episode-145-greg-petroff/

My guests today are Colin Eagan and Jeffrey MacIntyre. Although they work for different companies, Colin and Jeffrey share a common focus: how information technologies might offer more personalized experiences. They co-authored an article on the subject for A List Apart and Jeffrey gave an excellent presentation based on that material at this year’s IA Conference, which led to this interview.

See full show notes at:
https://theinformed.life/2024/07/14/episode-144-colin-eagan-jeffrey-macintyre/

Harry Max is an executive player coach with a long trajectory in Silicon Valley. Through his consultancy, he helps senior leaders and their teams realize their visions by zeroing in on pragmatic solutions to complex challenges. And on that note, Harry’s written a new book, called Managing Priorities, that teaches leaders how to do just that.

You can buy Harry’s book from Rosenfeld Media. Use discount code INFORMED20 for 20% off until July 30, 2024.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Harry’s book from Rosenfeld Media for review purposes.

See full show notes at:
https://theinformed.life/2024/06/30/episode-143-harry-max/

Rachel Price is a Principal Information Architect at Microsoft and teaches Information Architecture at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle. She was a guest on The Informed Life in 2019, discussing the role of structure in improvisation. Today’s conversation focuses on a subject that’s on a lot of information architects’ minds: how to responsibly design AI-powered systems.

See full show notes at:
https://theinformed.life/2024/06/02/episode-141-rachel-price/

Emily Campbell is a design leader and advisor. She brings thoughtfulness and depth to producing business results through design and helping designers develop their careers as they fulfill that mission. Like me, Emily is deeply interested in AI. She’s developing an emergent pattern language for working with AI, and that is the subject of our conversation.

See full show notes at:
https://theinformed.life/2024/05/19/episode-140-emily-campbell/

Chris Aldrich has the most multi-disciplinary resume I’ve ever seen, with a background that includes biomedics, electrical engineering, entertainment, genetics, theoretical mathematics, and more. Chris describes himself as a modern-day cybernetician, and in this conversation we discuss cybernetics and communications, differences between oral and literary cultures, and indigenous traditions and mnemonics, among many other things.

See full show notes at:
https://theinformed.life/2024/05/05/episode-139-chris-aldrich/

Dave Gray describes himself as a possibilitarian. He focuses on helping people and teams realize their creative potential. Dave the author of several influential books, including Liminal Thinking and Gamestorming, which he co-authored with Sunni Brown and James Macanudo. He also founded the pioneering visual thinking company XPLANE. In this conversation, we discuss how to move beyond mental models that constrain us to open up new possibilities.

See full show notes at:
https://theinformed.life/2024/04/21/episode-138-dave-gray/

Nikki Anderson is an independent user research consultant, instructor, author, and speaker. Nikki uses her background in education and psychology to mentor people and organizations on the value of user research. And now, she’s written a book to help them build up their research operations. That’s the focus of our conversation today.

See full show notes at:
https://theinformed.life/2024/04/07/episode-137-nikki-anderson/