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Sure, it’s a top x list, but it’s a great list of user experience books, a few of which overlap what I have here. Take a look.

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From Media Bistro. Yeah, that’s about right.

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No cats were harmed in the production of this YouTube video.

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This is an event I’ll be speaking where we’ll talk about integrating User Experience with Agile methodologies.

Here’s some of the information:

Scrum provides us with a great framework for building our Scrum team, implementing the core agile practices and getting the inspect and adapt process started. But Scrum doesn’t provide much for the specific disciplines like programming, testing and  User Experience. That’s where our coaches Patrick Neeman and Michael Vincent come in.

Join us as we explore how User Experience Design integrates with the Scrum process. We’ll see first hand how each type of activity fits into the Scrum cycles, and how our User Experience researchers, designers and artists integrate into a Scrum team.

The address is:

Gorilla Nation/Atomic Online, 1st Floor (just follow the maps to the room)
5140 W Goldleaf Cir
Los Angeles, CA 90056

The event will start at 7:00 p.m.

And Michael Vincent’s bio:

Mike Vincent is a solutions architect based in Orange County, California. He supports clients with application lifecycle management as a senior consultant with Accentient, and provides software architecture and development services focusing on Microsoft .NET technology as principle architect withMVA Software. He has been in the software business for over 20 years in addition to engineering and marketing management positions.   Actively involved in the user group community since the early 90′s, Mike is Vice President of INETA Noram. He founded both the SoCal .Net Architecture group which is now also IASA’s SoCal Chapter and the Orange County C# Developers group, now OC .NET. Mike is a frequent presenter at user groups, regional events, and code camps. He is a Visual Studio Team System MVP. Currently, he is working with the Scrum Alliance on a forthcoming program. mvasoftware.com

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This was a presentation I did at the Online Marketing Summit in Long Beach, California. Thank you to the people that showed up!

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When was the last time you contacted your top customers? How about the 2^nd & 3^rd tier of your customer list, your database of potential customers and all of your other contacts? If you don't have a formal program for keeping in touch, you should. The key is to stay top-of-mind so that when someone has a need for your products or services, you'll be the one they call.

What are your options?

There are many different ways to stay in touch. Depending on your circumstances, your program may include telephone calls, direct mail, email, newsletters, blogs, personalized greeting cards, and other vehicles.

What's the perfect frequency?

Unfortunately, there's no "one size fits all" answer here, but at a minimum most companies should keep in contact with their customers on a quarterly basis. I receive emails once or twice a week from one of the major national bookstore chains, and I find this a little excessive. I also receive a handful of e-zines that arrive weekly, and I eagerly open each one. The difference? The bookstore is just trying to sell me something, while the e-zines provide information to help make my business more profitable.

In marketing, the old adage "out of sight, out of mind" is often true. Create a system that ensures you'll keep in contact with your customers on a regular basis, and watch your sales increase.

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Did you even know there were a million words in the English language? I vote for bangster. Whatever that means.

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If you are interested, send me an email at jobs@usabilitycounts.com.

Position Overview

• Lead the design of our new web site
• Create an amazing user experience for our members
• Optimize Conversion from Visitors to Consumers
• Team work within the company to strategize and implement an ever improving experience.
• Lead the creation of our Product Requirement Documents
• Team with the Engineers in the web team to create a productive and friendly work environment
• Team work with the entire company and our community to identify new needs and get feedback on existing features

Required Experience

• 4+ Years as a Web Product Manager focused on Conversion to paying customers in B2C websites
• 4+ Years of experience building dynamic, customizable and personalizable web sites
• 4+ Years of practical experience of web optimization of conversion based on metrics, AB testing and other such techniques
• Excellent understanding of Web Engineering
• Excellent understanding of Web Marketing
• Successful track record of driving the successful completion multiple cycles of optimization of conversion of traffic from non-paying to paying in a B2C environment
• BS/MS in Marketing or MBA
• BS/MS in Computer Science or Engineering

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This is a full-time position based in Pasadena, CA. We are in need of a mid to senior-level interactive producer. This person should be able to lead projects from conception to completion, self-manage and work in a fast-paced environment. If you enjoy working in small teams, helping to build process and working for clients that make a difference in the world, this job is for you.

The Online Producer will work on projects including large-scale websites, small sites, banner + email programs and large-scale, integrated direct marketing campaigns.

Responsibilities

• Helps scope and manage all client (proposals, statements of work, deliverables, timelines, status, budgets, etc)
• Act as primary internal contact to client services teams
• Coordinate integration and hand-off between creative team, offline project managers and client services
• Schedule and manage project development, overseeing full development cycle and site launch, overseeing information architecture, creative personnel, tech and QA stages; and managing status and resourcing reports
• Managing schedules and route approvals and requests to internal agency groups as well as assist in implementing calendars and light QA/Online testing.
• In this role you will be working closely with Supervisor, Account Directors, Creative Teams, Project Managers, Developers, Vendors, and IT Staff.

Experience

• The ideal candidate must have strong commons sense and prior experience (2 to 5 years) working with the Internet, new media production, or related experience.
• Must have the ability to delegate tasks and lead a team, along with providing quick solutions to both team and client.
• An in depth understanding of project financials – estimated budgets, costs, actual hours, etc. – and the ability to track and reconcile.
• Thorough understanding of managing web capabilities/technologies and production processes.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, along with effective meeting facilitation skills.
• Ability to work within deadlines, ensuring timely, cost-effective delivery and client satisfaction.
• Self starter who works as well independently as they do as part of a team.
• Strong analytical abilities.
• Proficiency in MS Office, a solid knowledge of Microsoft Project Scheduling, Browsers, Visio and Operating Systems are a must.
• Must be able to work overtime when required.
• Must understand how HTML, CSS, (.Net or PHP) works in order to effectively project manage.
• Knowledge of localization, experience with e-commerce sites and working with external developers and HTML is a plus!

Salary is in the 65 to 80K range DOE and freelance rate is commiserate with fulltime salary.

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