Comments | Comment

That’s about right. You can buy the poster here.

 Comments | Comment

Interesting:

Pearn Kandola’s chief researcher, a kindly and upbeat psychologist named Stuart Duff, was shocked at the findings. He assumed it would be the quants, the introverts and the shy types who would thrive in a virtual work situation. After all, they’re the ones who keep their heads burrowed in cubicles at work. Turns out it’s the extoverts among us who are better suited to going Bedouin. “The penny really dropped for us,” he says.

Duff and his researcher colleagues found that it’s the employees who chase socialization who thrive in the land of virtual work. The office gabbers. Those who are life of the break-room party. Left on their own, these types of workers are the ones who work closely with clients, chum around with colleagues, and talk it up with bosses. They stay connected no matter where they are. It comes naturally to them.

 Comments | Comment

Classic.

 Comments | Comment

$200 a month? Really?

 Comments | Comment

Classic:

Matthias Poehm, a former software engineer-turned-public speaking trainer has started —  yes  — the  Anti-PowerPoint Party  (APPP) earlier this month. Headquartered in Bonstetten, Switzerland, the APPP calls itself an “international movement” that intends to “decrease the number of boring presentations worldwide.” The goal is to make it so that people who don’t want to use PowerPoint “will not have to justify themselves in the future,” it says.

…

The APPP says people who attend “futile” PowerPoint presentations result in almost $500 billion in hourly wage losses for employers worldwide. Instead, APPP says people should consider using flip charts, which it claims are 95 percent more effective than using presentation software.

$500 billion? Really?

PowerPoint doesn’t kill presentations; people who use PowerPoint kill presentations.

 Comments | Comment

Gettin’ social with LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, et al in San Francisco, CA. The hashtag is #omssf.

You can follow me at @UsabilityCounts on Twitter. Or not.

 Comments | Comment

 Comments | Comment

I’m at Device Design Day in San Francisco, California today.

You can follow what I have to say on Twitter at @UsabilityCounts  (the feed will be heaver than usual because I’ll be commenting a bit).They’re also using the hashtag of #d3.

Cheers.

 Comments | Comment

I think this article is important because many times, user experience professionals have to work to change culture. They also have design web applications that have to spread virally.

If this is really true, this holds all kinds of implications. Do you design applications to appeal to 10 percent of the audience? Do you target smaller groups? Fascinating.

“When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority,” said SCNARC Director Boleslaw Szymanski, the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor at Rensselaer. “Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame.”

…

An important aspect of the finding is that the percent of committed opinion holders required to shift majority opinion does not change significantly regardless of the type of network in which the opinion holders are working. In other words, the percentage of committed opinion holders required to influence a society remains at approximately 10 percent, regardless of how or where that opinion starts and spreads in the society.

…

The scientists developed computer models of various types of social networks. One of the networks had each person connect to every other person in the network. The second model included certain individuals who were connected to a large number of people, making them opinion hubs or leaders. The final model gave every person in the model roughly the same number of connections. The initial state of each of the models was a sea of traditional-view holders. Each of these individuals held a view, but were also, importantly, open minded to other views.

Once the networks were built, the scientists then "sprinkled" in some true believers throughout each of the networks. These people were completely set in their views and unflappable in modifying those beliefs. As those true believers began to converse with those who held the traditional belief system, the tides gradually and then very abruptly began to shift.

This is huge. Read on…

 Comments | Comment

As a trade for that great series, I wrote a post over at Nomad Chique about travel applications for the iPhone. Enjoy.

I want mobile applications to fill a very specific need. I might have several applications on my phone like that. When you consider how much traveling costs, I think spending $25 for a few applications is worth the investment for a better trip.

The best applications are designed with the user experience in mind, by filling needs within the context of your trip. For example:

• Is my flight delayed?
• How much does it cost for a taxi to my hotel from the airport?
• Where do I get something to eat that's inexpensive, but recommended by locals?
• How do I get to a neighborhood?
• How do I call a taxi?
• Where's free WiFi if I'm out of the country?

Read on…

 Comments | Comment

Great ideas come from collaborative teams working as one:

The reason the studios were so important for Hitchcock is that they allowed him to cultivate the right kind of creative team. While the director relied on many longstanding partners, such as his decade-long relationship with the editor George Tomasini and cinematographer Robert Burks, he also routinely brought in new talent, including John Steinbeck, Raymond Chandler and Salvador Dali.

For instance, on  North by Northwest, a classic Cary Grant thriller, Hitchcock insisted on working with Ernest Lehman, a screenwriter best known for  Sabrina. It was, at first glance, a peculiar choice:  Sabrina  was a romantic comedy, and Hitchcock had been hired to create a dark suspense movie. But Hitchcock knew what he was doing. In fact, he gave Lehman a tremendous amount of creative freedom. (Hitchcock's only requirement was that the plot contain three elements: a case of mistaken identity, the United Nations building and a chase scene across the face of Mt. Rushmore.) Although it took Lehman more than a year to write the script, the wait was worth it. "I wanted to write the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures," Lehman said.

And that's exactly what he did.

Great read…

 Comments | Comment

Jobvite is the full-time gig, and they’re nice enough to let me blog. I talk all the time to recruiters, and one of the discussions we have about searching for candidates is the quality of LinkedIn profiles.

The best job opportunities often appear when you aren’t looking for them. Recruiters look for both passive and active candidates and may be looking for someone like you. Keeping your LinkedIn profile updated with well-written, relevant, and professional content can help you attract interesting career opportunities, even if you aren’t actively looking.

There are a lot of people that give advice on what a great LinkedIn profile is. The important distinction between “social media consultants” and this blog post is that the tips here are from real recruiting professionals who work with Jobvite and ones who I know and trust. We trade stories and tips about LinkedIn profiles and talk about great people we have seen. Here are some of the best tips:

Have a Clear Headline and Summary

Most recruiters make their initial decision of whom they’re going to look at right on the search results page. They have a position have to fill, and their focus is pretty narrow to start.

Do you really think they’re going to click on a profile that’s titled “UX Ninja?”

(And can we please retire the word “ninja” from the English language when describing anything career related, unless you wield a sword?)

The headline should be clear, concise, and describe exactly what your chosen goal is for using LinkedIn as a professional. It should communicate the type of opportunity you would want at any size company.

Ideal headlines are “Social Media Consultant” or “Java Software Developer.” It could also be “Marketing Professional” or “Health Domain Expert.” Each of those headlines describes exactly what the person is and what kind of position they are looking for. It can stand out, but it doesn’t have to stand out too much.

Your summary should also be short, snappy, and explain exactly how you can help your ideal employer or client.

Have a Professional Photo

LinkedIn is not Facebook.

It’s a network where professionals connect and recruiters look to make sure the person they hiring isn’t Jabba the Hut. Image isn’t everything, but it does count for a lot; and those images do appear in search results.

It’s also important to emphasize that even if you are attractive, that trip you took to Cabo San Lucas has exactly zero photos that should be used on LinkedIn.

How do you get professional photos?

It’s really easy. Visit your local photo studio and ask how much it costs for a one-hour session where you can wear something appropriate to your line of your work. If you’re unemployed, do a trade for photos or request on Craigslist.

For User Experience, it might be just a nice collar shirt. For Sales, it might include a tie. You don’t have to be overly made up. Look good enough with great lighting so people will get a good impression.

List Only Relevant Positions

I’ve been going through the hiring process for Visual and User Experience Designers and have seen a lot of LinkedIn profiles. Most of them were in pretty good share, but there was the occasional “I worked at Joe’s Pizza Place” in the profile. It may seem cool to list every non-profit and coffee shop you have worked for, but here’s the reality: it isn’t.

Recruiters scan through your resume, and they want to see positions relevant to your field of experience. Hiring managers need to see a clear progression from position to position. There are allowances for moving around (especially in this economy), but recruiters want to see career growth, especially for professional positions.

For that, DJ’ing at the local dance hall doesn’t apply.

You have extracurricular activities you think may be good? Great, put that on your resume after education but not in your professional profile. Show the progression in your career, and you’ll get a better response rate in calls and interviews.

Be Realistic about What You Can Do

I’ve gone through a lot of profiles that the typical “User Experience/Web Design/Social Media/Search Engine Optimization/Search Engine Marketing/Programming Expert” job descriptions. If you were really skilled at all of those positions, you would never, EVER need a LinkedIn profile.

Aim for a level higher than you could achieve, but don’t reach for the moon. Recruiters are looking for candidates that fit the position they are filling right now, not where that position could be five years from now. If you’re currently a Product Manager, aim for Senior Product Manager positions. If your a sales professional, aim for Sales Manager. It’s all about advancing in your career, but not too much to look like you’re really reaching up the ladder.

One candidate I found was good product management type, but there was nothing in his resume that indicated what his intended goal was: “Vice President of Product Management.” His track record had nothing to indicate he should have been higher than a Senior Product Manager or User Experience professional.

Recruiters pick up on that. Quickly.

Make Sure Your Resume Matches Your LinkedIn Profile

Several times I’ve found a great candidate on LinkedIn, and it looks like he has the experience I’ve needed for a position. We go through the interview process, and the resume says something different.

True, people should spend much more time on resumes than they’re LinkedIn profile. The irony is that tools like Jobvite integrate LinkedIn profiles into the application process, and it’s viewed before the resume, especially for sourcing passive candidates.

I follow a very simple formula for writing my profile and resume: I have two to three sentences about what my responsibilities at the position were, and three clear bullet points about my accomplishments. It’s easy: explain what you did, how it affected the bottom line of the company.

Everyone from a low paid customer service position from CEO should have some idea of how you contributed to the company, and can explain it succinctly in your profile.

For example, a friend of mine worked at You Tube. It might have been “just” a position around customer support, but she did it for a major brand. The quality of the work saved the company thousands of dollars in extra support costs. That’s huge and something very valuable to most companies.

Use Keywords that Are Relevant to Your Job

It all goes down to the way people search in the web. Recruiters enter keywords like User Experience, Product Manager, Developer, and Java to look for skill sets or job titles. They have to do that, because recruiters don’t understand most positions unless they are really embedded in a team.

Generally, recruiters work with hiring managers to define the requisitions and search other requisitions on the web to figure out what experiences the perfect candidate should have.
Having an obscure job title like “UX Ninja” or “Superstar” won’t help your chances, and I would even go so far in talking about specifics. For example, I use Wireframes, Personas, and Use Cases in my profile, because recruiters search against that. Several recruiters have found me that way. I also don’t list skills that I have, but I don’t want to do anymore, like Creative Direction.

Don’t Have Too Many Recommendations

It goes both ways, but when I talk to most recruiters, the number of recommendations that a candidate has on LinkedIn doesn’t really influence their decision. In fact, they’ll question the value of them if the candidate has too many of them.

What they really want to see is the quality of recommendations.

Having a few is good, and I’ve even used them in my resume. This makes it easier for the recruiter or hiring manager to gauge the quality of a candidate without having to pull up their profile. Recruiters and hiring managers want to know in what kind of environment the person best fits, the quality of the work, and how the person works with teams. Cultural fit is so important these days, especially in smaller teams.

What they don’t want to see is the typical stuff: “He comes in on time,” “She’s motivated,” or “Loves working in teams.” These don’t mean anything.

The more concrete the recommendation is on working style, the better.

Patrick Neeman is the Director of User Experience with Jobvite. His previous experience includes working with startups to launch their product, User Experience and Social Media consulting with Microsoft, and managing a team of 25 User Experience professionals for a technology consultancy. He also runs a blog,  Usability Counts, that covers topics such as User Experience, Social Media, and Web Marketing.

 Comments | Comment

With Tom Anderson from MySpace. Really.

 Comments | Comment

It’s here.

The iPhone app is coming soon.

 Comments | Comment

Classic:

“One of the things you learn as a college president is that if an undergraduate is wearing a tie and jacket on Thursday afternoon at three o’clock, there are two possibilities. One is that they’re looking for a job and have an interview; the other is that they are an asshole. This was the latter case.”

I wish I had something that was worth $100 million.

Even $30 million.

I wouldn’t be suing, I’d be enjoying my life.

 Comments | Comment

Both Visual and User Experience Designers are important, but most don’t have the skillset to really do interaction work. Just like how many User Experience Designers don’t have a visual skill set, it works the other way:

This ambiguity can lead many visual designers to misunderstand what user experience design is, especially if they've never worked alongside a dedicated user experience designer. This has also led a lot of visual designers to mistakenly believe that because the work they create results in some kind of user experience, that makes them a user experience designer.

…

Over the last 12 months I've come across far too many visual designers describing themselves as user experience designers because they don't fully understand the term. Instead they've seen a few articles that explain how UX is the new black and decided to rebrand themselves.

I've also come across many fantastic visual designers who feel pressured into becoming user experience designers because they think this is the only way to progress their careers. It seems that due to a lack of supply, user experience design has somehow come to represent a higher order of design, or design done right. At best this is nonsense and at worst this is actually damaging to peoples careers.

I agree. both parties are just as important.

Visual designers don’t have to rebrand themselves — they’re a shortage of both good visual and User Experience Designers. Hone your craft. Both of us will be in shortage for a very long time.

 Comments | Comment

 Comments | Comment

Luke Wroblewski disclosed a couple of numbers in Design Solutions for Log In Problems that were interesting (and close to what I had long suspected):

User Interface Engineering’s  analysis of a major online retailer  found that 45% of all customers had multiple registrations in the system, 160,000 people requested passwords per day, and 75% of these people never completed the purchase they started once they requested their password. Ouch.

And…

When someone connects their Facebook or Twitter account to a Web site, they simply need to click the Sign In with Facebook or Twitter button to log in. Of course, they need to be signed in with the account provider to have things work with one click. But since 50% of Facebook’s 500 million active users  log on to Facebook in any given day  -odds are good one click is all it will take.

Over 50 percent of the internet users in the U.S. have a Facebook account. That’s a pretty good hit rate. What does that mean?

In one click, they’re in like Flynn? That’s great usability, yo!

In that same article, he talks about their approach of requiring people to type in their name so they can figure out which social account they used to sign in with Facebook. It’s a few less clicks, but there might be something here.

“Whenever I have to sign into Bagcheck, I’m filled with anxiety. Not because I don’t love the service, but because of the log in screen. I cannot remember whether I signed up through Facebook, Twitter or if I should know some special entry credentials.”

While I’m not in total agreement with their design approach, Bagcheck’s designers partnered with engineering to spend some time on this approach to see if this eases the friction for signing in. This partnership is important, because developers didn’t see it as “wasting time” but “gaining valuable insight into user  behavior.” You need to try ideas and measure results to learn from your users.

Once you enter your name, they know exactly which service you used, and hide the other service (here, Facebook is hidden).

Quora’s been trying a few different login ideas too to ease that friction. Many of them have some kind of auto-suggest or cookied identification as part of the process.

I would think once they login once with the social account, you could easily grab their profile photo and name and identify this is the account they signed in with, right?

Read the complete article…

 Comments | Comment

Note: I’m moving it because I have a conflict with a cocktail party. Cocktail parties are always first!

As an experiment, I’ve decided to start Google Plus Hangout Thursday, July 21 at 6pm PST. It’ll go until I run out of whiskey.

We’ll talk about anything and everything User Experience, San Francisco, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, not necessarily in that order. I know the room is limited to 10 people, but I wanted to see how many people showed up. It should be a hoot. I’m not the smartest User Experience professional out there (that’s for Jakob Nielsen, and he’ll tell ya :) ), but my opinions are my own.

The guest list is…

• Myself,  Patrick Neeman  — Director of User Experience at Jobvite
• Kristen Johansen  — Senior Director of Product at Lynda.com

I promise it will be a Robert Scoble and Chris Brogan free zone.

I’m going to broadcast it to people that are part of my User Experience circle. To add me, visit  my Google Plus profile. Drop me a note, I’ll send you a calendar reminder.

If you want a Google Plus invite, ping me on my  Twitter feed.

 Comments | Comment