Art, science, & pasta
Today I came across a really appetizing interesting site, which is an excerpt from a book called Pasta by Design, by George L. Legendre. What is so wonderful about it – to me at least – is that it brings together the math which produces the curves in the pasta, the technical reproduction of the pasta shape (which looks like a stipple contour drawing!), and then photographs, a brief origin / history of the shape, and even recommendations on how to eat it! You can browse the interactive site on the New York Times website. And a shout-out to one of my favorite bloggers Nathan Yau at...
Read MoreForget willpower
As people start the traditional making and breaking of New Year’s resolutions, willpower seems to be at top of mind for many. I have been ruminating on what I want to accomplish this year, and how I’ll put the right steps in place to get there. I’m sure many of you have been doing the same! But I dislike making resolutions just because it’s January, and I really dislike pretending that something is going to change unless I am really sure I can establish and execute on an plan. Corporate training meets real life, I guess! So when one of my ZS colleagues posted...
Read More2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,800 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people. Click here to see the complete report.
Read MoreFriday yumminess
This week I had a chance to dig into my RSS reader this week for the first time in months, and I found a few things I thought I would pass along for fun. And in honor of this post I’m introducing a new tag – yummy. For those of you that know me in real life, you know that I use this word all the time. Let’s see if I can bring it to the blog with any consistency. :) The first site is a great sampling of well-done Customer Experience maps. What an great format for visualizing workflow, experience, and opportunities for future work! I may have to...
Read MoreMobile Slowpass
The fuel indicator came on in my car yesterday on the way into work, and it was a shock. I’ve been in the Chicago area for SIX weeks, and it was the first time I had to stop for gas. I love my new commute – it’s 1.2 miles each way. So even with the fuel indicator on, I could have probably gone another few days without gas, but since I had never had to look for a gas station before, I decided to play it safe. It turns out that the closest gas station is Mobile. While I was pumping gas, I snapped this picture with my work phone: In looking at it, I’m not...
Read MoreSmiling city
This week I was talking to one of the Principals at ZS, helping him to prepare for a client engagement. His consulting team is putting together a proposal regarding the use of iPads for sales enablement. They are preparing to do ride-alongs with local pharmaceutical reps, and they wanted my help to help them prepare. I’m hoping I might get to join in, both for the ride-along and for the analysis of the customer’s requirements. If so I will definitely write a post about my experience, as it’s been ages since I did any field research of my own, and I’ve never...
Read MoreLeaving SAP
In May this year I celebrated my thirteen year anniversary with SAP. It’s a wonderful company and it has been a great ride, but the time has finally come for me to take on some new challenges. I have been blessed to work with a group of extremely talented and motivated people over the years. Saying goodbye to my amazing team and the many great people I’ve worked with at SAP will undoubtably be the hardest part of leaving SAP. I’m leaving to work for a small management consultancy called ZS Associates, which is based in Evanston (just North of Chicago on Lake Michigan,...
Read MoreUser Experience & Lean
Over the past few years I’ve written a few times about SAP’s internal transformation efforts. We just pre-announced record Q2 results yesterday (35%+ growth in all regions – go SAP!), and so I thought it fitting to return to the topics of growth and change and talk a little bit about the good things that are happening internally both with my User Experience team and with Lean. I have been on a multi-year journey to bring the discipline of User Experience to the operational practices of SAP. I finished my PhD in Anthropology in 2004, and I wanted to bring that social...
Read MoreEthnography / PAMA
This week I had the opportunity to present as part of a Lunch and Learn panel entitled Ethnography: Understand and Shape your Brand Experience for the Philadelphia chapter of the American Marketing Association (PAMA). Here is a description of the event from PAMA: The difference between a successful product launch, and one that falls short…or fails, is often an “ah-HA! moment” during its design and packaging. For nearly a decade some of the biggest brands have taken the inside track to market dominance—and that track rolls right through the user’s home, office or worksite. The work...
Read MoreMindful Eating
Several months ago I finished reading the book Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food, by Jan Chozen Bays, MD. I thought that the insights from the book might be of interest to readers of this blog because she does such a good job unpacking the ways in which human biology, social context, and cultural factors converge to impact our relationship with food. So often as researchers we focus on one or two factors influencing the behavior of the people we study. This book served to remind me of the complexity factors which shape who we are...
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