Today I received my SXSW recap magazine, and while flipping through it, I noticed Jeffery Tambor’s Acting Workshop was highlighted. I had the great fortune to attend this AMAZING workshop along with a room was FILLED with Interactive attendees, designers, web developers, product managers, etc. I sat next to Johanna Knoll, who is an Agile/Lean UX expert, and we were amazed with how applicable his advice was to the product development. In fact, Alan Cooper was there, and tweeted: “Jeffrey Tambor thinks he’s talking about acting & directing, but he’s really talking about software design & dev.” Looking back on my Tweets during the workshop, I was reminded of the wise advice Jeffery Tambor gave in developing your voice… Here’s how it went down…

We watched and listened to Jeffery Tambor coach two actors on stage as they delivered lines from a scene. The two actors on stage read and acted out lines from a script, while Jeffery Tambor watched. One of the actors on stage was very timid. I could relate very well to her. She wasn’t coming to life. She wasn’t showing her heart. She wasn’t giving much of her TRUE self at all. In front of an audience of 800 I would feel shy too! However, Jeffery Tambor, in his not-so-delicate ways, coached her, iteratively, pulling out of her a REAL and AUTHENTIC voice. He had her deliver the lines and act out the scenes in many different ways…

“Okay… now do it ANGRY.” Jeffery Tambor said.

“Okay… now OVER-ACT IT.” He said again.

“Okay… now do it as a LOVE SCENE.”

This went on and on… until Jeffery Tambor stopped and took the girl aside. He told her he wanted her to look deep into herself, and think of her father as she delivered the lines the way he would. She tried, and Jeffery would yell, “More… MORE!!” and she’d get louder and louder. Suddenly you didn’t see this timid girl anymore, hiding her voice. A true-er and more authentic person was coming through. You could feel it. Jeffery Tambor encouraged this girl to take voice coaching, and told the audience: “You gotta bring your life. You gotta bring your art. You gotta bring WHAT YOU’VE GOT.”

Sitting there, I couldn’t help but think about how this relates to what we do in UX and Product Development. Actors deliver lines and performances… we deliver products and experiences.  Jeffery Tambor would encourage us to prototype and iterate. Then Jeffery Tambor pushed it even further…

“Go around your personality. Get ideas. Go places you haven’t been before.” Jeffery Tambor.

The actors took the scene in SO MANY different directions. It was hilarious to watch. Jeffery Tambor kept yelling “More… MORE!” at them, and would get right in the scene with them, following them around stage. His point was, get OUTSIDE your comfort zone. Take the scene, or whatever you are delivering, WAY BEYOND what you could possibly imagine.

This really hit home for me. Not only should we do this with our prototypes, designs, and language, this also applies to giving great talks. Instead of memorizing your presentation, rehearse it a MILLION different ways, in a MILLION different voices, a MILLION different points of view. Next time I need to give a talk, I’ll ask myself, “How would Jared Spool say this part?” or “How would Tina Fey give this talk?” Jeffery Tambor says this is useful to GET TO YOUR CORE, and know every different way you can go. Interesting!

Jeffery Tambor left us with many terrific insights, but there was one more that I’ll never forget:

“Most of us go to the office to be loved. It’s a disease. We gotta be the enemy of the status quo. We gotta make mistakes. We have to count. We have to be MORE.” — Jeffery Tambor

This is so true for me. I get so uncomfortable at the thought of saying NO to a co-worker, or having to disagree with someone else’s idea. This is a disease. To be an effective UX Researcher, and to make a good contribution to the product, I need to be the enemy of the status quo. I need to make mistakes, and learn from them. I need to come to the office to be more than myself… I need to try things that I’ve never done before, be willing to fail, and learn from my failure.

In a strange way, this is actually more comforting than being loved. Wanting to be loved is a powerful force that will disintegrate your personality.  Wanting to grow, fail, make mistakes, and try new things that freak you out of your mind… that’s how you’ll truly find your voice.

Here is what I think:

• With limited resources, it’s not practical. I think tracking usability issues in a database is a great idea in theory, but in practice I haven’t seen it work out so well. We managed a “usability findings database” in a previous job, but it was unfortunately never used… Researchers spent a great deal of time maintaining the database, but designers never referenced it. Researchers would even walk through the database with designers, but designers would always say watching a fresh new study was so much more insightful.
• It doesn’t align with lean/ux principles. Agile development values working software over documentation. I think this means it is more valuable to *see* someone using your design. It’s becoming easier and easier to test working software, prototypes, etc. (using unmoderated testing, live-intercept recruitment methods, etc.) Instead of documentation, we should be focused on debriefs, discussions, and getting everyone exposed to users…
• Old usability issues get out dated — fast. I don’t think we should base today’s design decisions on data we collected a year ago — the web is changing so fast, as well as our products.  We should be putting our focus on ‘exposure hours’ getting designers exposed to users more, which has a direct, proven impact on making products better and better. Some of the issues I found even a month ago, in an iPhone study, are no longer valid, since we’ve made updates to the products…

Here’s the real truth: the only documentation that is necessary is in the form of *user stories* on product backlogs. Period.

What has been your experience tracking usability issues? Check back at a later date for further thoughts on UX Documentation.

Reason #1: Many traditional libraries are not customer driven.

This may sounds like an odd statement, especially because libraries are service oriented, and therefore, must be customer focused to some degree. Yes, that is true. And, don’t get me wrong… like many librarians, I’m VERY PASSIONATE about getting more people to use libraries, teaching people to be smart about what information they choose (information literacy), and helping people make more informed decisions.

HOWEVER, my philosophy of being “customer driven” clashes with the current methods libraries used to increase circulation rates and patron visits.  While there may be some exceptions to this, based on my experience working in libraries, libraries seem to take what Theodore Levitt calls, “a sales driven approach.”  He says:

“The difference between selling and marketing is that selling is getting rid of what you have, while marketing is having what people want.”

During my seven years working in academic and special libraries, I noticed we always tried to get people to use what the library already had. My approach is the opposite, I believe we should have primary focused on having resources that people WANT to use, not trying to get people to use the resources we already had. Instead of getting people to come to libraries more, librarians should be proactively going out to them, finding out what their information needs are, what fundamental questions they have, what key decisions they need to make. Then libraries need to provide innovative ways for them to access that information, and help them make more informed decisions. Because my philosophy unfortunately clashes with the thinking of most people in the library science profession, and I knew that if I were to become a librarian I would have a life-long battle to change the culture of libraries.

Reason #2: Many traditional librarians behave like martyrs, complaining that no-one recognizes their value.

In addition to battling “they must come to us” culture of libraries,  I’d be up against the deep-rooted martyr thinking:  where you constantly hear libraries say, “Nobody appreciates us! Why do they keep cutting our funding?” Funding for libraries has gone down tremendously, and jobs are being cut.  In order for libraries to survive, my thinking is that libraries need to fundamentally change the way they think of their “product.” Instead of selling the physical space of the building, and the physical books themselves, they need to invent new ways to meet deep information needs.  The only way to prove your value, is to be of more value. This reminds me of the railroad business… thinking they are selling trains, when they should have invented new modes of transportation. Libraries need to throw out the thinking that they are selling books and digital materials, and should be inventing new modes of delivering knowledge.

Here’s the deep truth: I don’t want to spend my career fighting, or having awkward conversations with anyone about making libraries more customer focused. I just want to work for organizations that value being customer driven as much as I do. I want to spend my energy understanding customers’ needs, and creating ways to exceed their expectations. I don’t want to fight for the permission to do it in the first place.

Photo by jangkwee

The most fulfilling parts of my life have been when things are better than I could have ever dreamed. People always say to chase your dreams, but you can’t chase something you have never imagined coming true.

The times in life that have been least fulfilling have been when I’m chasing other people’s dreams for me — becoming a lawyer, designer, varsity volleyball player, a nice sweet girl.

The best times in life have been when I’m trying out “unpopular” things — and end up having fun with them: cross country, musical theater, ballroom dancing, marathon running, library science, user experience research, etc.

I’m not a mainstream kind of girl — I know that from being Annie in the musical Annie when I was 8 years old. I really didn’t like being the center of attention, being the lead role, being what ever girl “thinks” they want to be. I just wanted to be Tessie, or Molly. One of the smaller roles, and kick ass at it.

I can’t tell myself to dream big… I’d rather be open minded… try things I’ve never done before… try things most people don’t do… and seeing what comes my way.  Instead of dreaming big, I tell myself to “try big.” Because if you never try you’ll never know…

Do you chase dreams? Do you let dreams chase you? Tell me what you think in the comments!

photo by Rob, rjs1322

My week was tough. The projects seemed doable, but then Monday hit me like a ton a bricks. Seven different projects, each one seemed simple enough, but when you start to see stress-enduced forehead acne all over your face, you know you are in trouble. I know a lot of people who try to “do it all.” But let me tell you this– I am the queen of trying to “do it all” and failing…every..time.

I didn’t see a lot of options.  I was blinded by the desire to do EVERYTHING, say yes to EVERYONE, and prove to myself that I CAN DO IT ALL.

I tried breaking down my days like I break down my workouts: one interval at a time. I counted down my tasks by half hour increments. Schedule a bunch of customer calls. Schedule another bunch of customer calls. Launch a survey, and self recorded studies. I cranked through each task like clocking the miles in a workout — one at a time. After one day, I felt very busy, very productive. I tried it again the next day — I was slammed, but things were moving along.

Then the end of the week came, and I was totally exhausted. I was driving the projects forward, but not really getting anywhere. I was doing too much, and not really being of value. I wasn’t improving, I wasn’t seeing the research make any difference whatsoever.

I realized research tasks really aren’t like clocking the miles. It’s not about the quantity of tasks you complete — it’s truly about the quality. How much did your work make a difference? How much value are you giving your company?

Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to do EVERYTHING, that we end up doing nothing.

We know how powerful and inspiring it is for stakeholders and developers to watch sessions live, while you are conducting the tests with participants.  But watching mobile testing live? While in the field? My sister-in-law inspired me to believe this is possible because she once live streamed herself running the Okinawah Marathon in Japan. It was almost like being there with her…the kind of experience you want your development teams to have, so they can understand the context your users are in…

So how do you run a mobile usability test in front of a live studio audience? Here are a few tips I picked up from watching a lot of 30 Rock (NBC’s Comedy Series, created by Tina Fey, about putting on a late night talk show).  The following are a few thoughts you can use to emulate “Liz Lemon” traits:

1. Speak your mind.
When things are getting tough, go to your boss and be vocal about it. They are never going to know what you are struggling with unless you TELL THEM. Just tell them the whole story, and they will help you find a solution… or at least tell you not to worry about it.

2. Keep track of the details.
Keep lists of to dos. Make checklists for repeat tasks. Double check your work. Test. test. test. Rehearse like crazy. Nail your opening script. Be on time. Do everything in your power to cover the details. You might start to feel hopeless, if you are covering all your bases, but not scoring any runs… if you know what I mean. But try not to worry about that. Just try not to drop any balls.

3. Stay focused on your work.
Many people will try to tell you how to run your test. This can be distracting if you are not staying focused on the test you crafted. They are great at offering their opinion on the participants you’ve brought in, the scenarios you wrote, and giving their suggestions of what you should have done differently. Everyone has an opinion, and while it shows that they care about the research, they are almost always wrong. For example, people who complain about the people you recruited wouldn’t know the first step in finding the right people… most of them wouldn’t even know how  to describe who the “right” people are! Just stay focused on you… you need all the self confidence you can muster up for this “show” to go off well.

4. Shake off the mistakes.
You can’t get held up with the mistakes you make. You might forget to record the audio properly, or ask that extra question your stakeholders asked you to put into the script last minute. Your computer might go to sleep, leaving your observers with nothing but a blank screen.  Just shake it off… take a deep breath, and ground yourself. Focus on what the participant is saying, and follow their lead.

5. Don’t sweat the stress induced forehead acne.
Your adrenaline will kick in once you get doing during your tests. Then, all of a sudden you will lightly brush your hand across your forehead to discover a sore little bump, freshly arisen, out of nowhere. Even if you swear to be calm, and not sweat the small stuff the week you are testing, your adrenaline will kick in, producing stress hormones that create break outs on your face. Don’t pick at it, just let it run its course.  Your body needs to heal.

Just remember, running a usability test in front of a live stakeholder audience may be stressful, but it is rewarding. Watch 30 Rock, and pick up some tips.

Photo by Don Debold: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddebold/5674779338/

There are times in our working, professional, or personal lives when someone says something to us just rubs you the wrong way. It can be especially painful when it is done in front of others, in your blog’s comment thread, in an online forum, or with others copied on the email thread. We can feel offended or put off by these obnoxious comments or questions. When this happens, the most important thing to do is to move on, and get over it. The worse thing you can do is to let it drag you down.

If you hold onto a grudge it WILL:
…keep you from pursuing your personal interests, such as marathon running, or cool DIY home renovations
…keep you from doing great things, like making that great dessert you wanted to make for the dinner party
…keep you from your calling, such as learning new technologies like HTML5 or web analytics tools that can help you solve more problems at work

No matter how terrible you feel when someone embarrasses you, here are five tips you can use to… just get over it.

1. Accept the fact that it’s an ‘ego-thing.’

I heard once that usually people don’t get over things because they hold onto their ego too much. They can’t believe that someone could possibly find fault in them, or could not love them. However, if we accept the fact that offense is all about the ego, we are well on the way to getting over the issue, and moving on with having fulfilling personal and professional lives.

2. Do not tell anyone, do not gossip.

No matter how hard it is to resist, do not tell anyone about the offender — it will NOT make you feel any better. This will not help you to get over the offender, and it will just make you look like you are a complaining gossiper. People who are familiar with the situation, and involved with the offender, will look differently toward them. No matter how much you want others to join you in your misery, this can seriously backfire. You should just give everyone the opportunity to interact with the offender, and let the truth speak for itself. (Unless they have physically harmed you, or are causing harm to others. In this case, you should talk with someone about it). It’s best to talk with a neutral party if anything, someone who does not work with you, and is not related to you. If you have to let it out, journal about it.

3. Let time run its course — by distracting yourself.

Sometimes you just need some distance from the offender, or distance from the offending incident. One thing I like to do is escape into entertaining TV shows, movies, or exercise. Sometimes only time can help heal from being hurt.

4. Always keep some spare chocolate on hand — dark chocolate.

Don’t deny that dark chocolate makes you feel better… embrace it. This is definitely not something to fight, but to allow it to soothe your broken heart. You will soon be so mesmerized by the bittersweet taste of the dark chocolate, that you will forget all about the offender… at least for a little while.

5. Keep soothing scents nearby that remind you of peaceful places.

Someone told me recently that smell is the strongest of the five senses for memory recall — he said this is why, for example, we are able to remember childhood memories so well when we smell the chocolate chip cookies baking. I don’t know if this is true, but it seems to work well for me when I’m trying to just calm myself down. The scent I like to have with me is lavender. It reminds me of my favorite yoga classes I used to take when I was in college, which were SO soothing. The instructor used to spray lavender on our hands just before chavasana, or the final relaxation phase. Every time I smell lavender, I can’t help but think of soothing thoughts… and it gets rid of the embarrassing thoughts I’m trying to forget about.

In summary, build a bridge and get over it. Seriously, this isn’t just a saying. Find some way to get past your hurt — built that bridge that gets you from where you are to the other side of the river.

What is most incredible, is that he hasn’t lost heart. He flew to his cousin’s wedding in Colorado Springs, and walked around the poorly handicap accessible grounds that you encounter while traveling. Then he flew to a conference that he had been looking forward to so much in the Bay Area on commission software. You gotta have heart if you are willing to fly to San Francisco for a conference on something as boring as commission software! wink wink… He loves it though. That’s what is so great. He pursues what he loves, without making ANY excuses for his broken leg.

You can’t go through life thinking you’ll never break your leg. And when it does, you can’t let it slow down your life. Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to draw some far-fetched metaphor between breaking your leg and breaking your products, services, or user experience. But please, if you break your leg — be that guy that doesn’t wine, complain, or argue. And still PURSUE WHAT YOU LOVE. Go to events, get yourself out there, and try to enjoy your time in the cast.

The Full Story…of the 26.2

I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started the Boston Marathon.  I knew I trained harder than I had ever trained before, tapered, and carbo-loaded better than before, and hydrated well (drank my traditional gallon of water the day before the race). I packed warm running clothes, chemical hand warmers, thought I was prepared. I figured that anything I did wrong would be made up by the fact that I’d have thousands of fans there to pump me up, and my adrenaline would kick in.  I planned to start out slow, running about 8:00–8:30 pace in the first few miles, then slowly bring it down to 7:50… then race the last 5 miles as fast as I could.  Little did I know what the next 26.2 miles had in store for me…

The Race Begins in Hopkinton

We woke up at 4am to get to the race.  It was quite an adventure just getting to the start line, getting to the buses downtown Boston, riding for an hour to Hopkinton, and waiting in Athlete’s Village until the race started.

Waiting for the Boston Marathon to start in Athlete’s Village, Hopkinton

My race started at 10:20am, as I was in the second wave of runners.  Everyone was lined up by what ever time they had qualified with — I was runner #12321.  I kept my sweats, long sleeved shirts, and jacket on because I was afraid of shivering my energy away. (Our coach had warned us to stay as warm as possible).  The starting corrals were sort of crazy, with so many crazy runners packed in, and frantically trying to find their spot in the correct corral.  Finally the race started.

Start of the Boston Marathon (picture from Endurance Sports http://endurancesportsnw.com/blog/2011/05/jeff-martins-boston-marathon-race-report/)

Sure enough, the ENTIRE CITY came out to cheer us on.  Thousands of Bostonians lined down the marathon course, 3–4 people deep in some paces. It looked like they were all there to watch the Rose Parade. I couldn’t help but start to cry, because they looked so proud. It was such an honor to make these spectators happy, and be part of their tradition.  But they weren’t just watching… they were going nuts!!

Even with all the adrenaline, about half way I was winded, and my legs started to hurt. I started thinking I wanted it to be over. I couldn’t settle into a good pace — as soon as I’d pick up my speed, I’d nearly run into someone. (Learning to dodge people during a race is something I need to work on!) But I said to myself, you gotta see Rusty (my coach), make him proud. Be strong. I passed Weslley, and all the girls cheering, and that was uplifting.

I wore my name tag on my shirt, and tons of people yelling “Go Jill!” However, I felt the most encouraged when I saw people I knew. We were so fortunate to stay with family, David and Barbara Spinner, and they came out to cheer us on, and I saw them just when I needed to: right before Heartbreak Hill. They were holding a helium balloon so I could spot them as I came down the road. It was hot. I totally missed my coach Rusty, and my pace dropped from the 7:50s to 8:20s… I was thinking just get through the hills and then bring it home.

The Last 5 Miles

After the top of Heartbreak, I started flying down past Boston College, and was feeling like a rock star! I was running a 7:05 pace!! I thought, only 5 miles to go, I totally got this, and thought I’d fly home. But just about 4 miles to go, my quads felt totally thrashed, and each step was extremely painful! I started checking my breathing to see if I was winded, and I was feeling weak, I was losing gas, and was scared I wouldn’t have enough to finish. I saw my running friend Jay at mile 24, and yelled, but he didn’t hear me. The streets were packed with runners, and the crowds were going nuts!! The T train was pacing with me for a while, then passed me.

Even with all the support I just wanted it to be all over. And I wanted to finish strong. I looked down at my watch ad could calculate that I wasn’t going to PR, but at that point I didn’t care, I just wanted it to be all over! I just wanted to finish strong, I knew I could pull out a sub 8:00 mile for the last mile. I wanted my last mile to be sub 7:00, but it wasn’t easy. I remember going downhill and picking up some speed, and then I lost it coming back up. I made a right then the final left onto Boylston, and gave it all I had. I had I keep looking at my watch, to hold myself accountable. Sometimes the watch said sub 6 minute miles, and sometimes it said sub 7 or 8.  It was excruciating, but it was almost over. I finally saw the clock, it was 3:59:42, so I sprinted to the end, so my picture would look like I broke 4 hours! (Even though this clock was from the start of wave one, and I was in wave two).

I finished in 3:36:28 and stumbled through the finishing area. I wanted so badly to sit down, but I knew it would be hard to get back up again to find my husband. I was very lightheaded, and really exhausted. I got my bag, and wandered around for nearly an hour looking for my husband who had started before me in wave 1.  I went to the hospital tent to find him, thinking, “If I’m feeling this bad, Doug MUST be in the medical tent.” The medical personnel looked up his race number, but he wasn’t there. When I finally made my way through the crowds, and back to the family areas, getting lost multiple times, I finally found Doug.

I hugged him, thinking he probably had run just as bad of a race as I had — I thought — my misery had finally found company. Then he told me his time: 2:58 — I WAS SHOCKED! This was the time he was shooting for, to break 3 hours!  I was so surprised and happy for him!

Then he asked me how I did, and I burst into tears, so ashamed of myself and not getting a PR like he did.  He was so sweet to hold me there, shivering in the wind, until I could pull myself together. I guess I was feeling pretty bad, even though those last few miles I didn’t care about anything but just that it would be over soon!

It was his day. And I am so proud of him. I remember thinking wow, I don’t want to run his course again, I’m not happy. Then when I finished my husband said “I want to do this course again. The water stations every mile really helped.”

Doug and Jill after finishing the Boston Marathon

The Play by Play: Average Minutes/Mile

Final Thoughts…

I built this race up so much in my mind, thinking I would be on a magical cloud 9 during the race. However, I had no idea how grueling the course would feel on my body! Those downhills tore my quads to shreds, making the last 10k of the race extremely painful! I was happy to walk away with negative splits, but sorely disappointed not to get a PR…Seems like the road to getting PR in the marathon is long, especially when it takes multiple marathons.

Now that I’ve completed 3 marathons, I want to cut back and focus on my goals in the 5k, mile, and half marathons. I’m feeling inspired to chase my dreams of breaking my PRs in the shorter distances. I always wanted to break 20 minutes in the 5k, and 6 minutes in the mile. Looking forward to getting some speed in my legs, and bringing this speed into the marathon, and hopefully getting my PR in the 26.2!

Karen McGrane on Web Content Strategy or “Avoiding the Eleventh hour Sh*tstorm Problem” from UX Melbourne on Vimeo.

Here are some of my favorite takeaways from Karen’s talk:

• “We tell ourselves we don’t need good content, we just need good templates.”
• “We don’t plan time to create and edit content…“
  “Emphasize the real goal…better information for site visitors.”
• “Do usability testing with content providers…(not just end users).”
• “Challenge the schedule: content before design!”
• “Don’t just persuade: start planning, writing, and editing.”
• “People don’t go to your site to look at your templates. They go for the content.”

When you think about it, we all produce content: on Twitter, our blogs, podcasts, and other social media updates.  I would be interested to discuss how important it is to produce a good content experience personally and professionally. This reminds me of the old saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

What are your thoughts on planning for  content? How do you plan for content on the sites, blogs, micro-blogs, podcasts, etc. that you are producing?