Xplaner

AUGUST 26, 2012

Many thanks to Thomas Vanderwal for the many conversations that inspired this post. The average life expectancy of a human being in the 21st century is about 67 years. Do you know what the average life expectancy for a company is? Surprisingly short, it turns out. In a recent talk , John Hagel pointed out that the average life expectancy of a company in the S&P 500 has dropped precipitously, from 75 years (in 1937) to 15 years in a more recent study.

Company 111

Company Design Study System 111

Boxes and Arrows

AUGUST 20, 2012

Imagine you’re on one side of a grass lawn and you want to reach the bus stop on the opposite side. Do you walk on the sidewalk around the edges or cross in the middle? Assuming the grass is dry and it’s not prohibited, you’d probably take the shortest path and walk across the lawn to the bus stop. If others have done so before, you may see a beaten path that you could follow.

Design 110

Design Brainstorming Comparison Examples 110

Bill Fischer

JANUARY 25, 2012

Leonard Bernstein; Image via Wikipedia Pick-up nearly any business book and the recommendation is likely to be the same: when building a team, hire for attitudes and train for skills. In fact, my Forbes.com colleague Dan Schawbel has just written a posting with that very title: Hire for Attitude in which [.

Training 53

Training Innovation 53

CorporateIntel

DECEMBER 30, 2012

All week I have been trying to devise a clean getaway post for the year 2012 and it has been a struggle. Then performance on demand, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan did the heavy lifting for me in this weekend’s edition of her column, Declarations. Because I can’t say it any better than she does, here is an extended excerpt from her article on what she got correct and wrong in covering this year’s Presidential Election, in particular, what she got quite right: In

Data 40

Data Marketing Strategy Strategy 40

Advertisement

Large enterprises face unique challenges in optimizing their Business Intelligence (BI) output due to the sheer scale and complexity of their operations. Unlike smaller organizations, where basic BI features and simple dashboards might suffice, enterprises must manage vast amounts of data from diverse sources. What are the top modern BI use cases for enterprise businesses to help you get a leg up on the competition?

Competition

Innovation 360 Group

MARCH 23, 2012

How offers become almost impossible to copy. WHAT ARE YOU SELLING? By understanding what you are actually selling, you can find your unique abilities and become sustainably competitive. Sitting on the plane home from Monaco and have just, together with some Bearing colleagues , run our innovation management program at Monaco’s business school and the MBA program of Luxury Goods.

Innovation 40

Innovation Groups Industry Technology 40

Xplaner

DECEMBER 17, 2012

I have taught a lot of people how to draw their ideas. One of the questions that comes up over and over is “now that I can draw my ideas, how do I know what to draw to get my ideas across?” In other words, “I have a communication goal, how can I figure out the best way to draw that?” It’s not just how to draw, but what to draw.

How To 111

How To Video 111

Boxes and Arrows

FEBRUARY 3, 2012

Teams moving to agile often struggle to integrate agile with best practices in user-centered design (UCD) and user experience (UX) in general. Fortunately, using a UX Integration Matrix helps integrate UX and agile by including UX information and requirements right in the product backlog. While both agile and UX methods share some best practices—like iteration and defining requirements based on stories about users—agile and UX methods evolved for different purposes, supporting differ

Software Review 107

Software Review Agile Software Design 107

Boxes and Arrows

JUNE 7, 2012

Recently the web design community has been eating up the secrets of game design. The Gamification trend merely borrowed simple game mechanics, from badges to progress bars. But now designers are looking more closely at core game design principles like design for flow and mastery, blending them with our old friend, ease of use. But how many of these techniques are relevant for more everyday sites, like ecommerce and productivity apps?

Design 100

Design Tools Technical Review Software Review 100

Xplaner

DECEMBER 28, 2012

My friend Marcia Conner , an admitted “word person” has been honing her visual thinking skills. She asked me “How can I recognize when I should be drawing an idea, versus communicating it some other way?” Watch my conversation (and sketching) with Marcia here.

How To 100

How To Video 100

Boxes and Arrows

MAY 30, 2012

Show Time: 35 minutes 20 seconds. Download mp3 (audio only) Download m4a (with visuals, requires iTunes, Quicktime, or similar). iTunes. Podcast Summary On today’s show I had the pleasure to talking with the first Global Director for World Information Architecture Day , Jessica DuVerneay. Jessica talks about her time helping to organize the first annual World IA Day including how the event came to life, the phenomenal support and experiences at all events, as well as her roles and responsi

Conference 98

Conference 98

Speaker: Jay Allardyce, Deepak Vittal, and Terrence Sheflin

As we look ahead to 2025, business intelligence and data analytics are set to play pivotal roles in shaping success. Organizations are already starting to face a host of transformative trends as the year comes to a close, including the integration of AI in data analytics, an increased emphasis on real-time data insights, and the growing importance of user experience in BI solutions.

Trends

Boxes and Arrows

JUNE 18, 2012

Ten years ago, when I wrote The Making of a Discipline: The Making of a Title, 2002, there was a big debate on: Is experience design about online and mobile interfaces or is it something more? Forward-thinking initiatives, like the AIGA ’s Advance for Design, began the conversation at the center of the convergence of the media, technology, and business worlds.

Design 98

Design System Learning Industry 98

Boxes and Arrows

FEBRUARY 15, 2012

“It’s easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.” Leonardo Da Vinci Some of Leonardo’s projects failed because of their execution. The strange tale of Leonardo’s “Kitchen Nightmare” plays out like a Shakespearean “comedy of errors” where a visionary designer’s experiments all work perfectly to extremely disastrous results.

Design 94

Design System Project Creativity 94

Boxes and Arrows

JANUARY 26, 2012

Design patterns are generally considered a good thing, but do they actually help run a user experience group? As a user experience group manager and an observer (and sponsor) of design pattern exercises, I’ve come to have serious questions about their actual utility. It’s not that design pattern libraries are bad, but that in a world of limited resources, it is it is not clear that the investment is worth it.

Design 88

Design Software Review Underperforming Technical Team Technical Review 88

Boxes and Arrows

MARCH 8, 2012

_This is an excerpt from “UX Storytellers”:[link] If you enjoy it, consider getting the kindle edition of UX Storytellers – Connecting the Dots with all the stories!_. Here’s something I believe in: stories are what make us human. Opposable thumbs? Other animals have those. Ability to use tools? Ditto. Even language is not exclusive to human beings.

Design 86

Design Tools Data Learning 86

Advertisement

Finding the right innovation management software is like picking a racing bike—it's essential to consider your unique needs rather than just flashy features. This oversight can stall your innovation efforts. Download now to explore key considerations for success!

Innovation Management

Boxes and Arrows

MAY 29, 2012

For centuries, the well-heeled Christian faithful in Europe made pilgrimages to Jerusalem, but most couldn’t afford these expensive and dangerous trips. In the fifteenth century, monks met the demand by setting up shrines along the roads. Together, these shrines told the Passion story, so that the faithful could take the same trip in miniature, at home.

Strategy 86

Strategy Strategy Design Video 86

Xplaner

DECEMBER 17, 2012

I have taught a lot of people how to draw their ideas. One of the questions that comes up over and over is “now that I can draw my ideas, how do I know what to draw to get my ideas across?” In other words, “I have a communication goal, how can I figure out the best way to draw that?” It’s not just how to draw, but what to draw.

How To 73

How To Video 73

Boxes and Arrows

APRIL 18, 2012

Show Time: 29 minutes 29 seconds. Download mp3 (audio only) Download m4a (with visuals, requires iTunes, Quicktime, or similar). iTunes. Podcast Summary Today on Boxes and Arrows, Chris Baum talks with Patrick Quattlebaum, Design Director at Adaptive Path. Patrick has some interesting insights and tools that designers can use to develop experiences across channels.

Project 72

Project Design Team Building Tools 72

Boxes and Arrows

APRIL 9, 2012

Show Time: 21 minutes 06 seconds. Download mp3 (audio only) Download m4a (with visuals, requires iTunes, Quicktime, or similar). iTunes. Podcast Summary In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down in New Orleans at the 2012 Information Architecture Summit with Christina Wodtke ( @cwodtke ), the founder of Boxes and Arrows.com. Christina shares a bit of the history and future of the web magazine that has supported both the people and ideas that have played a key role in the continuing gro

Design 68

Design Conference 68

Speaker: Paul Heller

Most innovation work proceeds independently from company strategy. As a result, the products that arrive in the market are not well aligned with the company’s goals. This challenge is particularly significant in organizations with transformation-oriented strategies, where innovation must directly support growth, scalability, and strategic pivots. In this session, we will discuss why innovation in large companies is so often not aligned with the company’s strategy and what innovation leaders, pro

Innovation

Boxes and Arrows

MAY 22, 2012

Show Time: 33 minutes 40 seconds. Download mp3 (audio only) Download m4a (with visuals, requires iTunes, Quicktime, or similar). iTunes. Podcast Summary In this episode Chris Baum speaks with Donna Spencer , Lynne Polischuik , Justin Davis and Erin Jo Richey at the 2012 IA Summit about their interactive panel discussion Taking the Plunge: Diving Into Indie UX.

Project 65

Project Design Marketing Management 65

Bill Fischer

MARCH 13, 2012

President Nixon meets Chairman Mao Image via Wikipedia "So many deeds cry out to be done, and always urgently. The world rolls on. Time passes. Ten thousand years are too long. Seize the day, seize the hour." The words are by Mao Zedong, founder of the Peoples' Republic of China; the [.

Leadership 47

Leadership Change Meeting 47

Bill Fischer

JANUARY 9, 2012

Ever notice how many times an unsuccessful project team will explain their failed Dr. Seuss, "Green Eggs & Ham," Cover via Amazon performance in terms of the constraints that made success "impossible"? The next time you hear this, beware! There's good reason to believe that constraints are far from debilitating to creativity, [.

Project 45

Project Creativity 45

Xplaner

DECEMBER 9, 2012

Interesting presentation from the BetaCodex Network: The 3 Structures of an Organization (BetaCodex11) from Niels Pflaeging.

56

56

Speaker: Aindra Misra, Senior Manager, Product Management (Data, ML, and Cloud Infrastructure) at BILL

Join us for an insightful webinar that explores the critical intersection of data privacy and AI governance. In today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape, building robust governance frameworks is essential to fostering innovation while staying compliant with regulations. Our expert speaker, Aindra Misra, will guide you through best practices for ensuring data protection while leveraging AI capabilities.

Innovation

Xplaner

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Did you like this? If so, please consider buying me a coffee!

Design 76

Design Video 76

Bill Fischer

JANUARY 19, 2012

It's becoming a familiar story, university experiences are increasingly being characterized by: impractical learning, out-of-touch faculty, exorbitant tuitions, time-wasting requirements and diminishing probabilities of employment. At the same time, we are living in an era when many of our heroes — Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, [.

Disruption 43

Disruption Learning 43

Xplaner

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

Company 101

Company Video 101

Bill Fischer

NOVEMBER 28, 2012

The next time someone questions the value of diversity, tell’em to go whistle up a tune; Autumn in New York to be specific. This rather modest “jazz standard” is a microcosm of how diversity adds to the creativity of a society. Composed in 1934, by a Russian (now he would [.

Creativity 40

Creativity Innovation 40

Speaker: Miriam Connaughton and Donald Knight

As organizations scale, keeping employees connected, engaged, and productive can seem like a monumental task. But what if AI could help you do all of this and more? AI has the power to help, but the key is implementing it in a way that enhances, rather than replaces, human connection. Join us for an exploration into how industry trailblazers are using AI to transform employee experience at scale while addressing both the potential and the pitfalls.

Meeting

Bill Fischer

OCTOBER 15, 2012

Nobel prizes are won by people who know what they are looking for! Yes, they are certainly smart, but they are also better-informed about what they need to know. How many of the rest of us can say that with any degree of assuredness? Merely being "smarter" is not the same [.

40

40

Bill Fischer

OCTOBER 3, 2012

R. A. Dickey on the mound. (Image credit: Getty Images North America via @daylife) We live in a time of great leadership deficit. Our economies are adrift and our corporations rudderless. Politicians, worldwide, have largely proven unequal the task. So, how odd to find a compelling leadership presence in full-bloom on [.

Leadership 40

Leadership 40

Bill Fischer

AUGUST 24, 2012

Genes matter, and Samsung's genes are OEM genes. There is nothing wrong with OEM genes, as long as you are satisfied with being an OEM supplier, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that, either. But, it's quite a different story if your aspirations are to be something that you're not, like, [.

40

40

Bill Fischer

JULY 7, 2012

At long last, there is good news for Blackberry fans! After quite a few anxious months, when the very fate of the organization appeared to be in question, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, announced last week that “there’s nothing wrong with the company as it exists right now.” What a relief! [.

Company 40

Company 40

Speaker: Joe Sharpe and James Carlson

Payroll optimization can be one of the most time-consuming and complex factors of small business management. Yet, organizations that crack the code on streamlining employee compensation often discover innovative avenues for growth. With the right strategies in place, outsourcing and streamlining payroll processes can result in substantial time and resource savings.

Management