Sara Goepel

A step away from what I usually talk about, but I just came across Time’s photo essay
entitled- Detroit’s Beautiful, Horrible Decline.

United Artists Theater, Detroit

It’s the type of imagery that we’re used to seeing in war torn cities where buildings have been riddled with gunshots and ravaged with bombs.

But in Detroit, it’s a different kind of war- an economic one. A war that begun with the demise of industries and its infinite ripple into the economy.

Plants shut down, people lost their jobs, more business closed, people moved, house prices fell, investment dried up and the city began to die.

It is true that cities are structures, building and geography, but their heart has always been the people. It’s a combination of societies, communities, cultures and their economies that keep cities alive and moves them forward.

As economies struggle in this current climate, it’s never been more important for societies, communities and cultures to work together to fight for their home, fight for their city. If they don’t, one day we’ll look back and see what once were beautiful, flourishing cities have now become ghost towns.

The New York Times has released a prototype of a new way to access their articles: The Article Skimmer

Down the left hand side are the topics that you can choose from and on the right is the content with teasers for each article.

It definitely has a magazine feel and seeing the content laid out this way is a nice change.

The only thing obviously missing is the date the article was published, giving you an idea of how often content is recycled through.

The write up on the Article Skinner mirrors the experience of using it to “Sunday browsing”- laying out your paper on the coffee table to take in as much content as possible.

I wonder if this means that the Article Skimmer will only be used for Sunday’s edition?

A fantastic video explaining the Credit Crisis. What is a complex topic is explained clearly in an engaging narrative.

It was made by Jonathon Jarvis as part of his thesis for a media design program.

Check it out: The Crisis of Credit Visualized

I was reading an article How to Manage Geeks. A friend sent it to me, probably because I work with a team of developers.

I am not sure how I feel about the word “geek”. As a kid, it was insult, but now it’s a term used widely about amongst the “geek” community to describe themselves. If used appropriately, it’s no longer derogatory. Times they sure have changed!

I don’t consider myself a geek, but I suspect to someone outside of the “IT world”, a product manager building online web applications is a pretty geeky profession! (The truth is that I love my job, so maybe I am a geek…)

Anyway I wasn’t sure what to expect reading the article, whether is was a joke or serious, but it was the real deal- a true “How To” on the dos and don’ts of managing a “geek”.

I am writing about this because one of these “How Tos” really stood out for me- #10 Remember that geeks are creative workers.

I think quite often in website or application development, it’s easily forgotten how much design is required by software engineers to give life to the specification documents and the designs that accompany them.

Whether you are creating something for the first time or extending an existing product- the engineer needs to think about the problem holistically and design a solution that meets the specifications and looks and works like the design while ensuring it’s a solid build with minimal bugs.

Through this design process they also need to feed back to the team any suggestions for revising the specifications or design based on technical constraints or suggestions for improvements.

This technical design phase is critical to the success of any project.

So I do agree- give the “geek” a creative environment to work and allow them the time and freedom to design their software as allowing for this will only result in better products, websites and applications.

I heard someone talking the other day about finding your personal value proposition.

Determining what skills you have to offer your employer, your clients/customers, your staff- every working relationship in your life.

While the world is experiencing the shaky economic climate, what can you do and what will you do to ride the wave and be successful?

If you don’t know what value you bring, how can you expect anyone to pay you for what you do?

Take a few minutes and ask yourself these questions- really think about it.

If you can’t find any value in your work, then brace yourself  because it’s only a matter of time before someone else notices!

Actually to be honest, they probably already have.

So what better time to see what you can change- find ways to work smarter, increase productivity, increase profit and stimulate your business in 2009.

Wow it’s been a long time since I posted anything on my blog. I am going to have to blame computer burn-out, which has subsequently been cured with a 4 week holiday only logging on for the occasional email.

Anyway, a lot has been happening since the 5th of August as the world walks on egg shells waiting for the US government to approve the billion dollar bail out plan.

I have been particularly interested in the coverage relating the future of Web start-ups in this time of economic turmoil. Half the commentators are doom and gloom and others trying to  remain positive and offer advice on survival.

As unemployment rises, credit contracts and people need to tighten their spending, any business needs to take inventory of where they are at and evaluate the situation.

The first and most important question is- do we have the money we need to survive? Can we keep operating?

Ultimately, money should be coming from customers from a sound business model and good revenue streams. This is essential. You need this to survive and it’s required if you want someone to invest in you as you will need to demonstrate how they are going to make money out of their investment.

The second question is (are)– am I executing an awesome product and are we a great company with an awesome customer experience?

In a time when the economy is contracting there is no room for mediocrity. If I have to choose between a great product or a mediocre one, I will choose a great one. If I have to choose between a company with friendly customer care or one that doesn’t return my emails, I am going with the friendly crew. If my disposable income is shrinking I need to be selective on things I am going to pay for, so I want the best.

What does your inventory tell you:

• Do you have money to survive?
• Is your business model solid?
• Are you building an amazing product?
• Do you treat your customers well?

Adaptive Path has launched a new web browser interface concept that they have been working on in conjunction with Mozilla labs.

A couple days ago,  I had received an email from Adaptive Path’s marketing manager inviting one and all to their offices for the launch party on 6 August. Yes, this did spark a level of interest as they promised to demo the future of the web.

Alas living on the other side of the world was going to prevent me from attending, but today I found I was able to find information online (video) about their project Aurora.

I was really excited to watch the video as I have a lot of time for Adaptive Path. I enjoy their blog and appreciate the work they’ve done. Then the video started… wow was it cheesy. I had a hard time watching it.

I am not sure who came up with the concept of the farmer or who they are targeting for the discussion, but I feel they really missed the boat for the viral PR that would have come from a really hot video.  Also, the video is the opportunity to tell their story and I felt like I was watching a mockumentary.

Okay enough about the video.

Other thoughts were. Aurora feels really early and unpolished. Yes absolutely, the UI of the browser is still in its infancy and changes to browser behaviour are inevitable.

Whether those changes are as Aurora predicts or more all encompassing like the Monitory Report where the line that separates the computer and reality are blurred– only time will tell.

You can check out the video on Vimeo.

I just read this article on Joel Cohen, a writer and producer from The Simpsons. The article talks about the creative culture and innovation required to keep The Simspons fresh considering they’ve made over 400 episodes now.

What stuck out for me was his comment– “Take your ego out of the job”

In innovative and design lead organisations there are often so many smart creative people trying to solve problems that sometimes you’ll find your ideas and concepts being dismissed.

As everyone, we’ve all felt that sting of being shot down when we really thought we were onto something. Sitting in a brainstorming session, spiting out our brilliant idea to only find it being quickly passed over or even worse, slightly considered and then passed over with the next suggestion. Ouch!

Cohen suggests that this happens because “Not every great idea is the right great idea“.

To survive in a creative environment you have to leave your ego at home.  You can not let ego or hurt feelings come into play or you won’t make it. You probably love working with your colleagues because they are smart and talented and ironically it’s those characteristics which creates the reality where their ideas are chosen instead of yours.

However, if you are good at your job, for every idea that is dismissed I guarantee another one will be picked up. Just be prepared that your idea belongs to everyone so it’s going to be massaged and amended with team and management input. That’s just the way it goes and quite often with collaboration the outcome is far superior then had it only been worked on by you.

I came across a cool new search engine today- www.searchme.com

I have seen a lot of new search engines over the years, but this one has stuck out for me because the interface is like browsing through your iphone or touch looking for new albums.

To help you find what you’re looking for, categories are presented with each search, which allow you to refine your results. If you click on the little arrow at the bottom you’ll be presented with description of the pages, so you don’t have to click on each site to see what it’s all about. Also, the speed of results seems to be fast and pretty accurate as I was able to find what I was looking for for each time I searched.

So far, the only problem I had was that it didn’t support Safari yet.

It’s only in beta, but I wonder if it’s got a chance against Google as it’s going for a new type of search experience- something visual and fun.

If it does take off, web designers beware as people like pretty things and will probably be drawn to clicking  on sites that attract them.  It gives even more reason to try and get into the mind of your audience- not only do you have to think of keywords that will attract your users, but you will also have to consider how your visual design impacts your users desire to click through from search engines.  Very cool.

The starting point- it’s different for every project and often it’s not where you thought it would be.

A project can start because there is a business requirement or a user need. Either way,  I have found over the years, it doesn’t matter how big or small your project is, there always needs to apply a business analysis layer to it.

I say this, as people on a project team, especially the solution design team, need to understand the who, what, when, where and why if they are to deliver an excellent outcome.

Quite often it’s the why that ends up being the most important factor as you really need to get in there and understand what the problem is before you can solve it.

I don’t think you’ll ever regret taking the time at the start of a project to dig into the questions,  allowing yourself to develop a well structured problem before diving into developing a solution.

I read an interesting article today on the Six Secrets of Top-notch Business Analysts.
Having worked with many BAs and as one myself with multifaceted teams,  this article resonated well with me.

Check it out here