Boxes and Arrows: Stories by Bill Wetherell

Straight from the Horse's Mouth with Livia Labate and Austin Govella

Christina Wodtke, Bill Wetherell — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 09:19:54 GMT

iTunes Download Del.icio.us Pod-safe music generously provided by Sonic Blue Christina Wodtke traveled with microphone to the IA Summit in Las Vegas this year and sat down with some of the most interesting and accomplished information archictects and designers in all the land. Bill Wetherell recorded those five conversations, and now B&A is proud to bring them to you. Thanks to AOL for sponsoring these podcasts. Christina talks with Livia Labate and Austin Govella about the UX practice in Comcast and how they have created an environment where they are treated as colleagues rather than a service organization. We discuss... *Big IA vs. Little IA* Livia describes "Little IA" as the bottom-up approach to projects looking at the structure and organization of content. While "Big IA" is about acquiring user and business needs and then converging these, taking content and structure into account. *Defining the damn thing* Does the role define the person or does the person define the role? Austin believes that job titles are not relevant any more. What matters is learning from other professionals to improve upon a product or create a new solution to an old problem. *Ying Yang* The need for "specialization" and the need for "collaboration" in business is a big challenge. These two important yet distinct elements are rarely looked at in harmony. *What is IA all about...besides "herding cats?"* Livia defines this process through their mission statement: "Balancing user needs and business goals to create a framework in creating positive user experience". This helps them define the boundaries of Information Architecture. *Looking through the Looking Glass* Austin suggests reading business publications thereby changing the words you use to sell ideas to different members of the corporation. Dress code also impacts the kinds of conversations you have with the client. Know who you are presenting too, and dress the part. *Describing Value* Austin discusses the importance of talking to business leaders about design choices in their own language. For example, "this move will decrease our acquisition rate"..."decrease our ability to convert people"..."decrease our referrals." In essence, know your audience and speak their language. *Secrets to Success* Christina sums up this conversation beautifully, "...learn the language, lose the agenda, be a resource, and dress better!"

Straight From the Horse's Mouth with Derek Featherstone

Christina Wodtke, Bill Wetherell — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 07:31:34 GMT

iTunes Download Del.icio.us Pod-safe music generously provided by Sonic Blue Christina Wodtke traveled with microphone to the IA Summit in Las Vegas this year and sat down with some of the most interesting and accomplished information archictects and designers in all the land. Bill Wetherell recorded those five conversations, and now B&A is proud to bring them to you. Thanks to AOL for sponsoring these podcasts. Christina talks with web accessibility and design expert Derek Featherstone about considering accessibility as a foundational part of the design process. By doing so, he argues, the software we build will have better structure and be inherently more useful for everyone who uses it. This interview is a must listen if you want to learn about this emergent part of our practice that started as a grassroots movement in developer communities. We discuss... *What do IA and Accessbility have in common?* Derek looks at the bigger picture when it comes to accessibility, believing that focusing on accessibility by itself will cause the web design to fall short in other important areas. *Fashionably late?* Derek goes on to outline the problems of brining accessibility issues to the table late in the design process, including impact on project scope. As Derek points out, better to measure not once, but three of four times before cutting...metaphorically speaking. *Easy does it!* Derek talks about specific examples of issues that have arisen when sites for the Canadian Federal Government have been found to be inaccessible and the consequences that follow. *Heart and Soul* Derek talks about the value in this work is knowing simply that he's helping people with disabilities share in the same experiences as everyone else. "I don't think I could even make an inaccessible web site, now!" *Structure is at the Core* He describes how structure (following HTML web standards) allows assistive devices to know what the page is communicating. *Interaction Design and Accessibility* Derek suggests trying to think about accessibility from an Interactive perspective. Using things like flow, and rhythm to convey meaning in something we read for those who can't see. *Flash in the pan?* Derek thinks there are great Flash sites and use of the product. In fact Flash has a wealth of accessibility features at the developer's disposal. The message is just not getting out there fast enough.

Straight From the Horse's Mouth with Tom Wailes

Christina Wodtke, Bill Wetherell — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 07:46:20 GMT

iTunes Download Del.icio.us Pod-safe music generously provided by Sonic Blue Christina Wodtke traveled with microphone to the IA Summit in Las Vegas this year and sat down with some of the most interesting and accomplished information archictects and designers in all the land. Bill Wetherell recorded those five conversations, and now B&A is proud to bring them to you. Thanks to AOL for sponsoring these podcasts. _*You Only See the Tip*_ In this cliffhanging podcast, Bill Wetherell wields the mic as he explores how Tom Wailes and his team at Yahoo! turned the normal design process on its head. They were successful, Wails posits, because they worked small and crafty while being inclusive in most useful ways. If you are in a position where a new approach might reignite creativity and effectiveness in your organization, check out Tom's thoughtful approach. We discuss... *Innovation at Yahoo!* Tom talks about how his team at Yahoo! have completely reversed every day business processes to be more innovative and creative. *KISS methodology* Tom talks about the need to keep things simple and small; leading the process so creativity and innovation become part of the team culture. *Being one of the cool kids* Tom talks about the importance of involving everyone who wants to be part of such a team and how "Tiger teams" tend to intimidate preventing the whole team from realizing their potential. *Less can be more* Tom talks about the ice burg theory, how most of the work when creating brilliant design is unseen to the client. The best solutions are often the ones with the least amount of detail. *Is it Bond...James Bond?"* He goes on to describe how some parts of creating a design team involve communicating with everyone about the process; while other occasions merit a more stealth like approach around the office.

Straight From the Horse's Mouth with Dan Brown

Bill Wetherell — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 07:14:02 GMT

iTunes Download Del.icio.us Pod-safe music generously provided by Sonic Blue Christina Wodtke traveled with microphone to the IA Summit in Las Vegas this year and sat down with some of the most interesting and accomplished information archictects and designers in all the land. Bill Wetherell recorded those five conversations, and now B&A is proud to bring them to you. Thanks to AOL for sponsoring these podcasts. In this bat episode, Dan Brown, "consultant":http://www.eightshapes.com/ and "author":http://www.communicatingdesign.com/ extraordinaire, deftly parries Tom Wailes' repeated calls to oust the wireframes and task flows for prototyping and simulations. Our stalwart hero defends mindful subversion of the status quo as the best path in many corporate and public sector projects. While exciting to throw out the bathwater, not every baby is fed by radical innovation alone. Thanks to Tom for taking the voice baton after his previous turn as interviewee. We discuss... *Conceptual vs Design Documentation* Ideation processes is where the team needs to think bout creativity and innovation. As designers, we create a set of artifacts to help us communicate. *More detail required?* Rather than using Wire Frames, Tom Wails says that his core artifacts are more detailed prototypes rather than wire framing, calling Dan's approach to using Wire Frames into question. *Know more than your audience* Dan discusses the importance of knowing not only your audience but also understanding the corporate culture into which you'll be working and designing. *Government Work* Dan points out a constraint to innovation from his experience is that most contracts are very specific with respect to deliverables. The challenge is creating within these set parameters. Dan provides examples of such creativity when designing Wire Frames.

Straight From the Horse's Mouth with Chris Fahey

Christina Wodtke, Bill Wetherell — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:25:24 GMT

iTunes Download Del.icio.us Pod-safe music generously provided by Sonic Blue Christina Wodtke traveled with microphone to the IA Summit in Las Vegas this year and sat down with some of the most interesting and accomplished information archictects and designers in all the land. Bill Wetherell recorded those five conversations, and now B&A is proud to bring them to you. Thanks to AOL for sponsoring these podcasts. In this fantastic finale, consulting powerhouse Chris Fahey of "Behavior Design":http://www.behaviordesign.com/ talks with Christina (herself a former consultant-turned-entrepreneur) about the conditions that led to the founding of the firm. He speaks with great nuance and honesty about how the practice developed, what it means to lead the consultancy, and how the partners' work has changed because of its success. For those who have ever considered striking out with a few colleagues or are just curious about the path, do yourself a huge favor and listen to this podcast before you jump off that cliff. We discuss... *Your future...* Chris discusses the reality of the business world today when it comes to careers. How we start to think less about how we can do well for our clients and more about how we can get involved in larger projects. *Virtual detox* Chris talks about how he and his four business partners created his company Behavior Design and the challenges of moving into an office after working virtually for years. *To hire or not to hire* Chris discusses the hiring process at Behavior Design and their good fortune in hiring staff. His biggest challenge remains whether to out source work to trusted consultants or hire staff full time. Pros and Cons to both are talked about. *In through the out door* Although one of the partners left the organization to take on a dream job at the NY Times as the lead designer, the culture that was developed allowed for a smooth transition for the organization and its' people. *Shameless Self-Promotion* Christina describes the importance of shameless self-promotion in order to continue to advance your company. Chris describes other important aspects including knowing when to say "No!" and when to be hungry for sales. *Come together* Christina and Chris talk about the challenges and advantages of working with several partners when building a company. *Summing Up* Part of the natural growth of the company is for people to walk away to take on new challenges. As Christina points out, we're human beings, we grow, and ultimately we're bigger than what we do.