Product quarterly planning that creates focus and speed

I want to give a specific, proven recipe that product leaders can follow to get product squads clear and aligned quickly, so they can focus on delivering great results fast.This post gives the core ingredients and principles. In the next post, I give some step-by-step instructions and templates. Nutrition factsAI-generated content in this article: None.Where this …

How to actually make an impact as a product designer

(I wrote this for the OfferZen Blog – because the issue had been bugging me after some conversations with designer friends. It contains ideas I’ve learned at OfferZen, I guess – an organisation where people really get things done.) Digital product designers often tell me they chose their career because they want to make a …

Multiplying the value of product teams with design

Good UX design is essential for digital products to win, most of the time. But often teams don’t know how to work with their designers effectively, to get the competitive edge they expected from Design. Design activities can feel alien to engineering teams and designers can feel isolated, since they’re often in a minority. Designers …

How to make digital teams work better together

Effective team culture and communication is a key ingredient for delivering great products. Developers, designers and product people have really different priorities and styles, and getting them to gel together as a team needs attention and skill. I moderated a panel about ways that tech teams can work better at the Merge conference in Johannesburg …

A few tips on landing your first job in UX

I was invited to join in a session run by Bakery for people wanting to move into a career in UX. I touched on a few favourite topics including: How many UX designers it takes to change a lightbulb, and why we should be proud of that. (The answer is “does it have to be …

“Everything” I think about UX – and why

I was interviewed  Anne Gonschorek, from Offer Zen. She wrote a great article about UX, that made more sense than most of the things I write. In it, I ramble on about… How designers think How to do human centred design What design thinking is (sort of) Designers working with developers Lean UX It also …

Design Thinking: How, why and why now?

The popularity of the term “Design Thinking” seems to be spiking at the moment. So I did a talk about it recently at Cape Town’s Western Cape Funding Fair. The talk is at the bottom. First – some thoughts! Design Thinking isn’t… Design Thinking tends to inspire passion. I think the primary reason is that …

Crossy road:  7 kinds of persuasive design techniques in a tiny package

The epic list of game mechanics at work in Crossy road, the hit iPad game, might inspire you to gamify whatever you’re working on. Crossy road is a simple and wonderful game, based on the arcade classic Frogger. It swept the iOS world in November and December. And it’s still sweeping. There’s nothing to it …