The 10 Parts of a Usability Heuristic Evaluation
Jakob Neilson back in 1995 wrote that there are 10 principles to a usability. If you want to conduct a heuristic evaluation of your product these principles provide a great starting point. So let’s...
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Redbox Kiosk Usability
If you’ve visited a Redbox kiosk to pickup a DVD you reserved online, and mistakenly gone to the wrong kiosk then you might have seen this error message. In Chicago you’ll frequently find two kiosks...
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The Usability of a Toyota Prius
This is the gear shifter from a Toyota Prius, the 2007 model to be specific, which I drove while on a work trip. If you’ve never driven this car before, let me describe how it works: The shifter is...
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Relaunched New Life Centers website!
This month New Life Centers (a Chicago based non-profit that provides community services in at need neighborhoods) was featured on Moody Radio Chicago. I volunteer my time to help them with their...
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Minimalist Design’s Impact on Usability
One of the benefits I’ve found from spending time helping train people who are not very computer illiterate is it exposes the assumptions we build into our website or applications. A while back Apple...
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Back buttons in iPhone apps
Recently we have been working on wireframes for a new version Moody Radio’s mobile app. One of the questions that came up is how to handle the back action. Here is an example from iOS 7’s settings In...
View ArticleSEO & Rap Genius
An article earlier week covered Rap Genius’ growth strategy, specifically how they were using poor SEO tactics. Sometimes the tech world seems large and disconnected, but it was interesting to see how...
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Enhancing Usability With Platform Specific Functionality
When you’re developing an app or website it’s tempting to think in terms of desktop functionality. But if you want an app that works “natively” on the platform it’s on, you need to think about how each...
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Evaluating New Platforms
As a product manager inevitably you’ll be asked to research and evaluate new platforms and new partnerships from time to time. Recently I was asked to consider how NextRadio could fit into Moody...
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Web Form Usability
What’s wrong with this question from a web form I recently came across? Creating great web forms is not easy. There are so many details to get right, and you really need to consider who your...
View ArticleWhat are you invested in?
I’m in the process of selling my car, and making a 20-year old truck my dad gave me my primary vehicle. The car was paid off, reliable, comfortable, and I really enjoyed driving it. So why get rid of...
View ArticlePick it up!
“Don’t just walk by that trash, pick it up!” As a kid, my dad would yell at me for walking past a piece of trash on the ground in the yard or the house. I’d argue that it wasn’t my trash, but he...
View ArticleOur Product Is Not For You!
I attended a talk several years ago by the CEO of a very successful software company, and afterward a current customer asked about a product enhancement. Most CEO’s would respond with something like,...
View ArticleWhat are you celebrating?
I was rereading Marty Cagan’s book Inspired and I came across this quote: “Good teams celebrate when they achieve a significant impact to the business results. Bad teams celebrate when they finally...
View ArticleReflecting On Our Past
Venerating the past can cause us to ignore the painful mistakes and prevent us from reevaluating the wisdom of past decisions. Demonizing the past can cause us to ignore the positive steps made and...
View ArticleAre you running an assembly line?
Many companies want to be innovative. They launch innovation programs, hackathons, and more. Then they go out and manage as if their company was an assembly line. They create standardized processes,...
View ArticleAre you leaving dirty dishes?
The Man Who Didn’t Wash His Dishes by Phyllis Krasilosky is an old kids story where a man decides one day, tired after a big meal, to put off doing the dishes. The next day, the same thing happened,...
View ArticleBooks for a quiet Thanksgiving
Since I was a kid, I’ve loved to read, but as I’ve gotten older, I found myself more distracted and with less focused time to read. This Thanksgiving we find ourselves with more downtime than usual,...
View ArticleWhat are you walling out?
I find myself quick to say no, to shut out an idea that I don’t like at first glance. Sometimes it’s a coping mechanism because I feel too busy. Other times it’s because I prejudged without fully...
View ArticleDistracted by shiny things?
Several years ago a leader in the radio industry reminded me of how easily we get distracted by shiny new things. He pointed out that having great radio shows and lucrative advertising deals was seen...
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