Category: workplace
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Avoiding ‘Manels’
At ZS, our firm-wide Inclusion and Diversity initiative is picking up steam, and it’s generating a lot of interesting and thought-provoking discussion about how we can continue to improve and evolve as a firm. The original piece by Collins generated some good dialogue internally, and I wanted to share an excerpt of that exchange here,…
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An Uneasy Truce
Over the past few decades, much has been written about the ways in which project teams bring technologies to market. In this context, social scientists typically partner with specialized designers to bring their research and new concepts to life in a way that is consumable by a variety of team members, including engineers and data…
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Collaboration by Design
In the opening keynote for UX Camp Chicago, I spoke integration and amplification. How do we deepen our focus on interdisciplinary collaboration, in order to deliver better experiences and – ultimately – better business outcomes.
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Interview with ‘This Anthro Life’
Today we talked with Natalie about how software is a product of culture, the state of enterprise UX today, and how she goes about selling research in the enterprise space. We also dig into the fact that research might not always be perfect or live up to your expectations or desires. Finally, we touch on…
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Humanizing Business with Stories
During the first week of April, I had the opportunity visit Smith College, where I did my undergraduate degree. I was there to talk to Anthropology majors, speak to a Methods class (Anthropology with a sprinkling of Design Thinking), and deliver a public lecture. It was great to be back on campus and interact with the…
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Themes in Ethnographic Research
A few days ago, I had the opportunity to meet the design research community of practice at Fjord (the design firm acquired by Accenture) in Chicago. I was asked to speak to them about how anthropologists approach ethnographic research in a way that might be interesting or instructive for design research professionals. ZS competes with…
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The Moment of Clarity
Last week I had the great pleasure of speaking with Christian Madsbjerg, co-author of The Moment of Clarity: Using the Human Sciences to Solve Your Toughest Business Problems. In their book, Christian and Mikkel share case studies from their consulting work at Lego, Adidas, Coloplast (a medical device company), and others. The wonderful, rich examples show the…
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Lean & User Experience, again
Over the years I’ve written a few posts about the relationship between Lean and User Experience. But in looking back on those, I don’t feel like I ever did as thorough of a job as I would like in connecting the two domains. So when I was asked last year to contribute to a new book…
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Cultivating moral jazz
Overview A couple of years ago I was a member of Creative Good’s UX Councils, and I had a chance to hear Barry Schwartz present a keynote based on the insights from his book Practical Wisdom. He is also the author of bestseller Paradox of Choice. That presentation continues to inform my thinking and the…
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Picked
I can’t believe it’s been almost six months since I started my job at ZS Associates outside of Chicago. Where has the time gone?! At least a half a dozen times I have started a post about what work is like and how different it is than what I was doing before. But in reality,…
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Forget willpower
As people start the traditional making and breaking of New Year’s resolutions, willpower seems to be at top of mind for many. I have been ruminating on what I want to accomplish this year, and how I’ll put the right steps in place to get there. I’m sure many of you have been doing the…
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User Experience & Lean
Over the past few years I’ve written a few times about SAP’s internal transformation efforts. We just pre-announced record Q2 results yesterday (35%+ growth in all regions – go SAP!), and so I thought it fitting to return to the topics of growth and change and talk a little bit about the good things that…
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