A few months ago, a friend of mine recently asked on LinkedIn if anyone had any information about Six Sigma certification. It caught my eye, not only because a friend asked, but also because I’d recently come across a conversation on Reddit about Six Sigma, which got me thinking about the concept of kaizen, which is Japanese for “continuous improvement”. Following this path further, I learned more about the connections between kaizen, Six Sigma, and Lean. Six Sigma appears to be one way to implement Lean, which appears to be the way to implement/interpret kaizen*.
NYC Lean/Kanban Meetup, June 2017
Cut to the NYC Lean/Kanban Meetup, which I attended in June to learn more. Unfortunately, it was the last of the season, until September, but they have an ongoing weekly morning get-together on Fridays at 8:30 AM.
The event was meant to recap a recent series of meetups on Lean as well as a planning session for the next year/season. The talk was interesting, but it’s clear that I’m an n00b. I picked up a few names, book titles, and resources, listed below.
During the speaker’s recap, he mentioned a book title, This Is Lean. The book can be found at www.thisislean.com.
A video on ThisIsLean.com explains more about the book:
Radio
The speaker also mentioned a This American Life episode on NUMMI, a GM + Toyota manufacturing partnership. Interestingly, I also found an article disputing the TAL episode, although I think that might be more due to a pro-union POV than actual criticism of the article.
Storymapping
After the speaker’s presentation, we got together to talk about a few ideas for the next year. The table I joined was on story mapping, which someone had suggested as a topic. I joined this table because I wanted to learn more about story mapping. And a few other people at the table didn’t seem to know exactly how the person who suggested it could use it in the example she provided. But, eventually, we eliminated other choices and figured out how it could work. So, it will be a topic next “year”, after the summer break, and I hope to learn more. Although it’s meant to be used in Agile, I guess you could use it even if you don’t work in Agile.
Also, in chatting with someone there, I learned that there is Scrum Product Owner certificationthat you can get in 2 days. I found a session in Saint Paul, MN, and that one is $1,095 per person at regular price. There was an option to filter for discount only, but I’m guessing it will still be several hundred dollars.
Incidentally, “tidying” (and cleaning) is another cultural efficiency practice from Japan, which I first learned about on Japanology Plus. It might not be as respected in business circles as kaizen or Lean, but it appears to be very much a part of Japanese culture.
Even though I gave up the kaizen book, I have been using the concept of small changes and small steps. One instance of this is trying to learn new languages with the Duolingo iPhone app, by focusing on just getting through at least one lesson a day. I hope to post my progress on LinkedIn, once I get to 25% in any language.
Also, in chatting with someone there, I learned that there is Scrum Product Owner certificationthat you can get in 2 days. I found a session in Saint Paul, MN, and that one is $1,095 per person at regular price. There was an option to filter for discount only, but I’m guessing it will still be several hundred dollars.
Speakers and Notes from “Advancing The Careers of Technical Women (ACT-W)” New York 2017 Conference
Following up from my previous post about the very inspiring ACT-W NY conference with a write-up of my notes.
Unfortunately, I could not attend all of the presentations, but they were all interesting an inspiring. Below are notes from just a few of the speakers I heard.
Presentation One: Advice about promoting yourself, by Natasha Awasthi
Her advice came in two parts, due to being a speaker in two presentations at the conference. I liked what she had to say in the first one, I went to the second.
It’s not bragging to talk about your accomplishments. You’re earning trust:
I can completely relate with the idea of feeling like I’m bragging when talking about past accomplishments. So much so that I might avoid talking about what I’ve done in the past, even though it would be very relevant. Now that I can frame my past as a credential to build trust, I will be “bragging” about my past accomplishments as much as possible
Don’t network. Build a community:
As an introverted person, the idea walking up to people and introducing myself for the sake of “business connections” or “networking” is almost like a 4-letter word. It sounds so fake and manufactured; like you’re “using” people. But when framed as “community building”, that is a concept I can get behind. It’s not so scary. I can definitely do that.
Don’t get mad. Get what you want. (Create an action plan.)
Presentation 2: A story about diversity, by YZ Chin
Her advice was about diversity and the importance of being yourself. There were two main take-aways:
One:Diversity is important becauseif everyone is the same, it means they can all fail the same way. She went on to give an example about how, as a new member of the engineering team, she solved a critical error that all the other experienced team members failed to recognize. Her value to the team was her knowledge about their customers, not her skill as a software engineer.
Two: It’s important to be honest. In her example, she recognized that you’re not an impostor if you say you’re 2nd best. She again related a story where her manage told her that he didn’t hire her to be the best engineer. He hired her for her customer expertise.
Presentation 3: What she did well / What she wishes she done better, by Natasha Awasthi
In Natasha’s second talk, she presented a list of career aphorisms based on what she had done well vs things she wishes she could have done better. I think the first list mostly speaks for itself. But I’ll explain the second a little more, because I think it’s interesting and helpful.
What she wishes she had done better
Show don’t tell.
Seek to clarify before you criticize.
Find a kernel of truth.
Ask for help.
Have a board of people as advisors (not friends or family):
This is a group of professional contacts, that will give you difficult but critical feedback on your ideas, projects, career, etc. I thought this tied in really well with the point from her earlier presentation, about building community. People like this would be a great addition.
Working together means going slower.
What she did well
Act on little knowledge & lot of imagination.
Ask for help, twice:
What she means is, instead of getting angry and assume people have simply ignored your request for help, just ask again.
Declare your ignorance:
This is sort of like getting lost. Sometimes you just continue on the same path, thinking you’re going the right way and then realize you’re way off path. It would be better to just admit you’re lost and find out where you are and where you need to go, than to just start walking. Same here: rather than pretend you know the answer, admit you don’t and find someone who can help.
Make it easy to have hard conversations:
I’m actually quite bad at this, probably because of my desire to separate my professional and personal life. In her example, if you never talk to a colleague about anything, good or bad, that one time you’ve got to have a conversation it’s clearly probably about something terrible. So, take the time to get to know your colleague on a more personal basis and build up a congenial rapport.
Focus on what you want.
Follow your obsessions:
She mentioned that she was a writer, who wrote articles for Fast Company. She said she also taught classes at General Assembly.
Presentation 3: How to Tell Your Story / Personal Brand, by General Assembly
This talk was given by two people from General Assembly. I think their job was to help students find jobs, or help them find support. (Another example of working in tech, but not being technical.)
At first, I was really annoyed when this talk started. I thought it would be about building a personal brand, which is an area where I felt I could use help. Instead the dual presenters gave somewhat detailed stories about their backgrounds, which I was kind of annoyed by. However, they helped make it useful by talking about how to use your story to convey to employers how you can help them.
The Q&A and Summary section really clarified a few points from them, about what employers are looking for when it comes to the non-technical qualities of an employment candidate:
Employers want to know you have leadership qualities, which they described as seeking personal growth. I personally am not sure what leadership means to me, but I do know that I am growth-minded in that I am always looking to learn and expand my skillset. I want to know what I don’t know.
Employers want to know that you take criticism well.I suppose I always knew this, but it’s good to hear it spelled out like this. For me, trying to apply the improv “Yes, and…” technique might be a good way to accept criticism when I don’t want to accept it. “Yes, I see your critique…and X-Y-Z.”
Coming up with a story can be hard. So they suggested asking friends or acquaintances, maybe that board of advisors, to send 3 characteristics that they would use to describe you. And using that list to help guide your story.
In addition, in combination with YZ Chin’s story above, I came away with the idea that I should think of my story into tech as unique to me – and I shouldn’t feel ashamed or embarrassed to talk about how I didn’t go to design school or study engineering. I’m not being an impostor by admitting that my path into the tech industry was a straight line. Some employers might find that meandering experience valuable.
Final Talk of the Day
My last talk of the day, I actually cannot remember what it was called. But it was about finding peace at work and learning to cope with difficult situations.
In this story, the presenter talked about how she created her own job, at her current company, after running into resistance and unhappiness in her previous role.
A quote:
If you think it, you will say it. If you say it, you will do it.
They attributed that to Confucius but many people have said something similar.
A few more:
Move towards vs move away
Bearing down. (Sometimes you just have to work through difficult times, rather than run away.)
Crowd source advice from toughest critics. (Sound familiar? This theme is common, I guess.)
Wisdom from “Advancing The Careers of Technical Women (ACT-W)” New York 2017 Conference
Or How a Woman’s Tech Conference Saved My Butt
Kind of on a whim, I decided to attend the Advancing The Careers of Technical Women (ACT-W), 1-day conference. The purpose was to provide career advice for women in all parts of the tech world, not just for developers. Overall, it was incredibly inspiring and energizing, which I really needed. Job hunts can be very depressing.
In an upcoming post, I will share detailed notes from each speaker. But for now, I will share some highlights and how I’ve applied the advice I learned from attending.
Highlights of Wisdom, Summarized
build a community; don’t network
create an objective panel of reviewers
tell your unique story
diversity of opinions and experience is important
earn trust
ask for help
be honest
Taking Action
Examples of how I applied the advice I learned by taking action:
1 – BUILDING A COMMUNITY
I immediately started applying the concept of community building. I got some business cards and names, from a few attendees, and I connected with them on LinkedIn and sent emails. I’ve even been reaching out to complete strangers on LinkedIn!
Coincidentally, this was kind of happening in real life, too, which made everything a little overwhelming but also provided another opportunity to try out these new ideas.
2 – ASKING FOR HELP
I decided to ask for help from people I haven’t tried before. For instance, I reached out to employers that rejected me for a job, to ask for help. Either to ask what they look for or to ask for career advice.
3 – BUILDING TRUST
I’ve been working on redoing my website (again) and this time, I included more information highlighting my expertise. Not to brag, but to build trust.
4 – TELLING MY STORY
As a part of redoing my website, I’ve included an About page. I’ve used part of that page to go into more detail into my background and how I got to where I am.
My new “About Me” page has a “My Story” section.
My next post will include detailed notes from the speakers.
It might not be easily noticeable from this blog, but over the past few weeks I’ve updated my main website. I tend to do this a few times a year, as I gain feedback, or learn what works and what doesn’t work. Hopefully this change will stick around for a while. This post is documentation of what I did and why.
Research
Over the past several months, I have been trying to get a better understanding of what UX managers look for when they view a candidate’s portfolio. There were a few resources I looked at that helped inform my opinions in this regard. After reading a few articles and slideshow presentations, reviewing websites, and gathering feedback, I had a few ideas. Here are a few points and screenshots demonstrating my ideas and how they affected the design.
I. Overall Design and Home page
One way or another, I ended up looking at a few portfolio pages from designers I’d met in-person or came across online. Despite reading several of those “10 UX Portfolios To Admire” articles, what I’ve discovered is that sometimes simple is best. And that translates to a template site, often paid.
Paid subscription services are anything from $6-$8 or more each month. I don’t think someone should have to pay a monthly fee in order to apply for a job. That meant I’d have to create it myself or use a free service. I’ve used Carbonmade, Coroflot, and even Behance (barely), which are all free. But their designs are limited and my research showed that managers will evaluate candidates on the usability of their portfolio, even when it’s hosted by a third-party.
Reviewing both free and paid sites, the ones I liked best were made by the paid services Squarespace or Wix, using remarkably similar templates. Essentially, that template was a site with basic navigation, a grid of projects on the home page, project pages, and a simple About page. Following that template, I came up with a basic grid for my home page. But I jazzed it up a bit with some fancy CSS throughout the site.
II. Presenting an Overview
In previous designs, I assumed that managers would read. But, my research showed that they might spend 30 seconds reviewing a portfolio, for the first time. I also came across numerous resources insisting that candidates outline role, problem or goal, and outcome when presenting their work.
So you can see in the screenshot below how I’ve outlined this information right at the top, next to an image.
Overview of the project and role, along with keywords. This image is actually a screenshot from the company’s website, promoting the product.
II. Fast Scanning
Another consideration was the amount of time a manager spends reviewing a portfolio. My research showed that managers only spend 30 seconds on a portfolio and review 12-50 portfolios for a given position. I used the process/approach section to break up information into digestible, one-sentence long chunks.
An earlier version of this section was a 3-column layout, with longer paragraphs. Breaking it up makes it easier to scan. Fontawesome does this, also, on their homepage. http://fontawesome.io/
III. Tell a Story
The word “storytelling” is thrown around a lot, especially in relation to self-promotion. I think “storytelling” is overused and cliche, and I’ve written about storytelling a few times. However, for the redesign, I thought about the concept of beginning, middle, and end. Thinking through these part of a story, I ended up with the following sections: overview, a process/approach section, documentation, and outcome. Outcome really helps “sell” it as a story, because it provides a conclusion.
Outcome
Having talked about outcome, what now?
One idea I thought of, as I was writing this, was to shrink the size of the thumbnails on the home page to show more information on the screen. But, I think the “hero” image/section is what takes up most of the space, vs the size of the thumbnails. This is one change though; I have a running list of updates and ideas on Remember the Milk, where I can also track priority.
I plan to ask more friends for feedback and maybe get feedback from a few connections on LinkedIn. It was fun, I learned a lot. I look forward to adding more projects and the site evolving over time. Or until I redesign it again!
OK, XYZ Foundation is not really the name of the organization. But I really was asked to complete a UX challenge for a job application.
Since it helped me get through to the 2nd round, I thought it would be nice to share it. The challenge description (from them) and my submission (from me) are indented and given a different color.
Kudos to them for choosing a challenge that had nothing to do with the company itself. They don’t have anything to do with food or supply distributions.
UX Challenge
Scenario We are building a tool to connect restaurateurs and chefs with food and kitchen equipment distributors. We want both groups of users to have the capacity to search for one another and set requirements in order to get their needs met. Also, each set of users should have the capacity to record and broadcast their needs or resources so that other users can browse through them.
Task We’d like to see a plan for how you would go about assessing the needs of the various users, collecting and studying similar projects and potential competition, and designing and testing the experience of this tool’s users. We are expecting a roadmap for what steps will be involved in conceiving, developing, and testing the design of this tool.
My only clarifying question was what “record and broadcast” meant. They estimated this to take 1-2 hours, so I didn’t try to go into too much depth.
Submission
I wasn’t really sure who would be reviewing this, or how it would be used. Ostensibly, this was just for them to understand if I really understand usability. But if this was real, and I had been asked to create a plan, I wasn’t sure if they would use this as a formal plan or as a general outline.
So, like going to a party where you don’t know the dress code, I decided to go a little more formal with a report using a Google template.
New restaurateurs and chefs expanding or creating a new restaurant need kitchen equipment to stock their kitchens. Kitchen supply distributors (KSDs) want to be able to find restaurateurs looking for kitchen equipment.
Goals
1 – Restaurateurs need to be able to search for equipment and post requests for quotes.
2 – KSDs can search for restaurateurs and send quotes.
Potential Solution
Online exchange where restauranteurs can search for supplies, as well as post request for quotes from participating KSDs. KSDs can search for restauranteurs and send quotes. Perhaps a Craigslist for restaurant equipment. There may also be a weekly newsletter with new requests.
Note:
Below are milestones that would be part of the design process for this tool. In the real world, constraints such as the budget and release date would have a bigger impact on the functional scope and timeline. Also, the actual process might not be this clean, or steps might be skipped or combined, as needed.
Milestones
1. High-Level Process Map / High-Level Research
Create a basic high-level map of the process, to get a fuller picture of the scope of the problem. High-level research of kitchen supply distributors, to get a sense of what they do and offer. (See example, below.)
2. Stakeholder Interviews
Interview 2-4 restaurateurs and 2-4 distributors. Analyze finding and create personas if needed.
3. Research kitchen equipment distribution sites
What do these sites do well, what do they do poorly. How are their times organized and catalogued. Probably will return to this list often.
4. Create list of tasks tool should support
Decide on the scope of the tool. Don’t need to work on everything at once, but have a sense of the bigger picture. This is also a time to figure out the overall information architecture.
5. Create workflow for first task(s)
Pick one section of the tool, and sketch or list out a more in-depth workflow. For instance, what is the post process for chefs? What is the search and reply process for suppliers.
6. Create a draft of wireframes for task(s) – repeat
Sketch wireframes and create a first set of wireframes for whichever tasks were identified in part 5. Use these documents to meet with internal teams regarding feasibility, scope, business strategy, research, and timeline.
7. Refine designs / Prototype
Use feedback from internal meetings to refine wireframes, as needed. Progressively getting more detailed. Create a prototype, if possible.
8. Usability Testing
Return to earlier users, or sample of users, to test prototype or designs. Update design based on feedback. Could also try paper prototypes, between step 6 and 7.
Example: High-Level Process Map / High-Level Research
Sketch of a high-level workflow for overall concept.
1 – Chef wants to open a restaurant. 2 – Thinks about his needs.
3 – Option 1: Goes online and searches for supplies. 4 – Pays for items. 5 – Items are delivered.
6 – Option 2: Chef fills out a form or posts needs online. 7 – Distributors get or view the request. 8 – Distributors create bids/quotes for chef and send them. 9 – Chef reviews options and picks a quote that works. 10 – See 4. 11 – See 5.
This overview can be digitized, if it needs to be shared out.
Continuing with my ongoing education in design, I focused recently on typography and layout. And I went through two Lynda.com courses to do it.
Those courses are called Learning to Set Display Type and Learning Graphic Design: Set Perfect Text. They are both taught by John McWade.
The classes John McWade teaches are exceptional because he is such an excellent instructor and quite good at explaining the concepts he is trying to get across. I recommend both of the classes I mentioned above, as well as other classes in the Lynda library by this instructor. Here are previews of these two courses.
Neither of these classes include exercise files. But after watching both of these courses I was inspired and motivated to try my own type projects, to put his advice into use.
Type Rules I Learned
It sounds basic, but I wasn’t aware that some fonts have additional glyphs that can be used instead of the regular font. Bookmania is an example of a font with tons of extra options for letters.
I also learned about justifying text, using hyphenation and spacing to help words fit. I also learned about using hair-spaces and thin-spaces, and using drop-caps.
Actually, the class doesn’t go into how exactly one would create a dropcap. So, I turned to YouTube – or as I like to call it, the second internet – to find another tutorial.
And I found one. This one is actually by another Lynda instructor, Anne-Marie Concepcion. She makes it look so easy.
As soon as I learned how to do this, I wanted to try it right away. Voila!
Type Stuff I Made
dropcaps
Now we’re getting to the fun part. First is the dropcap I made after watching the YouTube video.
Used Bookmania and a Lynda tutorial to create a dropcap.
In this one, I was able to move the text corners so that the text flowed around the dropcap R. Looks cool.
I was inspired to use the extra glyphs in Bookmania to create my own name. I used the smallcap version of the letter ‘A’ in the word, “alliwalk”.
Projects with Images
I like to collect stock photos – I know, it’s a bad habit – because I think that someday I’ll use one for a project. So, I end up with many stock photos that I don’t use. (Sometimes I use them here on my blog.) Well, I was finally able to put a few to good use.
All Dressed Up
The first is this nice “Man in a suit putting on a tie”. I wasn’t sure what I was going for. Maybe a book cover or magazine spread. But, I think what I have is some sort of flyer concept.
This image uses Bickham Script Pro and Didot.
This image uses Bickham Script Pro, which has tons of fancy glyphs, and Didot. Didot has a certain fashionable sense to it, and I think it works. I wanted this to have a bespoke aura about it, yet still masculine. The italicized Dido, and the extra swirls from Bickham Script Pro help to get that across.
New rules of computer technology
BarryW90-Black, BarryW90-Thin, Futura Medium, and Minion Pro
In this case I wanted to use justified type, as John McWade had shown in his course. I stuck with Minion Pro, because it was easier to work with. And I added in a few random elements – a few numbers, some quotes, some pronouns – just to incorporate some of the lessons from the course. One thing I wasn’t able to replicate was keeping the subsequent letters from the word in the dropcap closer than the other words on lines 2 and 3. InDesign just wasn’t cooperating for me.
But I did enjoy this project. BarryW90-Black and Thin are highly stylized, very technical-looking fonts. I was inspired to find a new stock photo for them. Something computer-oriented.
Next time…
In my next post, I’ll talk about a few more projects in InDesign, and another type/logo(!) project I made for a fake company I invented called Apex Travel.
