tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82271731888283097812024-03-05T23:32:40.319-06:00Binge ThinkingMichaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.comBlogger123125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-71405437427497791002020-04-20T08:00:00.000-05:002020-04-20T08:51:05.252-05:00Fit4Life - A Daily Warmup<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
How many times have you or someone you know suffered some surprise, random injury doing something they do every day? Maybe they "tweaked" their back picking up their child or "did something" to their shoulder while rearranging a shelf.<br />
<br />
A well-rounded fitness routine can help avoid this, but a lot of people struggle to find the time for that. My solution is simple - a warmup routine that is quick, accessible, and well-rounded enough to help protect us from these little, avoidable injuries.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><h3 style="text-align: left;">
The Goals</h3>
<br />
The premise is simple.<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Engage every muscle group and joint</li>
<li>Use low-impact moves</li>
<li>Keep it short and simple enough that you can easily make time for it</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
A Simple Solution</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We don't have time to discuss every possible move you can do nor the full kinesiology behind them. While earning my PhD in Applied Physics, I learned an important lesson - <b>value and leverage the expertise of others</b>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
At the end of this, I will list my work out, but first, let's discuss how you can get there on your own.</div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Step 1 - Pick Up This Book</h4>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<b>For men:</b> <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Mens-Health-Big-Book-Exercises/dp/1623368413/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1587387902&sr=8-2">The Men's Health Big Book of Exercises</a></div>
<div>
<b>For women:</b> <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Womens-Health-Big-Book-Exercises/dp/162336843X/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=men%27s+health+big+book+of+exercises&qid=1587387926&sr=8-3">The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is, hands-down, the most valuable fitness book I have purchased. It contains a ton of information, along with the scientific citations to back it up. I bought both the paperback and the Kindle. The paperback really is nice to be able to flip through, bookmark, etc., and it has amazing battery life. :-)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Note: If you are a friend or family member of mine and the cost is a barrier, please reach out to me and I will buy a copy and send it to you.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Step 2 - Flip to Build a Warmup</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
(Page 438 of the current version of the book)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Step 3 - Build Your Warmup</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It is basically a menu of options. As you make your choices, ponder the full set of exercises and try to make sure you are striking a good balance across all of your muscle groups and joints.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
The Warmup I Built</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is a 7-minute routine with 30 seconds on each movement/exercise, doing as many good, controlled repetitions as I can, paying very close attention to my form.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
00: <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19543834/pushup-plus/">Pushup Plus</a></div>
<div>
30: <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a20694980/y-superman/">Floor Y Raise</a></div>
<div>
1:00: <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19531798/thoracic-rotation/">Thoracic Rotation</a> Side A</div>
<div>
1:30: <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19531798/thoracic-rotation/">Thoracic Rotation</a> Side B</div>
<div>
2:00: <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19541042/front-side-leg-swing/">Forward-and-Back Leg Swings</a> Side A</div>
<div>
2:30: <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19541042/front-side-leg-swing/">Forward-and-Back Leg Swings</a> Side B</div>
<div>
3:00: <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19541042/front-side-leg-swing/">Side-to-Side Leg Swings</a> Side A</div>
<div>
3:30: <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19541042/front-side-leg-swing/">Side-to-Side Leg Swings</a> Side A</div>
<div>
4:00: <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19524480/the-hip-raise/">Hip Raise</a></div>
<div>
4:30: <a href="https://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/a20699334/t-stabilization-2/">T-Stabilization</a></div>
<div>
5:00: <a href="https://www.muscleandfitness.com/exercise/workouts/leg-exercises/squat-thrusts/">Squat Thrusts</a></div>
<div>
5:30: <a href="https://www.muscleandfitness.com/exercise/workouts/leg-exercises/low-side-side-lunge/">Low Side-to-Side Lunge</a> (But stay low as you go from side to side)</div>
<div>
6:00: <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/g19547189/10-secrets-to-the-bodyweight-squat/">Body-Weight Squat</a></div>
<div>
6:30: <a href="https://www.muscleandfitness.com/exercise/workouts/leg-exercises/lunge-side-bend/">Lunge with Side Bend</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Done! Have fun and be safe!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Would You Like to Know More?</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>This can be a backup exercise routine:</b> You can either lengthen the time for each motion (say 60 sec) or just repeat multiple cycles of it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Routinely revisit your form:</b> Especially when you first start out, take a quick peak at the form before or after your work out. I do this after years of doing this work out and even as I pulled together links for you, I saw that I was doing something slightly wrong on one of these motions.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Actively use your muscles:</b> For example, on the leg swings, don't just flop your leg around. When you swing your leg out, pull with your abductor in a smooth, powerful motion to really work the muscles, as opposed to, say a quick kicking motion.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Drink a glass of water when you first wake-up:</b> It will help you get going, your body will appreciate it, and your muscle will work better.</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-29650551529910846022020-04-13T07:00:00.000-05:002020-04-13T07:00:04.805-05:00Staying Fit While Staying Home - A "Prison Workout"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Staying fit can be a challenge when we are stuck at home. It's even more tough if you have no equipment. The good news is that there are many solutions. Let's take a couple of minutes to discuss one, a "prison workout".<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The name "prison workout" refers to the notion that you could literally perform the workout in the tiny space of a prison cell, without any equipment.<br />
<br />
For many years, this is my backup routine if I am traveling and don't have the time or access to use equipment. If you work out regularly, this is a fine maintenance stop gap. If you don't work our regularly, this can be a great way to get started on your path to fitness.<br />
<br />
Since this involves on equipment, it's no surprise that we are going to be using "body weight" or "calisthenic" exercise for this. There are many choices you can make here, but we have some simple goals:<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Hit the major muscle groups</li>
<li>Provide good range of motion for our joints</li>
<li>A simple routine</li>
</ol>
<div>
Here is the one I use. Don't blink or you'll miss it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
The Exercise: Squat Thrust With Push-up and Jump</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Basically, we are going to do a push-up in the middle of our squat thrust and we are leaping in the air as we return to our standing position.</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Normal standing position, feet comfortably shoulder-width apart</li>
<li>Move into a squatting position with your hands on the ground in front of you</li>
<li>Kick your feet out behind you into the start of a push-up (aka a "plank" position)</li>
<li>Lower yourself down into a push-up (If you can do it, I recommend taking three seconds for this)</li>
<li>If you can, pause at the end of this motion for one full second</li>
<li>As powerfully and quickly as you can, push back yourself back up into the plank position</li>
<li>Bring your legs back into the squatting position from #2</li>
<li>Explosively jump up and reach up to the sky with your arms</li>
<li>Land as gently as you can, bending your knees as need to minimize impact</li>
<li>You should now be back in a normal standing position</li>
</ol>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
The Routine: Pyramid/Countdown</h3>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You should pick a number of reps that make sense for you. This example starts with 10.</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>10 repetitions</li>
<li>60-second break</li>
<li>Reduce the repitition count by 1</li>
<li>If your count is greater than zero, back step 1</li>
</ol>
<div>
So, basically, 10 reps, break, 9 reps, break, and so on until you have one rep.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That's it. I hope you find this as useful as I have to ensure you can always get in a work out no matter how little space or equipment you have.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Would You Like to Know More?</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While it's simple a lot of thought goes into it (there is a reason my blog is called <i>Binge Thinking</i>).</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Why three seconds on the first part of the push-up?</b> This gives a great negative work out and helps you focus on good form, which means less injury. This also more fully engages your biceps and triceps as secondary muscles.</li>
<li><b>Then why am I pushing up explosively, shouldn't that be slow too?</b> We are trying to work different fibers in our muscles and the explosive push engages our "fast-twitch" fibers, giving us a more well-rounded workout.</li>
<li><b>Why the pause at the bottom of the push-up?</b> Our muscles will behave a bit like a spring. When you lower down into the push-up, your muscles are preparing for that upward motion. By pausing for one second, you encourage that coiled spring to relax. This makes the motion a bit more challenging, giving us a better work out.</li>
<li><b>What about that explosive jump and gentle landing?</b> The explosive leap engages fast-twitch fibers and by landing as gently as possible you are shifting from high-impact to low-impact and you are using your muscles to absorb and dampen the shock. The result is less injury and a better work out.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-3961169778770101242017-11-07T07:34:00.000-06:002017-11-13T19:50:00.705-06:00Thinking Critically Without Killing Creativity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photograph by Lex Augusteijn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Critical thinking is wonderful tool for progress. It helps guide us to make better decisions and avoid pitfalls. But it can also be a destructive force for ideation and creativity.<br />
<br />
The trick is how to harness it.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
You're sitting in a meeting, eager to address the items on the agenda and get back to creating and executing. An idea is put forth, Joe Critical explains why it can't work. Idea dies.<br />
<br />
Now, maybe that was a good thing. Maybe it was a bad idea. But what if it was not?<br />
<br />
A smart person with a skill for critical thinking can find a potential flaw or pitfall in just about anything. That's a talent, and it's useful. More often than not, that same mental sharpness can be applied to more than critique. Essentially it just requires a change of perspective. That can be challenging, but we can use a trick to guide transition.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Putting on a Different Hat</h2>
<br />
When I was working in a small group of "A-players" on strategy development, we ran headlong into this issue of critical thinking essentially burning down everything. The team was composed of brilliant people with quick minds, so we had the resources to succeed, we just needed to channel them correctly.<br />
<br />
To achieve this, I loosely adopted the Six Thinking Hats method. In this approach, there are six "hats" which reflect the following:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Blue - Meta/management: The "big picture" and executing the process itself</li>
<li>Red - Emotion: Feelings and gut responses with no focus on rationalization</li>
<li>White - Facts: Objective data/statements, no opinions or feelings</li>
<li>Yellow - Optimism ("Sunny view"): Benefits, good outcomes</li>
<li>Green - Creativity: Where could we take this? What other ways might we solve this?</li>
<li>Black - Critical: Apply critical thinking and pragmatism</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Literal Hats?</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well, that's up to you. It can be very beneficial to have some tangible, physical indicator of what sort of thinking the group is focusing on at that moment. It can simply be a little paper hat that you can set in the middle of the table to remind people of the current focus. But you don't need to do that in order to apply this.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For example, I say I "loosely adopted" this in this case because I knew the particular audiences I had in mind would not take it seriously if presented with the explicit model of colored hats, likely dismissing it as a "goofy colored hat thing". They would be distracted with trying to wipe the smirks off their faces and that is counterproductive.<br />
<br />
But you might have a group that would benefit from wearing literal hats while doing this and might even find it conducive to creative thinking.<br />
<br />
Know your audience and proceed appropriately.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
A Success Story</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I had a team filled with brilliant people that tended to focus on facts and critical thinking. That's because 80% of the time they were explicitly being asked to do just that. But we needed to come up with a strategy and we needed to harness our thinking more effectively.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, with that in mind, I put on the blue hat and explained that we would be trying something a little different, where we would be tightly directing our thinking in various phases. Then I simply walked up to the whiteboard and write a word or two describing the current focus.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
No mention of colors or hats.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It was a bit awkward at first, but only for about a minute. As we proceeded through the rest of the hats, things moved more smoothly.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When we hit the White/Facts hat was when things started to get interesting. Our most fact-based person, let's call him Bill, quickly started ratting off a list of facts. Ruth, who was very skilled at critical thinking, started jumping in with critiques of the facts. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This had two negative impacts. First, it derailed the process, reducing the effectiveness of the entire exercise. Second, and possibly worse, it discouraged Bill from presenting more facts. This latter issue is a common consequence of overly focusing on critical thinking.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, I interrupted the process and restated the point of the exercise and our current thinking focus. When everyone conveyed clear understanding and agreement, we continued. And it was magical. Ruth, who is incredibly intelligent but usually focused on critique, turned on a dime, rapidly firing off facts; she even shut down a critique of a fact. She was not just embracing the process, she was enjoying the challenge of the constraint.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I moved on to the Green/Creative phrase and that is when the process really started to shine. The earlier stages had trained the team to channel their thinking and things really took off. You see, Ruth was always asked to wear Black/Critical hat in meetings which obstructed her ability to present creative ideas. But now we had one of our sharpest minds laser-focused on being creative. Creative ideas flowed like a river from Ruth, freed from the shackles of the Black/Critical hat she was always asked to wear.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Creative ideas flowed like a river from Ruth, freed from the shackles of the Black/Critical hat she was always asked to wear.</span></b></i></blockquote>
<div>
Yellow/Optimistic was also interesting, because this was usually a team asked to figure out why something would go wrong, not how it might go right. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The process worked beautifully and we left the room with better ideas and people re-thinking how they approach problems.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It would be months before I mentioned the "Six Hats" model to them. By then, it was a valuable tool and not a "goofy colored hat thing".</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Order Matters</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The order in which you apply the hats is important and varies based on your goals. There are not any hard and fast rules; it usually comes down to logically considering your priorities. A common approach is to lead with Blue then White, especially with ideation processes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Example 1: Getting a Critical Thinker to Open Up</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is the scenario I described above. In that case, I wanted to unleash a critical thinker's creative thinking. So my main goals were:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Lead with Red/Emotional and White/Facts to ease them into the concept</li>
<li>Have Green/Creative later in the process</li>
<li>Have the Black/Critical hat last</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So I went with:</div>
</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Blue (minimal explanation)</li>
<li>Red</li>
<li>White</li>
<li>Green</li>
<li>Yellow</li>
<li>Black</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<h3>
Example 2: Resolving a Contentious Issue</h3>
<div>
I was once walked into a political minefield of a project. Our customer, a large national chain, was unhappy with one of their enterprise systems. According to our team, the technology was flawed. According to the customer's business owner, our team's competence was the problem.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Every discussion was muddied by emotion. So, I applied the Six Hats, again without explicit hats/colors.</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Blue - Again, a very minimal explanation</li>
<li>Red - I extended this until they had exhausted their feelings on the topic</li>
<li>White - We needed to facts to understand what the actual problem was</li>
<li>Black - This was mostly used to weed out the less relevant/useful facts</li>
<li>Green - This was used to get people thinking about better ways forward</li>
<li>Yellow - I wanted to end on as positive a note as possible</li>
</ol>
<div>
This turned our discussion from, essentially, an hour of complaining to the formulation of a solid plan with buy in from the team.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Why Does This Work?</h2>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well, simply put most people wear one hat most of the time. They may even have been put in that role explicitly or implicitly. If Ruth shows up to a meeting and is asked how an idea won't work, it is not surprising if she carries that Black/Critical hat thinking into every meeting.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But then you have thrown away so much. People asked Ruth to wear that Black/Critical hat because she has a sharp, analytical mind that can see things from lots of angles. That brain is a powerful machine and to not apply it in other ways is just throwing away opportunity.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I feel that it's really the pairing of asking people to look at something in a certain way while preventing them from looking at it other ways. You are guiding that powerful laser focus of critical thinking through a different lens and utilizing it for another purpose.<br />
<br />
It brings a clarity of thought that can be transformational.</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-36215185784864555832017-08-08T07:30:00.000-05:002017-11-01T13:06:26.781-05:00Embracing TL;DR<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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If you spend any significant time consuming content on the web, you have probably come across the initialism <i style="font-family: inherit;">tl;dr</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">. It stands for "too long; didn't read." It means pretty much what it says. Whatever message you were trying to communicate was not received, because you demanded too much of the reader's time, attention, or focus.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now, some may read that and think, "sheesh, people have such short attention spans today!" I would challenge you to flip that thought on its head. More often than not, <i>tl;dr</i> is a symptom of poor presentation of content, not the consumer of that content, i.e., the product/content is the problem, not the user.</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A piece of writing is a product. <b>If you construct content in a way that does not keep your audience engaged long enough to make your point, then your content may be a flawed product.</b> And being verbose can absolutely create flawed content.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Trying to say too much at once</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a common problem it's usually not what was intended. The creator starts out with a clean, simple, concise concept and it just blows up as they write. The good news is that the solution is simple - break it up into manageable chunks. The right size for the chunk will depend on your audience, content, and the medium through which you deliver it (e.g., Twitter vs. a blog).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Example: The Problem of Front-Loading "Help"</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We all want our users to have a clear understanding and happily use our products. So, we include information to explain what they need to know. Then a confused user comes along, and we add some more instructions, and this repeats.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">If continue down this path, our screens very quickly become walls of text, obscuring what the user needs to know rather than highlighting it. A straightforward solution to this is to <b>strip out and relocate that content</b>; some options:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>On-demand content hidden and accessed contextually via information icons</li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pushing bulkier instructions into a wiki or "knowledge database"</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Drop the help text altogether and address it with support services or a community forum</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Going into further detail would quickly make <i>this</i> an example of <i>tl;dr</i>, but I will offer one last thought on it. A common phrase in the world of UX (user experience) about user interfaces is - "If you have to explain it, it's not that good." My mantra is a slight variation on that:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you have to explain it, it's not that intuitive</span></i></b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Challenge yourself to be as concise as possible.</span></div>
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-37512150492816710542017-05-03T07:00:00.000-05:002017-05-26T19:10:46.449-05:00Don't Make Users Struggle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
Steve Krug is a thought leader in the area of user experience, especially web usability and human-computer interaction. The title of his most famous and popular book, <i>Don't Make Me Think</i>, is a concise summary of what's in the book and it is a wonderfully elegant philosophy in itself.<br />
<br />
While this is a great starting point, I have found that a slightly broader philosophy serves me well - <b>don't make users struggle</b>. I'd like to share a few key principles that have served me well with this.<br />
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Everything In Its Place</h2>
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Whether it's a website, a smartphone, or a car, the average person will have expectations about where to find things and how to use that product. Ignoring that can lead to frustrated users and a less successful product.</div>
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For example, consider a typical website. What we each expect from a website will vary, but there are some things most of us expect to find. For a site that requires us to create an account (i.e., sign up or register with the site), we expect:<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>A <i>log in</i> or <i>sign up</i> option at the top right or prominently in the center of the page</li>
<li>The ability to see enough content to decide if we want to sign up</li>
<li><i>Help</i> or <i>Contact us</i> at the bottom of the page or in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_button">hamburger button</a> at the far top right</li>
</ul>
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Similarly, with a smartphone, we have common expectations, driven by our market experience. If you hand anyone a smartphone, most people will expect to see.<br />
<br /></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>An easily accessible power button along one of the upper edges of the phone</li>
<li>Some form of "home" button at the base of the display</li>
<li>A volume control along one of the edges of the phone</li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
</div>
This is not to say you should not innovate, but when creating a type of product that is already familiar to the customer, it's wise to <b>try to deliver on the basic conventional expectations for structure, layout, and positioning</b>. You will make it easier for your customer to rely on the intuition they have developed and have a better experience with your product.<br />
<br />
When it comes to a completely new product that has no comparison, i.e, the very first computer or smartphone, then it's up to you to figure out what is intuitive and figure out where the right place should be for things. Then it's time to rely more heavily on human-centered design and adequately empathize with the customer, their needs, and their behaviors. And be ready for a lot of iteration.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Use Common Language</h2>
<div>
Much like there are common layouts and expectations for physical positioning, there are also common language elements.<br />
<br />
I know a lot of specialized language/jargon from having served in the military, medical, scientific, and technology worlds. I can use that to great effect to efficiently communicate with a specialized audience, but it's a double-edged sword - it would only serve to confuse the vast majority of people. So, the first important step is to <b>stick with commonly used and commonly understood words</b>. You can bust out your extensive/specialized vocabulary at the next cocktail party, leave it off the product.</div>
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<br />
Another important step is to <b>embrace best practices for labels, terms, and naming</b>. For example, let's say Joe just started working for Nike, loves their slogan "just do it", and he wants to show off his brand awareness, so he labels the sign up button on their page as "do it". He might get points in an internal meeting, but he is not making life easy on his customers and users, who are accustomed to "sign up" and "log in" from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.. He should stick with "sign up" and save his "do it" button for some other use.<br />
<br />
For bonus points, also<b> consider the relative impact of words</b>. For example, if you use <i>sign up</i> to register new users, then using <i>sign in</i> can create confusion/frustration, especially if those options are on the same page, as they often are. Hence, the common convention of using the more distinct phrases <i>sign up</i> and <i>log in</i>.</div>
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Embrace TL;DR - The Beauty of Being Concise</h2>
If you spend any significant time consuming content on the web, you have probably come across the initialism <i>tl;dr</i>. It stands for "too long; didn't read." It means pretty much what it says. Whatever message you were trying to communicate was not received, because you demanded too much of the reader's time, attention, or focus.<br />
<br />
Now, like some, you may read that and think, "sheesh, people have such short attention spans today!" I would challenge you to flip that thought on its head. More often than not, <i>tl;dr</i> is a symptom of poor presentation of content, not the consumer of that content, i.e., the product/content is the problem, not the user.<br />
<br />
A piece of writing is a product. <b>If you construct content in a way that does not keep your audience engaged long enough to make your point, then your content may be a flawed product.</b> And being verbose can absolutely create flawed content. Some common pitfalls to avoid.<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Front-loading "help" in the form of verbose instructions that cloud content</li>
<li>Trying to say too much at once</li>
<li>Poor composition (i.e., "bad writing")</li>
<li>Lack of adequate review and feedback to identify the above</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
A common phrase in the world of UX (user experience) about user interfaces is - "If you have to explain it, it's not that good." My mantra is a slight variation on that:<br />
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i>If you have to explain it, it's not that intuitive</i></b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Challenge yourself to be as concise as possible. [Funny story, this section was three times as long when I first wrote it.]</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Good News, It Gets Easier</h2>
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Noe of this is rocket science, but these topics require attention as you design. Once you start paying attention to these and similar concepts they become more intuitive even "common sense." And it's worth it. You will make better products, your users will be happier, and you will be more successful.</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-2971635082314378662017-04-11T07:05:00.000-05:002017-04-11T07:05:03.790-05:00Effective User Interviews and Product Development<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Good user input may seem a bit like a magical, mythical beast at times, but it is a very real and realizable goal. That said, the path to it passes through a minefield of miscommunication, misunderstanding, and unintended biases in thinking. But we can effectively navigate this with a human-centered approach and it is worth the trip, because the results can be nigh magical for your product and your users.<br />
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A powerful tool in our toolbox is the interview.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Keep in Mind That Users Are Human</h2>
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Our users are human beings and while humans are wonderful creatures, <b>people have some issues when it comes to objectivity, memory, and perception</b>. These stem from traits that help us survive and I think we would all agree that not getting eaten by a lion or bear trumps making a killer app. The good news is that we have some idea what these traits are, so we can account for them and plan accordingly.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The capacity to infer information can lead to false memories and mistaken understandings</li>
<li>There is often a disconnect in what a person says/thinks they will do and what they will actually do</li>
<li>Your user's energy and interest will wane over time</li>
<li>What you say or do can bias the feedback you receive</li>
</ul>
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<br /></div>
<div>
This may seem daunting, but we can manage all of these concerns. It's vital that we keep these in our mind as we prepare and execute our interview.</div>
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<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Users Are Not Designers</h2>
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A designer is trained and experienced in extrapolation, prediction, and imagination of a new product. Typically, your user is not. As such, it can be counterproductive to engage them in that way.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It also shifts one's thought processes. Asking someone to design or create your product engages their brain in a very different way and can quickly derail good feedback. Now, if you are familiar with design thinking, you might be puzzled by this notion because user feedback in prototyping and iteration is vital. Well, they are not mutually exclusive ideas.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For example, let's take the example of creating an application for an online store. It would be appropriate to ask a user to discuss an especially good online purchasing experience for that kind of product. But asking them if a choice should be a drop down window or a picker wheel derails the user's thought processes into a different mindset and away from the core issues of determining their needs and goals.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Even if they are trained designers, <b>this shift in perspective reduces the quality of the user input</b>.</div>
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<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Good Practices</h2>
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There are a lot of opinions and suggestions on this, but here are some of key considerations that I find especially useful.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Provide a good space for discussion.</b> You may have little control over where an interview happens, but it is good to strive for some basics. The goal is to enable you and the user to focus as much of your attention on the discussion as possible<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Comfortable - Comfortable chair, convenient writing surface, climate control</li>
<li>Minimal distractions - especially visible and audible distractions</li>
<li>Ability to scribble - paper, whiteboard, etc.</li>
<li>Dedicated note taker - if possible a second designer to take notes so you can focus on good communication and minimal interruption</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Strive to solicit user feedback in a real-time, face-to-face, interactive discussion</b>. If face-to-face is not possible, then I would opt for a video conference a phone call. Body language, inflection, and tone provide crucial context. <b>Being able to see or hear a person gives you a great deal more information and the ability to adapt the discussion on the fly is priceless. </b>If you are at a prototyping phase and having the customer interact with the product, this is even more important.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Focus on the what, not the how.</b> When engaging your users, the focus should be on what they are trying to achieve with your product, not their opinions on the technical implementation. If the discussion starts to dip into discussions of specific implementation features, redirect the discussion towards the goal.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Good: "The last time you purchased shoes online, what were the main factors you considered in your selection?"</li>
<li>Bad: "How should we filter the search results when you look for shoes?"</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Keep your script/questions short and focused.</b> The goal is to get good feedback from the users. To achieve that, they should be the ones talking most of the time, not you. Also, the more you talk, the more you risk 1) leading/biasing their responses and 2) wearing them out and reducing the quality of their feedback.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Plan to keep the discussion to one hour or less; you can always extend if the energy is there</li>
<li>Schedule most of the time for discussion; if you time yourself reading your script/questions, it should take no more than ten minutes for a 60 minute discussion</li>
<li>Be wary of overly speculative/leading questions</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<b>Try not to force users to create opinions; look for the ones they offer up.</b> If you ask broad questions that solicit an opinion, you are encouraging someone to craft an opinion. The key dangers inherent in that are that 1) the topic may not be important to them or 2) you inject your own biases into their thought process.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Good: "You mentioned that this screen hurt your eyes, can you elaborate on that?"</li>
<li>Bad: "What do you think of the layout and color palette?"</li>
<li>Good: "You mentioned this was clunky; what about it did you find clunky?"</li>
<li>Bad: "What do you think of this drop down list?"</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ultimately, it's not rocket science, but it can be surprisingly easy to get off track and turn a useful interview into a waste of everyone's time. What works best for you will vary from case to case, but if you keep these overarching concepts in mind, you should be off to a good start.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Additional Reading</h2>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-24286258">"Why does the human brain create false memories?" [Melissa Hogenboom, BBC News]</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/first-rule-of-usability-dont-listen-to-users/">"First Rule of Usability? Don't Listen to Users" [Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group]</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/interviewing-users/">"Interviewing Users" [Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group]</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/how-to-conduct-user-interviews">"How to Conduct User Interviews" [The Interaction Design Foundation]</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
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Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-7309921558077791242017-03-29T08:12:00.001-05:002017-04-05T08:13:29.059-05:00The Use of "Customer", "User", and "Human" in Design & Development<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEignnfqpBY7yi8_O4nickseSI2ZHMK38Qlbi_Xpx9BUNgAfcSjMeQt8vlzwEvpAZxYxSkVA26JMs35Wz3qZJawJ6dJsfOONGg9qzyiwBc2yJ3Cozvic8UmbSBH783lKtBsX1akETis3TOBc/s1600/DibsOnBeingHuman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEignnfqpBY7yi8_O4nickseSI2ZHMK38Qlbi_Xpx9BUNgAfcSjMeQt8vlzwEvpAZxYxSkVA26JMs35Wz3qZJawJ6dJsfOONGg9qzyiwBc2yJ3Cozvic8UmbSBH783lKtBsX1akETis3TOBc/s640/DibsOnBeingHuman.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Proof that I am not a professional cartoonist.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
Customer. User. Human. These words get swapped around in product design and development in ways that can be confusing and seem equivocal.<br />
<br />
Let's start easy. Human. We know what that is. You, me, and that guy at the karaoke bar singing "I Will Survive". Human is an inclusive term. Your users and customers both fit under that umbrella.<br />
<br />
So, if it is such an inclusive term, why do we have Human-Centered Design (HCD) and User-Centered Design (UCD)? Couldn't you just use HCD and be done? That depends.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
When we apply design or development to address the needs of people, we are creating something. Whether it is a gadget, application, or a plan to reduce dysentery in a population; there is something being created. For simplicity, <b>let's call what we are providing "the product"</b>.<br />
<br />
Right of the bat, we are going to drop "customer" from the mix. Being a "human" or "user" should be decoupled from being a "customer", because that is more role-specific.<br />
<br />
"Customer" is best relegated to discussions of personas and it would be counterproductive to mix these two topics. For a discussion of customer, buyer, and user personas, please see <a href="http://www.michaeljcasavant.com/2016/12/personas-buyer-vs-customer-vs-user.html">my article on that topic</a>.<br />
<br />
So, for the rest of this article, we will focus on "human" vs. "user" and HCD vs, UCD.<br />
<br />
And while we are at it, ultimately, as long as you and your audience understand what you mean, that's the most important thing. With that, let's tackle this "user" vs. "human" thing.<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<br />Is It About the Sector?</h2>
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<br /></div>
One perspective is that it comes down to the sector. If you are working in technology, especially software or hardware, then it's UCD. If you are working more in the social sector, then HCD makes more sense.<br />
<br />
So, a software developer would design for users and a charity would design for humans.<br />
<br />
It's a clean, simple, and reasonable suggestion, but I don't find it to be as meaningful/useful as I would like. Context matters, but this explanation does not resonate with me. It feels too much like, "Well, that is the word we have been using, so...why not?"<br />
<br />
And it can be problematic at best to forget that your users are human beings. All too often, an unrealistic assumption is made that the user will pay perfect and complete attention while using a product. The real world can be quite distracting and inconsiderate of your product.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Is It About How People Interact with Your Product?</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One idea is that it comes down to the <b>degree of interaction or immersion</b> with the product. So, for example, someone diving deep into the analytical capabilities of a software program would be a user, but someone flipping on their computer would not.<br />
<br />
Another interesting idea is whether the use of your product is more of an <b>active or passive interaction</b>. For example, consider a billboard, sign, or a printed map at a shopping mall. That sign was created for people to see, to inform them, and often to elicit a response; e.g., stop, go, come see the show, etc.<br />
<br />
Some would argue that a more passive product, like a sign or billboard falls under HCD, because the context and environment are more significant. On the other hand, they would label more focused and intensive interaction, like using an interactive map, as falling under UCD.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Is It About Your Design Focus?</h2>
<br />
<a href="http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1153&context=jitta">This article</a> puts forth a different approach. They suggest that:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...these methods are targeted at the closure of technology-centered problems, rather than the investigation of suitable changes to a system of human-activity supported by technology."</blockquote>
In this case, they stress the designer/developer focus, i.e., it's what the designer is focused on, not what the user, customer, or human is doing with the product. That said, there is a similarity to the other points of view in that the concept boils down to context - being narrowly focused on the product or considering that product within the broader context of the human-product system as a whole.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Is It Your Degree of Focus on the Customer Population?</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<a href="http://tubikstudio.com/faq-design-platform-human-centered-vs-user-centered-are-the-terms-different/">One interesting take</a> is that it comes down to how tightly focused you are on a specific customer population. Basically, when you are broadly making a product for a wide variety of potential customers, you are more in the realm of HCD. When you start to hone in on a specific group and design something around their specialized needs, then you cross into UCD.<br />
<br />
And this certainly compelling. At the high level, all of your users are humans and there are common considerations that you will need to take into account. Then as you drill down to a very specific application for a smaller group of people, your focus may shift dramatically to a host of individual, specialized needs that are not common to all humans, but really only to this small subset.<br />
<br />
Or another way to put it, is that when you move into UCD, you are less interested in the broader, shared needs of all humans and focusing instead on a specific user group. In many ways, this feels like a variation on the previous concepts of focus and context.<br />
<br />
My concern is that it contains a potentially dangerous implication - when you create a more specialized functionality, the human considerations become less relevant or perhaps even irrelevant.</div>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
What Does ISO Think?</h2>
<br />
You may not know, but there is an ISO standard for HCD - <a href="https://www.iso.org/standard/52075.html">ISO 9241-210 <i>Human-centred design for interactive systems</i></a>. It details a number of key points about human centered design. The key points of focus are:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Understanding your users' "context of use" - not just your users, but their environment and what they are trying to achieve with your product</li>
<li>User involvement from start to finish</li>
<li>User evaluation/testing throughout the design and development process</li>
<li>Iteration</li>
<li>Expanding your consideration to the whole user experience, including "perceptual and emotional aspects"</li>
<li>Use a multi-disciplinary team</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
It is hard not to see stark similarities to Design Thinking (see <a href="http://www.michaeljcasavant.com/2017/01/design-thinking-elevator-pitch.html">my elevator pitch</a> here), which is often conflated with Human Centered Design.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But we don't all see the same thing. I have seen articles by smart, informed people that refer to this standard as ensuring your design is "user-centered" even when this standard has "human-centered" right in the title. They are not wrong, per se, as a human-centered design should still result in a good user-centered design, but I reserve the right to chuckle at their statement just the same.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Interestingly, there was a prior ISO standard, ISO 13407, which did not include the consideration of the whole user experience. The expanded awareness of context is a key differentiator.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
One Thought to Rule Them All?</h2>
<br />
Okay, this is going to be tricky, and I am certain many folks might take issue, bit I think we can distill all of this down to one relatively simple statement. What do all of these examples discuss?<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Which sector? That's context.</li>
<li>How people interact with your product? More context.</li>
<li>Design focus? What context the designers consider.</li>
<li>Degree of focus on the customer population? Scales of context from broad to narrow.</li>
<li>ISO? Context is a key change in the new standard.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Context. time and again, it comes down to the choice of context and the relevance of context in your design. So, my suggestion is that the boundary between UCD and HCD is the relevance and breadth of context in your design and development process.<br />
<br />
For example, you might decide to create an application to find a babysitter. UCD will produce a clean, responsive design and tick off the functionality requirements. But if you bear in mind the day-to-day experiences and context of the parent that would be using that application, how they might use it, where they might use it, their time/attention constraints, etc., then you are in the realm of HCD.<br />
<br />
But I will fire off one last, and potentially controversial, thought. The old ISO standard was less concerned with context and whole user experience, but the new one embraces it. In a similar vein, perhaps it is enough to say that HCD is the new and improved UCD, and one neglects the humanity of their users at the peril of their product.<br />
<br />
Until next time, humans.</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-77843105391376260772017-03-09T07:30:00.000-06:002017-03-09T08:00:54.803-06:00Shaping Your Message Through Keyword Analytics and Data-Driven Content<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Ey8t5zUYl6_30pVGf0Qzxmxu9XACN9hZrWubOEi2UMDiHHHFNURDOFsY9rJbf5cR92FJtHDRMTYOTVhQo1LBdmPkGLkrePX9pFOGHuNar6XqAzqKlBH1kL13WNGMrnn40xDpoW2MAXhc/s1600/potters-wheel-58557_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Ey8t5zUYl6_30pVGf0Qzxmxu9XACN9hZrWubOEi2UMDiHHHFNURDOFsY9rJbf5cR92FJtHDRMTYOTVhQo1LBdmPkGLkrePX9pFOGHuNar6XqAzqKlBH1kL13WNGMrnn40xDpoW2MAXhc/s400/potters-wheel-58557_1920.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
As promised in the last post, the discussion of Google Analytics continues with discussion of how to acquire and apply data to make your product more successful. As with the previous post, we will look at the obvious bits and then dig a bit deeper to identify a not-so-obvious trick.<br />
<br />
In the early days of web analytics, people seized on keywords for search engine optimization, to try and drive more traffic to their web site or application. The value of that is declining for various reasons, but there is a greater value you can obtain from keyword data - understanding your customers better and shaping your message to deliver what they want through data-driven content. <br />
<br />
And it's from a place you might not think to look.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
In the "Old" Days</h2>
<br />
When keywords first became a thing on the web, it was primarily with Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. At that time, search engines were simple, compared to today. So, if you could figure out the magic mix of keywords, you could get a lot of traffic.<br />
<br />
Then people got wiser and realized that lots of traffic is not good enough. You want to attract the people that actually <i>want </i>your product. Bounces are not valuable. [For more about "bounces" and traffic, see the <i><a href="http://www.michaeljcasavant.com/2017/02/google-analytics-and-product.html">Google Analytics and Product Intelligence - Web Site Traffic & Page Views</a></i>]<br />
<br />
When "cost per click" advertising really hit its stride, so did a host of ways to track the keywords associated with the clicks. If you can't capture that information, then you can't have paid campaigns for those keywords. Google Analytics did a great job of capturing that data and providing it to would-be advertisers.<br />
<br />
Then encryption came along...<br />
<br />
<h2>
Keywords and the "Not Provided" Monster</h2>
As we discussed in a previous article (<a href="http://www.michaeljcasavant.com/2017/02/google-analytics-acquisition-channel.html"><i>Acquisition Channel Data for Better Targeting and Product Improvement</i></a>), there is an acquisition channel, the <i>organic</i> channel, that reflects people arriving at your site through a regular search, i.e., not clicking on a paid/sponsored "cost per click" search result. However, most organic search data will show something like the following plot in which the vast majority of traffic comes from keywords that are "not provided".<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxEXjiQuVjkzsQ_2e4HMrl1W9YxJMMPld8Rdka0D0r277gEwJg504MKhJNxTPcUqDdWa4DoYv-l3115cE1Xwesqn9JsOvSAszoLVkTA0_Arw413NWu09gU9D5FY78QBN_G1orfmQEgyKx_/s1600/GoogleAnalytics_OrganicSearch_NotProvided.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxEXjiQuVjkzsQ_2e4HMrl1W9YxJMMPld8Rdka0D0r277gEwJg504MKhJNxTPcUqDdWa4DoYv-l3115cE1Xwesqn9JsOvSAszoLVkTA0_Arw413NWu09gU9D5FY78QBN_G1orfmQEgyKx_/s400/GoogleAnalytics_OrganicSearch_NotProvided.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Why is that? Companies have been increasingly protecting consumer privacy, which is a good thing. Back in 2011, Google made SSL (secure socket layer, a secure transmission protocol) the default for users that are signed into their Google Account and even when they search from the chrome "omnibox"*. This causes the search terms to be passed in an encrypted fashion and not captured, resulting in the keywords not being provided to the analytics tool, hence the "not provided" listing.<br />
<br />
* - "omnibox" is the name for the address bar in the Chrome browser, where you would type in a URL or keywords for a search<br />
<br />
<b>Trivia:</b> Someone was so incensed by this, that they created <a href="http://www.notprovidedcount.com/">a page to track the occurrence over a number of sites</a>.<br />
<br />
If the vast majority of keywords are hidden to us, how can we use a data-driven approach to identify the language we should include?<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Enter Google's Keyword Planner</h2>
<br />
Google has a nifty tool called <i>Keyword Planner</i> as part of the <i>Google AdWords</i> offering.<br />
<br />
The bad news: Unfortunately, no longer you can you just fire up Keyword Planner and play with it anymore. They force you to create a "campaign" first and since you may have never created a campaign with them, you are likely to create a suboptimal one. If your company uses Google Analytics, you may be able to gain access to that data and it's worth checking because you will get a lot more out of it.<br />
<br />
The good news (i.e., the workaround): You can set a tiny budget (say $0.02) when you create that campaign and then immediately pause it. This will allow you to explore the features so that you can make smarter decisions.<br />
<br />
Luckily for you, I have done this already! Here are the links if you want to set up your account and play along at home, but my recommendation is to finish this article first.<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i><a href="https://adwords.google.com/">Google AdWords</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner">Keyword Planner</a></i></li>
</ul>
<br />
To make this more tangible, let's create a scenario.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Scenario: Super Duper Weed Killer</h2>
<br />
Let's say you have a great new weed killer, Super Duper Weed Killer, that is more effective than the current products, but you need to get the message out there. Let's see what we can learn from keywords to help guide the content you would create.<br />
<br />
<b>Note:</b> For accessibility, we will limit ourselves to the tools and data that any Google AdWords user could access without running a paid campaign. Also, this is just a demonstration of concept; we will not explore every nuance (and there are many), in order to keep this article concise.<br />
<br />
The first stop is the simplest and perhaps most obvious - a simple search with Google. We fire up Chrome and enter <i>effective weed</i>. We get the following autocomplete and autosuggest results:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVDIVsTE3oA4Zam2Y23SjfFu_Wc3rBow_W5KCrWtmeue-vIIO8C8n3MPMG06cCRNdmI8q3c8R358peg4nLNW2sHadQN7vA2tDQzwtBTe3eIS3I7qKCuFYbG52dxiUCyaVkr__zYRAb-Ib/s1600/GoogleSearch_EffectiveWeed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVDIVsTE3oA4Zam2Y23SjfFu_Wc3rBow_W5KCrWtmeue-vIIO8C8n3MPMG06cCRNdmI8q3c8R358peg4nLNW2sHadQN7vA2tDQzwtBTe3eIS3I7qKCuFYbG52dxiUCyaVkr__zYRAb-Ib/s400/GoogleSearch_EffectiveWeed.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
So, right off the bat, we have some new ideas for words that people might be using to find this type of product:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>barrier</li>
<li>control</li>
<li><br /></li>
</ul>
<div>
If we add <i>killer</i> we get:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzznBRXLFHpOZcFYdcykbjJhmc-THeeUwpwzbd1JTBw8ud_8g7LRkhJA2XF8iNM3Edv2f1oZjvAEqJT0lzvrTt7UlwZD7kS7Td6ITyvn6cJif7shBuLkJl8nZASr0XpZq3By_iVjwLxY_/s1600/GoogleSearch_EffectiveWeedKiller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzznBRXLFHpOZcFYdcykbjJhmc-THeeUwpwzbd1JTBw8ud_8g7LRkhJA2XF8iNM3Edv2f1oZjvAEqJT0lzvrTt7UlwZD7kS7Td6ITyvn6cJif7shBuLkJl8nZASr0XpZq3By_iVjwLxY_/s400/GoogleSearch_EffectiveWeedKiller.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
And, not surprisingly, the more words we add, the more specific the results become. Certainly, "lawn" is something to add to the list and maybe ask if we have plans for the markets in the United Kingdom and Canada.<br />
<br />
But you get the idea. This is a very simple trick that anyone can do, but it's still a good start. Simple searches can provide good information about your competitors and the market space for your product or service.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Let's Use the Keyword Planner</h2>
<br />
Now, we break out the keyword planner. There are multiple ways to use this tool, but for the sake of brevity, we will use two - "search for new keywords" and "multiply keyword lists".<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-plqdVY5mJYJE44t1wGpeQc6coxOhknRZAskE1tt_ML8rgTOvhL9mYsMj2q1Y6Mllql1JJuEYDra_ezw5dn54iwV4u_8Aco6MSybadkw6G2sJW0QbHnwe6n_2Rss18h2AUbXLOktmIiDp/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-plqdVY5mJYJE44t1wGpeQc6coxOhknRZAskE1tt_ML8rgTOvhL9mYsMj2q1Y6Mllql1JJuEYDra_ezw5dn54iwV4u_8Aco6MSybadkw6G2sJW0QbHnwe6n_2Rss18h2AUbXLOktmIiDp/s400/Untitled.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
When we search for new keywords using <i>weed killer</i> as our base, we get the following:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsuJtyqVanb4efuHDVEMzX_LgrNJ2wGsgyuikUSRU5ueBBHLqFPVt6Q1D33so88JS65MigZFHZmT0HR-qFtoxCoP0VGmVn8iAH2p1mK9jstSfuuK0LUxqOV3stBMB7N-ckpOANVGg-iq1P/s1600/GoogleKeyword_NewKeywords_WeedKiller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsuJtyqVanb4efuHDVEMzX_LgrNJ2wGsgyuikUSRU5ueBBHLqFPVt6Q1D33so88JS65MigZFHZmT0HR-qFtoxCoP0VGmVn8iAH2p1mK9jstSfuuK0LUxqOV3stBMB7N-ckpOANVGg-iq1P/s400/GoogleKeyword_NewKeywords_WeedKiller.jpg" width="306" /></a></div>
<span id="goog_1325816998"></span><span id="goog_1325816999"></span><br />
<b>Note:</b> I did not set up a campaign for this, so the data is fuzzier and only shows ranges, but that is good enough for this discussion.<br />
<br />
By scrolling through the various suggestions, we can see the searches that are most numerous and most expensive. The first important thing to understand is that the <b>searches with the most hits are not necessarily the most valuable searches</b>. For example, in the short list shown above, the most expensive search, <i>weed control</i>, is four times as expensive and has an order of magnitude less hits than the two searches with the most hits, <i>crabgrass killer</i> and <i>weed and feed</i>.<br />
<br />
That said, we are basically in a brainstorming phase of content creation, so we would be wise to document both the highest value and highest traffic keywords. We see a lot of mention of "crabgrass" and our development team tells us that the product is effective against crabgrass, we add that to our list.<br />
<br />
The <i>multiply keyword lists</i> feature "multiplies" the keywords you provide in two lists. So, if you were to provide list 1 with <i>weed</i> and <i>crabgrass</i> and list 2 with <i>killer</i> and <i>control</i>, it would consider all four permutations:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>weed killer</li>
<li>weed control</li>
<li>crabgrass killer</li>
<li>crabgrass control</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>The <i>multiply keywords</i> tool is best applied <u>after</u> you have identified lists of promising keywords</b>, as it only considers the permutations of the words you provide. Let's try this out with a few of the words we have identified so far:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEI3v4bLaIgbm3H_OP2fUhEYvFgfL0xVPe8uPnmdGrPAFEZqPAkHcRdUdPe3ZPcz2hUZbZDnHuKGexej2L7Vy1Gp2gqVB6woxoa04hbbC6auY4WL5jZmK58r26NDLEPmYwym-9Pr1_11a6/s1600/GoogleKeyword_MultiplyKeywords_Start.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEI3v4bLaIgbm3H_OP2fUhEYvFgfL0xVPe8uPnmdGrPAFEZqPAkHcRdUdPe3ZPcz2hUZbZDnHuKGexej2L7Vy1Gp2gqVB6woxoa04hbbC6auY4WL5jZmK58r26NDLEPmYwym-9Pr1_11a6/s400/GoogleKeyword_MultiplyKeywords_Start.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If we click on <i>Get search volume</i>, we get the following:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEqLufPMT-q0o_3062DAF8HwEIvPCQHjMO63ymBunaHhcq72v_HHB2SUxnZg6F0p-V7kq_4aSoG3Qwa3o3zlBQ_bnwXHZRtKzlEisWVuXvydHBhLl_zoZUdUX1VFxmaqgoD9TUqOLn2OZq/s1600/GoogleKeyword_MultiplyKeywords_SearchVolumes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEqLufPMT-q0o_3062DAF8HwEIvPCQHjMO63ymBunaHhcq72v_HHB2SUxnZg6F0p-V7kq_4aSoG3Qwa3o3zlBQ_bnwXHZRtKzlEisWVuXvydHBhLl_zoZUdUX1VFxmaqgoD9TUqOLn2OZq/s400/GoogleKeyword_MultiplyKeywords_SearchVolumes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
This helps us narrow down which keyword combinations are valuable and which may be non-starters (e.g., <i>crabgrass barrier</i> has no searches nor suggested bid). In this case, the top three phrases that rise to the top are:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>weed killer</li>
<li>crabgrass killer</li>
<li>weed control</li>
</ul>
<br />
By iterating through these steps, we can quickly start to build a content workbook with the most valuable keywords for our product. We can then inject those keywords into our content. By using this analytical data to shape our content, we can create:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Content our customers are more likely to find</li>
<li>A message that resonates more effectively with their priorities</li>
</ul>
<br />
Of course, this is just one piece of the puzzle. It certainly does not replace traditional market research, focus groups, customer interviews, etc., but it's a quick and effective little trick to help you find the best language for your content.</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-11877378679934130982017-02-22T08:00:00.000-06:002017-03-06T09:12:02.549-06:00Google Analytics - Acquisition Channel Data for Better Targeting and Product Improvement<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFMJd0F_9dQYo6u_4nbUUsuEQ3c4yD8zrTJM4Mj-bj6XlE_UAk8nALRMeTXGdudOObPC6AhnUQR5uj6oFvxMF0WeKgd3quYSmeKmayh-HRQMU9Q27hJ3nhWI7_AcYnvTd1NSkKfRKCLa6v/s1600/Bullseye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFMJd0F_9dQYo6u_4nbUUsuEQ3c4yD8zrTJM4Mj-bj6XlE_UAk8nALRMeTXGdudOObPC6AhnUQR5uj6oFvxMF0WeKgd3quYSmeKmayh-HRQMU9Q27hJ3nhWI7_AcYnvTd1NSkKfRKCLa6v/s320/Bullseye.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
As promised in the last post, the discussion of Google Analytics continues with discussion of how to acquire and apply data to make your product more successful. This time, let's focus on acquisition data, the information that tells us how people are finding your site.<br />
<br />
Combine this with analysis of your referrals, and you can artfully sculpt more successful customer engagements and conversions, but you can also find some great information to help improve your product, engage your customer, and produce data-driven content. Let's talk about how.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
What Are Our Primary Channels?</h2>
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Under <i>Acquisition → Overview</i>, you can pull up a summary of your sessions over time and the channels through which they arrived. Let's consider a simple example. We will look at some data from a website that supports an annual meeting.<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The time period will be the month leading up to, and through the days of the event</li>
<li>The typical attendance is 500-1000</li>
<li>This event intentionally limits its marketing to a specific local customer base</li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vNHx_aR9z39t0DJm5K9V0k50Z8Og3wGvrq4YKc_YT5wQrlg5JvKcJcNqyyY4TkDGxuQ5mLO4NY6r2BDf9plH0LvxKu4DY5qkxfRScW7tEt03wRuqjSa7fBqIN6FmKQHPxYRi-8oTaMAO/s1600/GoogleAnalytics_AcquisitionOverview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vNHx_aR9z39t0DJm5K9V0k50Z8Og3wGvrq4YKc_YT5wQrlg5JvKcJcNqyyY4TkDGxuQ5mLO4NY6r2BDf9plH0LvxKu4DY5qkxfRScW7tEt03wRuqjSa7fBqIN6FmKQHPxYRi-8oTaMAO/s400/GoogleAnalytics_AcquisitionOverview.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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If you click on this image, you can see the following:<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The primary channels are <i>Direct</i> and <i>Organic Search</i>, with small contributions from <i>Social</i> and <i>Referral</i></li>
<li>Sessions peaked heavily just prior to the event</li>
<li>The bounce rates are low enough that we can reasonably assume these proportions are correct</li>
</ul>
<div>
[See <a href="http://www.michaeljcasavant.com/2017/02/google-analytics-and-product.html">the last article</a> for a discussion of traffic and bounce rates]</div>
<div>
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The <i>Direct </i>channel reflects people typing in the URL, clicking on a bookmark, choosing it from autosuggest options from their history, etc. The <i>Organic</i> search reflects people looking for the event via search engines. To a much lesser extent, they are arriving via social media (<i>Social</i>) and <i>Referrals</i> from other sites.<br />
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There are some missing channels here. There are no acquisitions from paid, "cost per click" (CPC) campaigns nor email campaigns.<br />
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The story that this data tells us is that people are primarily finding the site on their own, whether from a saved link or search.<br />
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<b>Does that make sense?</b> This particular event is marketed to a small local group primarily by "word of mouth" and is intentionally kept small. The attendees tend to be repeat customers that already know of the event and the site.<br />
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The site is built in such a way that attendees are able to sign up and delist themselves from activities independently, which drives a behavior of routinely navigating to the website, which will drive a lot of <i>Direct</i> and <i>Organic</i> hits.<br />
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As a result, the primary channel of <i>Direct </i>makes sense. Since most people looking for the event know something about it. <i>Organic Search</i> is a logical secondary channel, reflecting not just new attendees but also those that rely on search instead of bookmarks.<br />
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What might not make sense are the relatively low numbers of hits, given that we have 500-1000 attendees and the site is used for signing up for specific activities. Inquiring with the event organizers reveals that they opened up registration a month earlier and the bulk of their attendees were already registered by this point. With that context, the counts make sense.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Let's Get <i>Social</i></h2>
The <i>Social</i> channel is basically a type of <i>Referral</i>, it's simply a bucket for carving out those referrals that are from sites that Google considers "social" sites.<br />
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<b>Side note:</b> <i>Blogger </i>sites (Google's blogging tool) are included as <i>Social</i>, but not all blogs will show up that way.<br />
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If we drill into <i>Social</i>, we see the following:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMfzc9wODj5cYnG5kpSGyJHQqbunSg2waHabQncxATQ3XnLQVdSE-d10PfVU0_vmV0dU4IqFS1X76wDq57cBd5r1AnxqHfLgI-DTlt14W33EkOEP6cMgVVa0umdgIbKagjPAoEw_DKYbiv/s1600/GoogleAnalytics_SocialBreakdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMfzc9wODj5cYnG5kpSGyJHQqbunSg2waHabQncxATQ3XnLQVdSE-d10PfVU0_vmV0dU4IqFS1X76wDq57cBd5r1AnxqHfLgI-DTlt14W33EkOEP6cMgVVa0umdgIbKagjPAoEw_DKYbiv/s400/GoogleAnalytics_SocialBreakdown.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Most of the <i>Social</i> traffic is from Facebook (71.38%) and Reddit (23.61%).<br />
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Digging into <i>Referrals</i> produces a similar plot to the one above and for this specific site, the results are what we expect, a lot of referrals from companies and fans from their sites.<br />
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<b>Does this make sense?</b> This particular event uses Facebook as its primary communication channel so, yes, this makes sense.<br />
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<b>What can we do with this?</b> A couple of things jump out at us. First, we know where our customers are currently at, so we can use that information to target where to deliver our content, solicit feedback, and generally engage our customer. Second, we know where we are *not* getting customers from, which can help identify new opportunities for channel expansion.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Digging Deeper</h2>
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So, that's the obvious stuff that we can directly learn from Google Analytics, but what else can we learn? The nice thing about social sites is that this is where we can reliably find our customers talking about our product.<br />
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In this example, we know that we have hits on Reddit and Blogger, sites commonly used to ask questions and discuss opinions. We can then search either "reddit" or "blogger", along with the name of our event/product (or other sensible keywords). This rapidly pulls up a number of posts in which attendees and prospective attendees discuss the event and offering opinions, both praise and critiques.<br />
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By digging into these posts, we can:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Obtain <b>valuable, unfiltered customer feedback</b>.</li>
<li>Learn more about the <b>language our customers are using to discuss our product</b>.</li>
<li>Create opportunities for direct customer engagement</li>
</ul>
<br />
We also have a better sense of where we might want to target future customer outreach and engagement. More importantly, by learning the language of our customers we are arming ourselves with the information we need to <b>produce data-driven content</b> [spoiler alert: we will build on this in the next post].<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Point</h2>
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The main point is that there are two layers of useful information to be had here.<br />
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There is the surface layer of direct, obvious data from Google Analytics to better understand <b>where your customers are coming from</b>. <i>Referrals</i> and <i>Social</i> give you information on where your acquisitions are originating, which can help guide<b> where to target future campaigns or potential partners</b>.<br />
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Then there is a second layer of rich information that can be obtained by following up on what we learned from <i>Social</i>. Researching the specific sites in <i>Social</i> can lead to valuable customer feedback and a better understanding of the language they use to help <b>improve our product and produce data-driven content</b>.<br />
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In a similar way, keywords can be used in an obvious direct way, but there is another layer of value to be had. We'll look into that in the next post.</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-85579710233882696472017-02-08T08:32:00.000-06:002017-02-28T19:44:07.846-06:00Google Analytics and Product Intelligence - Web Site Traffic & Page Views<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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About a month ago, I explained how to get started with Google Analytics. Now that a month has passed, there should be enough data to populate the various analytics pages (analytics pages without data are not very informative).<br />
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The sheer amount of information and options can be a bit overwhelming at first, so let's start with the thing people most commonly want to know about their site - traffic in the form of page views and how we might turn that information into useful, actionable product intelligence.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Public Service Announcements - Check Your Notifications</h2>
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When you sign into analytics, be sure to take a look at new notifications. Sure, they may just be prompts for more services, but there also useful things in there.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEAUemHJTc5FH-lr7nhOmghSQVDTNGyofbYFM4jQNRCSv8wInSdj5dsUHyFlaYCPzIm5taFn6SXoIMwjNzKUQ24Mlz1_1HUSU0knTLwimp8WdbvOtpgq8Q5k7qg3F91YZOmqdy2msw_iXO/s1600/Notifications.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEAUemHJTc5FH-lr7nhOmghSQVDTNGyofbYFM4jQNRCSv8wInSdj5dsUHyFlaYCPzIm5taFn6SXoIMwjNzKUQ24Mlz1_1HUSU0knTLwimp8WdbvOtpgq8Q5k7qg3F91YZOmqdy2msw_iXO/s400/Notifications.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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For example, on a site that had been set up a long time ago, the redirection had not been set up to funnel all "www.blah.com" traffic to "blah.com" and strip the "www". If you are not using analytics, this is not a problem, but <b>if you are using analytics without the proper redirects, then your traffic is being split across those two hostnames, which makes it harder to get a clear picture of your traffic</b>.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
How Does the Traffic to My Site Look?</h2>
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One of the most common questions people have about their site is which pages are being accessed the most and how many times. This falls under the category of "Behavior" in Google Analytics. While the <i>Overview</i> can be useful, in most cases the more useful place to look will be under <i>Behavior →</i> <i>Site Content →</i> <i>All Pages</i>.<br />
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These listings are sorted by number of page views by default, so you can immediately see your highest traffic pages immediately. You can also see a lot of other interesting things; let's consider the following:<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Page views</li>
<li>Exit rate</li>
<li>Bounce rate</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Page views</b> can be very useful in assessing a web site, but the most valuable answers may require another layer of thinking. Let's say you have a page that is not getting a lot of page views. The only thing you can say with certainty is that the page has less views. When it comes to discussing the why, it's more complicated than "that page must be useless to my customer".</div>
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<div>
Some possible explanations for low page views:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The content is poor - not relevant to the customer, inconsistent with the site's overall "voice"</li>
<li>The content is valuable, but infrequently needed, e.g., "About Us"</li>
<li>There is a navigation/access issue - e.g., the link to the page is buried or nonexistent</li>
</ul>
<div>
But page views are only part of the story. We can get a much clearer picture by looking at exit rates and bounce rates.</div>
<div>
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<div>
The <b>bounce rate</b> reflects how often someone accesses a single page on your site and then exits your site (as compared to the total number of all sessions involving that page). In other words, <b>when that page is the only page from your site in that session</b>.</div>
</div>
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<div>
The <b>exit rate</b> reflects how often a given page is part of the session (one of the pages they visited) <b>and </b>it was the last page they visited on that site (as compared to the total number of all sessions that involved that page). In other words, <b>when that page is the last page of a session in which multiple pages were visited</b>. </div>
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Example 1: Exit Rates & Shopping Cart Abandonment</h2>
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Consider people shopping online from your site, which has a typical shopping cart process. You expect/want the following:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>People to land at your front page or directly on product listings from search engines and promotions</li>
<li>High exit rates from the last step in your shopping cart purchase process, indicating that they completed a purchase</li>
</ul>
<div>
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<div>
Shopping cart abandonment is a common problem for shopping sites. As of right now, <a href="https://www.listrak.com/ecommerce-marketing-automation/channels/email/shopping-cart-abandonment-index.aspx">Listrak is reporting ~79% abandonment </a>for today.</div>
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<div>
Let's say you are trying to evaluate your site's shopping cart abandonment rate and you are surprised to see a 90% exit rate from the step/page after an item has been added to a shopping cart. Some explanations.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Ah, it's just the nature of the beast; wait and see</li>
<li>The page is breaking in some way</li>
<li>Something they see on the page is not within their expectations</li>
<li>Something in our process is causing this to skew upwards</li>
</ol>
<div>
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</div>
<div>
Some possible actions you could take as a result:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Get a cup of coffee and go on with your day</li>
<li>Confirm the page is functioning properly</li>
<li>Ask customer service if there has been a spike in complaints</li>
<li>The last one is more complicated than a bullet point answer...</li>
</ol>
<div>
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<div>
A probably issue is that information is being withheld until later in the process. Some might argue that it's clever application of behavioral psychology. Discussing the merit of such an approach is beyond the scope of this post. But we can speak to the obvious impacts on shopping cart abandonment.</div>
<div>
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<div>
When a customer sees an item listed on your site, they assume they can buy it now, at a competitive price, and have it shipped soon. That expectation has been built and maintained by the bulk of online shopping sites. If you withhold that information or surprise customers with a change in that information, you may drive up your shopping cart abandonment rates.</div>
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<div>
For example, some sites have/had an unusual approach for their shopping cart process. They would not show you the price until you had added the item to your shopping cart. With such a design, one would expect higher than usual abandonment after products are added to a cart, because the consumer only then finds out the price.</div>
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<div>
Some shopping processes withhold checking availability until products are selected and they may have great reasons for doing it. Regardless, such an approach shifts the decision to end the session to when they are in the shopping cart process.</div>
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</div>
<div>
Finally, there are the more complex issues - are you providing the products the market wants at competitive prices? Those are questions to routinely discuss, but maybe something changed if your shopping cart abandonment is spiking and it's time to move that discussion up.</div>
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<div>
The point is that exit rate from pages can provide useful, actionable information. Since this product is primarily a web site, we expect this to be valuable. But what about a product in which the web site is just a small piece of the puzzle?</div>
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Example 2: Bounce Rates & Expectations</h2>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Let's say you have decided to start a local music festival. You want to start small and see what the responses are. </div>
<div>
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<div>
In this case, the website is not your core product, but you want to use it for ticketing and communicating your schedule, so it is still a vital component. You create a site that is very lean:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Landing page</li>
<li>Schedule - just a simple listing of who is playing, when, and where; no links out, no "drill down" for more detail</li>
<li>Badge purchase process</li>
</ul>
<div>
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</div>
<div>
The site gets put up well in advance and you promote it through the right channels so it's turning up easily in searches. You start to see the bounce rate on your schedule page rise. Should you worry?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Maybe, maybe not. Consider someone that bought a badge. The only thing they want from your site now is the schedule information. Don't forget that an attendee may end up bookmarking the schedule page for suture reference. But whether due to search or a bookmark, they will hit that page and exit, because they are already an attendee. For these cases, the increased bounce rate is natural.</div>
<div>
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<div>
Because of the way you have designed the site and promoted it, you should see increasing numbers of people able to find your schedule page directly from a search. So, a prospective attendee can land directly on your schedule and realize they don't want to attend because they don't care for the musical acts performing. Initially, those would have been exits, but due to your success in search results, they can now directly find your schedule and make their decision from that one page. For these cases, the increase in bounce rate is a consequence of a successful awareness campaign but it may also be an indicator that people are not very interested in your musical line-up or scheduling.</div>
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<div>
So, how could you decide if this is just within expectations or a bad thing? </div>
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<div>
I would look at the rate of conversions on attendees. If your number of attendees grew, then it's probably just a natural consequence of how you built the site and marketed it; nothing to worry about. However, if people are not buying your badges and your bounce rates are continuing to rise, it may be time to reconsider your line-up, venue, schedule, etc.; i.e., if you are providing a product people want.</div>
<div>
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<div>
This might also inspire you to make your schedule more interactive. Now that you can see the analytics it becomes clear that providing a little more interaction on your schedule page, e..g, clickable links to see details on each performance or perhaps links to the musicians' sites. This small change in your site construction would allow you to get a better idea of how your visitors are consuming the information on that page and may also help guide your choice of musical acts in the future.</div>
<div>
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<div>
As with exit rate, the point is that bounce rate can provide useful, actionable information. Even though our core product is not the web site, the analytics data from the site still gives us vital product intelligence.</div>
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Just the Tip of the Iceberg</h2>
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<div>
If you like quantitative data and analysis, you might get swept up in all of the fun ways to slice and dice the information. So, information junkies, take care. You have been warned.</div>
<div>
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<div>
Those are just two scenarios with two data points about page views, and we have not even exhausted all of the data on page views, but you get the idea. There is a wealth of product intelligence we can obtain, even if a website is only part of our product/solution.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There is a lot more than just page views, though, and we will discuss some of that in upcoming posts. In the meantime, analyze, but analyze responsibly. </div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-20329371972638332212017-01-18T07:30:00.000-06:002017-02-01T00:33:45.122-06:00Design Thinking, the Elevator Pitch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Design Thinking is still a concept that suffers from 1) misunderstanding and 2) being dismissed as a new word for an old thing. Because of this, all design thinkers, at one point or another, are put into the position of evangelizing for design thinking.<br />
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So, let's think about how we might create an elevator pitch for design thinking and, along the way, we will probably give ourselves lots of great material for evangelizing the concept as well.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
What Do We Want to Communicate?</h2>
<div>
Well, frankly, there is a lot. Too much, in fact. So, most of the difficulty is tossing out a lot of important things to communicate the core value of design thinking. Whatever we do, it's important to communicate:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>What you do with it</li>
<li>What value it provides</li>
<li>How it is different or uniquely valuable</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
But <b>remember that it's an elevator pitch, they aren't sitting down taking notes</b>.<br />
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
What Do You Do With It?</h2>
<div>
For the most part, people use design thinking <b>to create a product</b>, and depending on how broadly you interpret those terms, that comprehensive statement covers all uses. However, a lot of people think of products only as a piece of gear or software. With an elevator pitch, you may have no idea of your audience's level of knowledge in this area, so it's best to assume no specialized knowledge.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Because design thinking can be used far more broadly <b>to both identify and solve problems</b>. Those solutions may involve products, but they may also involve new processes, plans, or ideas. And, more powerfully, <b>it can also be applied to 'blank slate" scenarios, i.e., you are not sure what problems you need to solve for your users/customers or what solutions to even consider</b>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
What Value Does It Provide?</h2>
<div>
The primary value comes from the philosophy and process of design thinking. It is tempting to just start slapping that process into a pitch because the core concepts of the process are important to using it and fully understanding it. Let's explore that.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We can use simple or complex statements. Either choice raises problems for an elevator pitch. If we keep it very simple with a broad strokes description, like IDEO's "inspiration, ideation, implementation" model, then our pitch starts to sound like fuzzy market-speak. If we dig into the specific process steps, we overwhelm the audience and encourage them to tune out.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In either case, depending on whose vision/model of design thinking you are following, there are some nuanced differences in what the steps and terms mean.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Lots of terminology and nuance is your first red flag that this information may not be a good choice for an elevator pitch.</b> So, what can we do? We can focus on the point of the process. What overall value is derived from using it?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To me, the greatest value of design thinking is that it enables you to <b>create a product that better meets the needs/wants of your user/customer</b>. But just saying that is not a compelling argument on its own. Our audience wants to know what is special about design thinking that allows them to achieve this.</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<br />How Is It Different or Uniquely Valuable?</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To fully convey how design thinking is different, it is natural to start with discussing what you are comparing it to. The canonical counter example is one that has often been used in the business world; design methods that brought in users and designers towards the tail-end of product creation, as an afterthought, to polish it up and make it more appealing. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In contrast, design thinking <i>leads with design</i> and engages users immediately. Designers lead the process, as opposed to engineers or developers. User engagement continues throughout the process, including before, during, and after prototyping. This user feedback helps guide the development. Some call this <i>user-centric</i> or <i>human-centric</i>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This general idea is not entirely novel, really, but adoption was not high until somewhat recently. The term <i>design thinking</i> was being used as far back as the 1960s, but the current usage of the term stems from work in the 1990s, when the framework, philosophy, and processes became more formalized.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Unlike methods where a prototype might be mostly envisioned by engineers and then shown to a user when it is mostly done, design thinking favors rapid prototyping. Prototypes are created quickly an inexpensively, creating only what is necessary to test the relevant concept, e.g., a mock-up made out of cardboard to explore user feedback on usability related to size and shape.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This approach favors a product that more closely meets the needs of its users, to avoid the failure of creating a product your customer does not want. It's important to notice my focus on value and customer needs, because lowest cost is a dodgy argument to make. In almost any case, one can create a cheaper solution that does not meet the customer's needs. So, the argument for design thinking is efficiency and creating something the customer actually wants.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
These key qualities can be summarized as follows.</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Leading with design and user engagement</b></li>
<li><b>Engaging the user before, during, and after prototype creation</b></li>
<li><b>Rapid prototyping and a "fail fast" approach to quickly and efficiently get to the best option</b></li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
Now, you may be thinking to yourself, "Hey, you threw jargon in there!" Yes I did, but I think "rapid prototyping" is a phrase that communicates the concept with adequate accuracy for any audience. The phrase "fail fast" may be a bit of a stretch, so we may or may not throw that in there.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"Leading with design" may make sense to designers, but it's probably an odd turn of phrase for others. So, let's rephrase that to "designers lead throughout the process".</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I am going to revisit something I said earlier in this article. Because of how the process works, it can be applied to a scenario where there is no notion of the specific user need nor the solutions you might use. For example, design thinking has been used very effectively by non-governmental organizations to explore a problem, identify the causes of those problems, and implement successful programs to resolve them. The important point is that you can start from essentially nothing with this process and be successful.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you are a design thinker, you might be frustrated by the absence of the word "empathy" in this discussion, because it is a critical aspect of what makes design thinking work. However, it's a word that has wildly variable connotations to many people and, without explanation, can seem vague and fuzzy, getting put in the mental "market speak" bin. It's a concept better suited to a follow-up discussion.<br />
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Examples</h2>
<div>
There are many ways you could put this together, so please take this as an invitation to be creative and put your own spin on it. We are going to aim for 30 seconds.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Note: The assumed audience is a leader within the company and is going to focus on business, brand, and efficiency.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>The storyteller:</b> This blurb couches the pitch in a more conversational, story-telling mode.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Creating a product or solution your customer doesn't want is bad for your brand and bad for your business. Design thinking helps avoid those disasters. It's a framework for identifying and creating products and solutions that better meet your customer's needs; it can even help you figure those out. Designers lead throughout the process and users are engaged from start to finish. Rapid prototyping is used in concert with user feedback to keep the development on target. The result is a process that efficiently produces something that meets your customer's needs. Better products. Better solutions. Happier customers.</blockquote>
<div>
<b>Just the facts:</b> All right, it's go time. No filler text. Minimal qualifiers. Avoid jargon.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Design thinking is a framework for identifying and creating products and solutions that better meet your customer's needs; even when starting with a blank slate. Designers lead throughout the process and users are engaged from start to finish. Rapid prototyping is used in concert with user feedback to keep the development on target. The results are products and solutions that better meet your customer's needs.</blockquote>
And so ends the exercise. Take care.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Additional Reading</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The Hasso Platner Institute of Design at Stanford ("d.school") has a lot of great material; I recommend <a href="https://www.blogger.com/design%20thinking%20site:dschool.stanford.edu">this Google search</a> to find what you need</li>
<li><a href="https://www.nngroup.com/search/?q=design+thinking">Nielsen Norman Group's articles on Design Thinking</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.ideo.com/us/post/design-kit">IDEO's Human-Centered Design Toolkit</a> is a great example of using this type of approach for things other than making a widget</li>
</ul>
</div>
<br /></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-68647138308100486942017-01-11T08:00:00.000-06:002017-01-12T10:36:49.272-06:00Setting Up Google Analytics For A Website<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQmuCm3d-kYhZryVmhk84nROt7rUlp2b5kXWQPPH8fA9cVOWx2_hOe-uh7k3Dp7B5QY3G02KwxpeVnQM-FpgcmqJt8MEzuWsLDmhOAcVhvW-9sG7EjT2MfR8qPmVQR0Ceyp3pyKR16idF/s1600/google-analytics.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQmuCm3d-kYhZryVmhk84nROt7rUlp2b5kXWQPPH8fA9cVOWx2_hOe-uh7k3Dp7B5QY3G02KwxpeVnQM-FpgcmqJt8MEzuWsLDmhOAcVhvW-9sG7EjT2MfR8qPmVQR0Ceyp3pyKR16idF/s400/google-analytics.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Google Analytics is just about everywhere, and it's a powerful tool for understanding your audience and the content they care about. However, it may not be active for your site. When you create your own site, you need to do a few steps so insure its active on your pages.<br />
<br />
The good news is that it's pretty easy. Let's get started!<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Why Set It Up?</h2>
<div>
This is a personal decision of course, because it's your site, so it's your choice. What inspired me to set it up was the ability to see the audience for a site and try to better understand them to improve engagement and thus give them a better experience through data-driven content.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I also generally trust Google, which helps.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are many Google products built on top of this that you can use as well, but you don't have to use them or pay any money to get going. You can actually implement Analytics for "free". I use quotes because the default settings mean your analytics will be fed into a greater whole for others to benefit from. So, in a sense, you are paying for it by sharing data. You can turn that off if it troubles you, but I did not.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But maybe you are still a bit skittish or uncertain. If you want to get a sample of what is possible first, you could fire up a Blogger account (<a href="http://blogger.com/">blogger.com</a>) and create a blog. That is a Google product and has some built-in, limited analytics right in the dashboard.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Getting Set Up</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's surprisingly easy, dare I say crazy easy? Just hop on over to <a href="https://www.google.com/analytics/">their site (googleanalytics.com)</a> and you will be immediately put into a process to create an account. You will need a Google account and will be asked for the following:<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Account name - a descriptive for you, e.g., "My Analytics Experiment"</li>
<li>Site name - "My Super Cool Site #1"</li>
<li>Site URL - "mysupercoolsite.com"</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
Then you will be taken directly to an admin page that gives you a tracking ID and explains exactly how to set up your pages for tracking. They will provide you with a tracking script to insert in the body of your pages and some extra instructions if you are using PHP for your site's codebase.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It took me less time to set up than it has taken me to type up this blog post so far.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Note: that tracking ID is unique to you</b>, if you share it with others, it can gum up your tracking.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Is It Working?</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Lucky for us fallible humans, on that very same page is a nifty little button labeled "Send test traffic" which immediately fires up a page from your site, creating 1 active user, as shown in the image below.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_3PKPe96FmAGQ9q5mVkrPjMcyjYF-tCAfkyzIyTJkHOfV9L7zdaCWOOwC3cm8UKBOzRzxP81p3OaL2ALP3BsbKj5sbYTpvWxBP9owNcA4oYjPun6O8OuB3X4QjWwPKXyJBQhOYHcIzO97/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="127" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_3PKPe96FmAGQ9q5mVkrPjMcyjYF-tCAfkyzIyTJkHOfV9L7zdaCWOOwC3cm8UKBOzRzxP81p3OaL2ALP3BsbKj5sbYTpvWxBP9owNcA4oYjPun6O8OuB3X4QjWwPKXyJBQhOYHcIzO97/s400/Untitled.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If that does not generate an active user, you need to be back and check that the page modifications were done correctly. Once they are correct, this should create an active user when clicked.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Now What?</h2>
<div>
Okay, so you have set up analytics and it's time to let the data roll on in. The good news is that you have opened up a whole new world of capability for understanding your audience. The bad news is that there is a lot in this new world to digest.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For now, you can get a quick analytics fix by going to your <i>Reporting</i> tab and clicking on <i>Real-Time</i> and then <i>Overview</i>. The labels here are pretty clear, just click around and see what's there. <b>Fair warning, this may be addictive to information junkies</b>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It would be unwieldy to dig any further, so at this point my suggestion is poke around and see what else it offers. Spoiler alert - it's a LOT. If you need professional help, I am certain Google would be happy to provide it. :-)<br />
<br />
<b>Note: There may be a delay before data first starts to show up outside of the Real-Time section.</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
If you want to make those analytics accessible to your collaborators, Just head over to the <i>Admin</i> tab and choose <i>User Management</i>; it's pretty simple from there.<br />
<br />
Have fun analyzing!</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-70860691008444475602016-12-12T07:30:00.000-06:002017-02-01T13:38:18.279-06:00Personas - Buyer vs. Customer vs. User<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkmsQCvKg1wmOR8o6wWTZkKaDXeJKviWN7CMd-iYDAUjw2vcntb1WOuYgGYJ-L65KNKRvURhcOLPbhN9mV2QpdRqeSdqYY0xv6d_HgubyvCi5HQWZKFMYBLkzAdVDDyR89Z2vkyT0Mt2m4/s1600/Harrows_Bristle_Board_Bullseye.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkmsQCvKg1wmOR8o6wWTZkKaDXeJKviWN7CMd-iYDAUjw2vcntb1WOuYgGYJ-L65KNKRvURhcOLPbhN9mV2QpdRqeSdqYY0xv6d_HgubyvCi5HQWZKFMYBLkzAdVDDyR89Z2vkyT0Mt2m4/s400/Harrows_Bristle_Board_Bullseye.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The other day, I was talking to a friend about the important difference between the buyer, customer, and user of your product.<br />
<br />
For a product to be successful, we need to not only understand our personas, but we also need to understand their relationship to acquisition and usage of the product. While the end user of your product may be your ultimate customer, they may have almost no say in the decision making process of the purchase. So, to give your product the opportunity to be their amazing solution, it's good to take a moment to decide who the "real customer" will be at given stages.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
You build a nice product, market it beautifully, and unleash your sales team or put it on the shelves (physical, virtual, or otherwise). Whether or not it goes anywhere will depend on how well you have engaged the right personas.<br />
<br />
Let's start with a simple example.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
A Parent Buying a Toy</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Scenario:</b> A parent wants to buy a nice toy for their child. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Buyers: </b>The buyer is generally the parent. While their child may have communicated a desire for the toy, the parent will ultimately weigh cost, risk, maintenance, availability, etc. These factors will be typically be evaluated with little consultation with the use.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Users:</b> The primary user of the toy is the child (unless it's a Star Wars toy, then all bets are off). Day to day, how good of a toy it is will be measured by the child in terms of the enjoyment they receive from it and how much they use it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Customer:</b> For the most part, both the parent and child become the customers. They have differing goals. the parent's goals may be their child's happiness, education, safety, fitness, etc. The child wants to enjoy the toy. If the child enjoys it and the parent approves of it, they may continue to invest in that line of toys.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Make sense? Good news, it's not much more complicated than this.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
A Customer Relationship Management System</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While a CRM is much more expensive and complicated than most toys, the concepts still apply similarly.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Scenario:</b> FeelRealGood Healthcare in Anywhere, USA, wishes to increase patient and physician loyalty using a CRM. This CRM will include components that are patient- and physician-facing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Buyers:</b> In this particular facility, the buyers will be those tasked with insuring the benefits of the system outweigh its cost. The leadership has decided to focus on the costs related to pricetag, enterprise impact, change management, and maintenance. For the benefits, they want the solution to be able to meanigfully increase patient and physician loyalty and measure that success easily. As such, they have engaged the following:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Chief Medical Officer (CMO)</li>
<li>Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO)</li>
<li>Director of Customer Service</li>
<li>Director of Patient Engagement</li>
<li>Director of Physician Relations</li>
<li>Enterprise Architect</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Customers:</b> Once the system is acquired and put into operation, the primary customers of the system will be:</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Director of Customer Service & their staff</li>
<li>Director of Patient Engagement & their staff</li>
<li>Director of Physician Relations & their staff</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Users:</b> Because there are components of this system that are patient- and physician-facing, we have the following primary customers</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Director of Customer Service & their staff</li>
<li>Director of Patient Engagement & their staff</li>
<li>Director of Physician Relations & their staff</li>
<li>Patients</li>
<li>Physicians</li>
</ul>
<div>
But these customers will have very different interactions and needs. Directors will be looking for dashboards and metrics. Staff will be looking for the core functionality for relationship management. Finally, the patients and physicians will be assessing this product based on how useful and user-friendly it is.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Let Your Personas Inform Your Strategy</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As we can see from this example, there are some key stakeholders that fall into every persona category. Those stakeholders will impact the decisions to not only buy the product, but to retain it or invest further in it. And others are only involved in one piece of the puzzle.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Approaching a given scenario will require your personal judgment, but if you take a moment to understand who your buyer, customer, and user personas are, you can make better-informed decisions and increase your chance of aligning your product with the right clients.</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-82816117286969812872016-10-17T09:00:00.000-05:002016-11-14T10:40:40.146-06:00Running A Convention - What Is Your Product?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjII7E1NTr4NxgFGkTtzdpe-qMe_R9R_NmnNkCe2DLLgh17h0ZjjTirqgGbl2kjDMcxdBjY6aKTznFO1JNFNEJaDxzb3dL_xXVSSvBv18Cj9yO5j-d37cEg0GJTQ3sP9D2bGQs1W04nskRg/s1600/MysteryProduct.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjII7E1NTr4NxgFGkTtzdpe-qMe_R9R_NmnNkCe2DLLgh17h0ZjjTirqgGbl2kjDMcxdBjY6aKTznFO1JNFNEJaDxzb3dL_xXVSSvBv18Cj9yO5j-d37cEg0GJTQ3sP9D2bGQs1W04nskRg/s1600/MysteryProduct.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
[Why? I have been helping run conventions in my volunteer work since 2001. The goal of this article is to communicate my experiences so that they might benefit from them.]<br />
<br />
The Field of Dreams tells us, "If you build it, they will come." That's a nice thought, but <b>they have to want what you build</b>. Continuing the Product Management exercise, we need to figure out what our product is.<br />
<br />
Your convention is a product and your attendees and staff are the customers for that product. To be successful, you need to give them a product that they want. All of the best intentions in the world will not make a mismatch work. So, let's figure out what should go into this product.<br />
<a name='more'></a><h2 style="text-align: left;">
Overarching Theme</h2>
<div>
Let's start simply. What kind of convention are you trying to run? If you asked ten people what kind of con they were attending? How might they describe it?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In broad strokes, there are a few main categories of convention: industry, recreation/hobby, and expos. For our purposes, let's go with these definitions:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Industry - focused on a specific industry</li>
<li>Recreation/hobby - focused on a specific or related group of hobbies/recreations</li>
<li>Expo - primarily a venue for exhibitors to present products to potential customers</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
Got it? Great. Now hold onto that idea and let's figure out what will go in there.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Content - What Is In Your Product?</h2>
A product needs to clearly address its intended customers' needs. For a convention, we need to decide what we events will provide to our customers. There are many things that can happen at a convention, but we can loosely group events and activities into the following categories based on how the attendee interacts with them:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Presentation events - attendee passively consumes the content</li>
<li>Interactive events - active attendee engagement</li>
<li>Exhibitions - static content that attendees consume in ad hoc fashion</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Presentation Events</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Basically, these are events in which our attendee goes to a location and sits/stands while one or more people inform/entertain them. Three common examples are:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Presentations</li>
<li>Panel Events</li>
<li>Performances</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
In a typical presentation, the attendees are part of an audience that assembles in a room and listens to a presentation from one or more speakers. There may or may not be Q&A (question and answer) time at the end. Presenters are often fellow attendees, but can also be special guests. The content of a presentation is often one of the following;</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>New ideas/developments/problems</li>
<li>Updates on existing work/ideas</li>
<li>Tutorials/primers</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
Panel events consist of multiple presenters and an audience. The level of audience involvement is variable. There will often be a "master of ceremonies" that steers the conversation and the format is often essentially a "question and answer" session. This is a common venue for "special guests" such as leaders in a field/industry or celebrities. Examples can include:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Leader in a field discussing the state of their field</li>
<li>Actors discussing their show or movie</li>
<li>Experts discussing a specific problem</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
Performances are music/entertainment acts that may require a stage or other special considerations for their placement/timing to insure they do not disrupt other events. Such events may also have highly specialized access, security, and equipment requirements. They can range from a single person with a guitar in a small room to a rock band filling a concert hall.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Interactive Events</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
These events involve the attendee in an active role. To varying degrees attendees are the consumer and performer; your role is facilitation and support. Such events can include:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Workshops</li>
<li>Social activities</li>
<li>Social gatherings</li>
</ul>
<div>
In a workshop, attendees engage each other and possibly staff and guests to achieve a desired outcome from the event. This can range from a new idea to a tangible object. They can be serious or fun.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Social activities are events primarily aimed at the interaction between attendees in a structured fashion. Some examples:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Games</li>
<li>Scavenger hunts</li>
<li>"Team-building" exercises</li>
</ul>
<div>
Social gatherings are more generally unstructured events that attendees attend with the intent of hanging out with each other in a relaxed environment, typically with no agenda or schedule of events.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Exhibitions</h3>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One of the more common aspects of any convention is an exhibition room. There are many examples of this:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Exhibitor hall, e.g., exhibitors at purchased booths/tables</li>
<li>Art gallery/show, e.g., artwork presented for viewing or purchase</li>
<li>Poster session, e.g., students and postdoctoral researchers presenting their results/articles</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Special Guests</h2>
</div>
<div>
I am using the catch all term for any attendee that might require extra support/cost, typically related to their celebrity status to your attendees, such as:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>A technology thought leader Electronic Entertainment Expo</li>
<li>The creator of a popular graphic novel series at Comic-Con</li>
<li>A renowned expert on information security at a HIMMS</li>
</ul>
<div>
Special guests will bring with them additional costs and you need to evaluate the cost vs. benefit to your event. If you are kicking off a new fancon at your local community college, inviting an internationally renowned actor to sign autographs and give a keynote speech might leave you with a memorable convention and a significant debt.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But for some conventions, special guests are a necessity and for many others, an expectation. Look to similar conventions, customer feedback, and your budget to guide you.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Sponsors or Promotional Partners</h2>
</div>
<div>
For many conventions, the sponsors or promotional partners are a key customer, and may even be the primary customer. For the most part, your convention is a marketing activity for them, creating exposure, building/maintaining their brand, managing customer relationships, and finding new customers. This does not necessarily need to change the product components, but you should keep these customers in mind as you shape them.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For example, will a given event feature advertising? Will it be active or passive? Will the event be completely run by a sponsor and you are simply providing the space, power, and lighting?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Don't Forget the Basics</h2>
</div>
<div>
The Devil can be in the details. It's easy to focus too much on the cool and unique things you want to provide your customers and forget the important fundamentals of any event. Any time you assemble people, they may need:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Transportation</li>
<li>Bathrooms</li>
<li>Food/drink</li>
<li>Cash machines (your exhibitors will thank you)</li>
<li>Special needs</li>
</ul>
<div>
You don't want someone to attend your wonderfully crafted event only to come away with their strongest memories being that it was really hard to find a bathroom and they couldn't get any lunch.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Pull It All Together</h2>
<div>
Now let's pull this all together and design some products! Let's pick two extremes in terms of scale and content - a large, international healthcare information conference and a small, local gaming convention.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Product #1 - International Healthcare Information Conference (Industry)</h3>
<div>
<b>Vision:</b> Our attendees will learn about the latest trends and critical concerns in the healthcare information technology from leaders in the industry/field and each other. We will facilitate collaboration, networking, and instruction on these topics. We will assemble exhibitors to present their latest product offerings.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Our primary customers are leaders and influencers in consumers of healthcare technology, to include hospitals, telemedicine, clinics, imaging centers, consulting companies, and the vendors that create those healthcare technologies.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Our goals are:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Attract tens of thousands of attendees from across the globe</li>
<li>Be the "go to" conference for healthcare technology</li>
<li>Make a profit</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Presentation Events</h4>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Peer presentations - attendees submit topic and abstract; we select presenters and put them in rooms that can accommodate 50 attendees for one hour sessions; refer rejected submissions to poster session, as appropriate</li>
<li>Panel discussions - we will identify key topics and assemble 3-4 presenters for 2-hour panel discussions, moderated by an emcee.</li>
<li>Keynote speakers - Every morning will begin with two keynote speakers, back-to-back, in a room that can accommodate 500 attendees.</li>
<li>Tutorials - tutorials will be provided the day before the main conference opens; at a minimum, we will cover the following topics preventing and managing data breaches, latest healthcare policy developments, and the current billing code updates</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Interactive Events</h4>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Welcome reception and mixer on opening night</li>
<li>Networking/socials at the conclusion of the day's presentation schedule, at 4:00 PM (good opportunity for sponsorship)</li>
<li>Workshops on cybersecurity, data breach, and innovation; leaders/influencers only, no exhibitors/sponsors</li>
<li>"speed dating" (think of a cool name) - line up select leaders of healthcare systems and have sponsors/exhibitors pay for access to speak with them, pitch ideas, etc.</li>
<li>Scavenger hunt on Saturday in collaboration with local tourist board; they will provide attendees with lunch and transportation</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Exhibitions</h4>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Expansive exhibitor hall for vendors of healthcare technology equipment and services</li>
<li>Poster session accessible during receptions/mixers (collocate these events) - attendees submit topic and abstract; we select which ones to include</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Special Guests</h4>
<div>
For a start, let's try to get:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Secretary of Health and Human Services</li>
<li>Leader of an information security company</li>
<li>A leader from Mayo and/or Cleveland Clinic</li>
<li>A leader in telemedicine</li>
<li>A leader of a major tech company that makes equipment for healthcare</li>
<li>A leader from the United Kingdom's NHS</li>
<li>A U.S. healthcare policymaker</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3>
Product #2 - Local Gaming Convention (Hobby/Recreation)</h3>
<div>
<b>Vision:</b> Our attendees will have the opportunity to play a variety of social, "geek culture" games. We will have a small number of exhibitor tables, chiefly to provide space for local game/geek stores.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Our primary customers are gamers and the vendors that cater them.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Our goals:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Strengthen the local gaming community</li>
<li>Attract hundreds of local gamers from the city and its environs</li>
<li>Make enough money to sustain the event</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Presentation Events</h4>
<div>
We will not have any presentation events. We considered panel discussions, a movie room, and an anime room, but our data shows that there will not be adequate interest.</div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
Interactive Events</h4>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Tabletop role-playing games - our target will be events that cater to 5-6 players for four hour sessions</li>
<li>Board and card games - we can be more flexible, but our target is 4-8 players for four hour sessions</li>
<li>Miniatures games - this should include both single events for 4-8 players for 4 or 8 hours as well as tournaments with multiple rounds</li>
<li>Live Action Role Playing - one or two of these events each night (we need to give them a space separate from the other events for the best customer experience)</li>
<li>Demo games - coordinate with exhibitors and sponsors for space to demonstrate their games to new players</li>
<li>Tutorials - we have a lot of interest in a miniatures painting tutorial (Reaper Minis may have some folks that are equipped to run one)</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<h4>
Exhibitions</h4>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This is not going to be a major focus for us, since our goal is strengthening the local gaming community. Local vendors of gaming/geek products or gaming groups/associations are our priority.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
To avoid our local vendors getting lost in the noise, we will have a small number of exhibitor tables/booths - we only need enough space for about a dozen vendors, with two tables on average. We will want to be selective to avoid redundancy, given our small number of tables.</div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<h4>
Special Guests</h4>
</div>
</div>
<div>
Give our scope and size, we are going to avoid purely celebrity guests. Let's recruit game designers/developers and have them run games. We will prioritize local/nearby guests that we can get at lower cost.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
So, It's Not Rocket Science</h2>
<div>
As with many things, once you start thinking it through, it sort of makes sense and falls together. If you get stuck, look at events that are similar to your vision. They can be a great inspiration for what you want to do and avoid.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What we have done here gives us a good start for building our product. There are many details to work out and many lessons will be learned along the way that are unique to our event, location, audience, etc. As with any product, we will need to get feedback and iterate to make it better. But we have enough to move forward in an effective way.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now, go out and create!</div>
</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-31057692066047240242016-09-22T09:33:00.002-05:002017-02-01T09:05:54.837-06:00Running A Convention - Understand Your Customer Personas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<br />
[I have been helping run conventions in my volunteer work since 2001. The goal of this article is to communicate my experiences so that others might benefit from them.]<br />
<br />
So, you may be asking yourself at this point, why are we talking about conventions? Well, aside from knowing a lot of folks that need this information, it's an illustration that <b>products are not just things you buy off a shelf, they are just about anything you are trying to sell to a customer</b>. So, as we plan a convention, <b>we can benefit greatly by approaching this as a Product Management effort</b>.<br />
<br />
Before we start to roll up our sleeves and really dig into planning our convention, we need to first understand our audience. Any successful product needs a customer base that wants that product. Otherwise, we run the risk of building a convention/product that no one wants to attend/buy.<br />
<br />
Personas are, essentially key archetypes of your customer base. By fleshing them out, we can better understand our intended audience/customer, e.g., for a customer-facing healthcare application, one persona might be a patient and another might be a caregiver.<br />
<br />
Let's consider what personas we might want to define for a convention.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Everyone At Your Convention Is A Customer</h2>
<div>
An important thing to understand about a sustainable and successful convention is that everyone there is your customer, not just the attendee that buys a badge. That includes:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Your presenters and special guests, even if you are paying them</li>
<li>Your staff, both volunteer and paid</li>
<li>Your exhibitors</li>
<li>Your venue</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
You want all of these people to have a good experience and want to be a part of your conventions in the future. While they have some common needs, they have some specialized ones as well.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Key Personas</h2>
</div>
<div>
Good product creation is enabled by creating and understanding the personas you are serving. There are a number of common personas for a convention.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Attendees</b> </h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is the person paying money to access your convention. The badge may be paid for by them, their company, or someone trying to entice them to attend (a salesperson trying to build on a prospect). They are there to primarily to consume the content of your convention. Their satisfaction will be impacted most greatly by:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Perceived value for their dollar/time: Was the content worth it? Did they get enough?</li>
<li>Venue: Did it meet their needs? Was it appropriate for the events?</li>
<li>Accommodations: Primarily, were the accommodations a detractor/distraction?</li>
<li>Transportation/access: How hard was it to get to and from the convention and events?</li>
<li>Was it fun?</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<h3>
<b>Paid Staff</b></h3>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
These are people that will be helping you execute the convention, from planners to the person sitting at the registration desk. They are there primarily for compensation. Their specific needs may include:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>How easy/difficult was it to volunteer?</li>
<li>Were their responsibilities well-understood?</li>
<li>Was it fun?</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Volunteer Staff</b></h3>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
These are people that will be helping you execute the convention, from planners to the person sitting at the registration desk. They are there primarily for the operational needs of the convention, but usually they are also there to consume it. Their motivation for volunteering may be a mix of 1) contributing content to the convention and 2) getting a free badge. Their specific needs may include:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>All of the needs of an Attendee</li>
<li>All of the needs of Paid Staff</li>
<li>Are they proud to be part of the convention?</li>
<li>Do they feel like they are making a difference?</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Volunteer Presenters</b></h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
These are people that will be providing the event-specific content to your attendees. They may have other titles, like "musical performer" or "gamemaster". They are there primarily to provide content, but usually they are also there to consume it. Their motivation for volunteering may be a mix of 1) contributing content to the convention and 2) getting a free badge. Their specific needs may include:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>All of the needs of an Attendee</li>
<li>How easy/difficult was it to volunteer?</li>
<li>Did the timing/location of their event match their needs/preferences?</li>
<li>How well did their assigned space suit their event?</li>
<li>Was it fun?</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Paid Presenters</b> </h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This includes special guests and celebrities. They are primarily attending for additional compensation. They may or may not have any interest in the convention itself. There is a high likelihood that they will be less engaged than other attendees in the details of the convention. Their specific needs may include:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>All of the needs of an Attendee</li>
<li>Assistance with arranging and finding travel and accommodations</li>
<li>Delivery to and from events for which they have been paid</li>
<li>Troubleshooting issues that arise</li>
<li>Was it fun?</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Exhibitors</h3>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
These are folks that are primarily attending your convention to staff a booth to sell products, communicate ideas, etc. While they may also be attendees, let's focus on the needs specific to their role:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Was it easy to sign up as an Exhibitor?</li>
<li>Were the Exhibitor policies and guidelines easy to understand/find and reasonable?</li>
<li>Is the price of the booth/table/space cost-effective for me?</li>
<li>What are the demographics of the convention?</li>
<li>How easy was it to set up (loading/unloading, time to set up)?</li>
<li>Was the space adequate (power, layout, lighting, etc.)?</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Vendors</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
These are the people that you need to provide services and materials for your convention. Some examples:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Venue</li>
<li>Tables and tablecloths</li>
<li>Printers (t-shirts, programs, signs, badges, etc.)</li>
<li>Web designers</li>
</ul>
<div>
You may be paying them, but they still have a choice of whether or not to keep doing business with you, so it's best to think of them as customers to preserve your freedom of choice. Their concerns are not surprising:</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Were your needs clearly communicated?</li>
<li>Did they have adequate time/warning to provide what you need?</li>
<li>Was it difficult to provide you with the service/material?</li>
<li>Were they paid in a timely fashion?</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Do What Makes Sense For Your Event</h2>
</div>
<div>
This list is not intended to be exhaustive. You may have specialty cases and your personas may differ in their needs. But take a moment to consider who your personas are so that you can start to create something they may want.</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-63955454706765165262016-09-12T08:00:00.000-05:002016-11-09T09:26:47.342-06:00Running A Convention - Scheduling & Dates<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<br />
[I have been helping run conventions in my volunteer work since 2001. The goal of this article is to communicate my experiences so that others might benefit from them.]<br />
<br />
When planning a convention, one of the early key decisions is when you should hold it. Choose poorly, and you can sabotage your event before it even starts.<br />
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: left;">
When deciding when the convention itself will occur, it wise to consider the following;</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>When is a good time for your intended audience/customer?</li>
<li>Venue availability</li>
<li>Accommodations</li>
<li>Staff/guest/attendee availability (holidays, competing events)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<br />
<div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
What Works For Your Attendees?</h3>
<div>
You want to pick a time when your attendees will want to attend. Consider the following;</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Are there better or worse times of the year?</li>
<li>Would a weekday or weekend work better?</li>
<li>If consumerism is a big factor, will they have money to spend?</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
For example, let's say you want to run a local gaming convention, let's call it AwesomeFakeCon. Your primary focus is creating a venue for games and exposure for local gaming vendors. You conduct some research and determine that your intended audience will be best served by an event in February or March, that runs Friday through Sunday. That may be a little close to the end of heavy spending for many of them over winter holidays, but for this event consumerism is not a primary focus.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
When Will You Have A Good Venue?</h3>
<div>
If you have nowhere to run the convention there is no convention. We will leave the specifics of a venue to another post for now and list the key points.</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Does it have the spaces you need for your event?</li>
<li>Is it within your budget?</li>
<li>Options for getting to and from the area (nearby airplane/train/bus terminals)</li>
<li>Options for getting to and from the venue (shuttles, cabs, mass transit)</li>
<li>Adequate accommodations (that are available during your event) nearby</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
Continuing our example, you look into venues for AwesomeFakeCon. After making some inquiries, you determine that you need to be in a specific area of a large city. You find that there are dozens of hotels, but shuttle service is typically minimal. So, you narrow your consideration down to a handful of hotels within less than 10 minutes walking distance. There are two major airports within 30 minutes, and a light rail station and bus stops within 5 minutes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The venue has the tables and rooms you need, and you discover that you can secure the spaces you need on three of those weekends:</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>The second weekend of February</li>
<li>The third weekend of February</li>
<li>The third weekend of March</li>
</ol>
<h3>
Availability of Accommodations</h3>
<div>
By now, you already have a venue that has ample accommodations, but now you need to verify that they will have ample rooms for your attendees on your desired dates, with options that make sense for your audience. Ideally, you should expect to be able to;</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Secure a discount from the regular rate</li>
<li>Block off an appropriate number of rooms until a date some time before the event</li>
</ul>
<div>
If you cannot do this, then it is likely that other events or seasonal business are creating issues that will make the accommodations overly costly or inadequate for your event. Not all hotels are the same and even the staff at the same hotel may give you a different answer. Be vigilant.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Back to our example, you ask around and determine that your third date option is problematic. The local events for March Madness are filling the nearby hotels. The hotels are unwilling to block out any rooms for any period of time for that weekend and unwilling to provide a discount for your attendees.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Staff/Guest/Attendee Availability</h3>
<div>
If there are no events and no staff, there is no convention. You also need attendees to show up for success. [We will leave the details of staffing numbers/levels to another post and focus on the simple concept of availability.]</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Holidays can be a double-edged sword. Depending on the person, they can be far better or worse. Understand your audience and plan accordingly. It's best to avoid operational fragility in the form of tentative commitments and last-minute cancellations.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Competition from similar events can be an issue as well. It can draw away significant numbers of your attendees, undermining your potential for success, or strip you of guests and staff. For example, if you are inviting the head of a mobile device company as a keynote speaker at an industry event for consumer technology, it would be smart not to have your convention coincide with E3.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Of course, a few conflicts here and there can be managed. Identify them and weigh the cost vs. benefit for your event.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Back to our example, we solicit our staff, guests, and a few select attendees and find the following:</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Valentine's day - neutral; some cite it may be a problem, some say it's a plus</li>
<li>Similar event on same weekend - problematic; a key planner and most of their staff will be at the other event</li>
<li>Large March madness events locally - insignificant; one or two staff are interested, but not committed</li>
</ol>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Making The Decision</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are many other factors you might consider, but these are good ones to start with. So, let's put it all together for our AwesomeFakeCon:</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Valentine's Day weekend is good for accommodations and neutral on attendance</li>
<li>The competing event in the third weekend of March will draw away not only your attendees, but the people that would be running sessions for you, potentially compromising both your ability to execute the event and its success</li>
<li>The pricing and availability for accommodations during March Madness is unacceptable</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div>
So, while it is not an ideal choice, you might opt to run your convention on Valentine's Day weekend, because it should be the best option overall in terms of operations, attendance, and customer satisfaction.</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-45465272023984528322016-06-29T09:09:00.001-05:002016-06-29T09:09:15.444-05:00Clearing Out Your Facebook Timeline/Activity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/31_OEhX30sY/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/31_OEhX30sY?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
Facebook is fascinating application that is part of a suite of transformative social technologies. It's a great way to share thoughts, feelings, moments, memories, and knee-jerk reactions. However, as well-designed as it is for <b>ingesting</b> that content, it's not so good at letting you clear it out. Some might argue that Facebook is actually well-designed to make it hard to clear things out, because it would certainly be easy for them to code mass deletion tools, given the remarkable development skill they have demonstrated.<br />
<br />
Some folks put a LOT of information into Facebook. And there are a host of reasons they may want to turn back the clock on that decision and clean some things out. For me, I just like to keep the amount of info cluttering up my timeline as lean as possible.<br />
<br />
Good news, I like solving technical problems. So, follow me down the rabbit hole of cleaning out your Facebook activity and maybe Arnie will be able to tell you, <b>"Relax, you've been erased".</b><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>You and I are not the first people that have been interested in getting rid of our Facebook activity. A few posts a week or day can really add up and soon you have a quagmire of information.<br />
<br />
So, you would *think* you could hop on Google and find a one-click solution. Well, yes and no. You will likely end up at an article on Lifehacker that explains that you have two options and links that will not solve your problem. Let me explain, but first, please note:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">This will be using a script. Scripts can magically do good things as well as bad. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.</span></b></blockquote>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Backstory (You Can Safely Skip This)</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There were two primary tools created by motivated folks - Absterge and Facebook Cleaner. They were scripts executed by an extension/addon in a browser. They were housed on a site called userscripts.org.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Oh, don't bother going there. It's dead, Jim.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Good news, there is still a way to achieve this.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
How To Do This Today</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
OK, just so we did not miss that, I said *today*. This has been broken before, it might be broken again. You never know...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
1. Install Mozilla's Firefox</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We are going to do this via an add-on that was created for Firefox, a great browser created by Mozilla and one of the top three browsers in use today. Right now, <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/products/">this link</a> will take you to the right place.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
2. Install the Greasemonkey Add-On for Firefox</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Open up Mozilla and go to add-ons, as show in this image:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccGfpoax91adCwcriONWhn2S7MpzmwJ7fPpmT_7O0OMirbeAFY5gzfqy4CiMSgndzFPNE1cRWZQwsAxqX8oCQOJLpcn4B6vQHrVkQQpAgsYT5u-8805ID1PeoGYmY2pUkp4O8pdOVCR75/s1600/Firefox_Addons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjccGfpoax91adCwcriONWhn2S7MpzmwJ7fPpmT_7O0OMirbeAFY5gzfqy4CiMSgndzFPNE1cRWZQwsAxqX8oCQOJLpcn4B6vQHrVkQQpAgsYT5u-8805ID1PeoGYmY2pUkp4O8pdOVCR75/s400/Firefox_Addons.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Then click on "Get Add-ons":</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKWg2yQibX5Hwq7Dq86KzhxzW3_AHxzSscP9JSaZ7zWLVbKSK1i3m9H3elMcyk2EFFFGUuIaul70ALvkPl0903YM1BU3-r7j1v_IIIuMXzY6Vy42qPS94Ya-85yDVeiBZCbbmTYRCLa8bh/s1600/Firefox_GetAddons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKWg2yQibX5Hwq7Dq86KzhxzW3_AHxzSscP9JSaZ7zWLVbKSK1i3m9H3elMcyk2EFFFGUuIaul70ALvkPl0903YM1BU3-r7j1v_IIIuMXzY6Vy42qPS94Ya-85yDVeiBZCbbmTYRCLa8bh/s400/Firefox_GetAddons.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
Search for "Greasemonkey" (all one word) and then click on "Install".</div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
3. Install the Facebook Timeline Cleaner</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Now it's time to get the script. <b>Using Firefox, with Greasemonkey enabled</b>, head on over to Greasy Fork (I did not make up these names) and grab the "Facebook Timeline Cleaner" script. Here is <a href="https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/9106-facebook-timeline-cleaner">a direct link</a> to the script. You should see something like this:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWex8d5-WWeuer2YAR4oCHBt6PpphLD5FnVHLH2G_iUEyov2P2rsUAkJUJk6FglfTBFg1IaDmfGYw4M9Eknm0LMtkMVjLlG13y5DJPVb3NBc8NdnrY2T304Hu2HRwNe9svQdfA91Ma8pCJ/s1600/GreasyFork_FacebookTimelineCleaner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="377" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWex8d5-WWeuer2YAR4oCHBt6PpphLD5FnVHLH2G_iUEyov2P2rsUAkJUJk6FglfTBFg1IaDmfGYw4M9Eknm0LMtkMVjLlG13y5DJPVb3NBc8NdnrY2T304Hu2HRwNe9svQdfA91Ma8pCJ/s400/GreasyFork_FacebookTimelineCleaner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Be sure to ignore any adds that look like the button you should click, and click on "Install this script".</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Greasemonkey will pop up a window like this:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZvZ_sbYW4gyQEWtHUsFTopzpU0cX6yd1YPjrhaSU_Pa3qgs85TiR8YNA1wz0qjWgxrJBGp7uWRYWYyXdSYDuqyi3TzygkIU8X-4ubHLdfADzlGNUqxe0fPDhhTiF8dw-PF5FkrMN7WQE/s1600/Greasemonkey_ScriptInstallPrompt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJZvZ_sbYW4gyQEWtHUsFTopzpU0cX6yd1YPjrhaSU_Pa3qgs85TiR8YNA1wz0qjWgxrJBGp7uWRYWYyXdSYDuqyi3TzygkIU8X-4ubHLdfADzlGNUqxe0fPDhhTiF8dw-PF5FkrMN7WQE/s320/Greasemonkey_ScriptInstallPrompt.jpg" width="302" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Click "Install". Now we have a browser that is capable of running a script to remove our Facebook posts.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
4. Go To Your Facebook Activity Log</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>Using Firefox, with Greasemonkey enabled and the Facebook Timeline Cleaner script installed</b>, navigate to Facebook and go to your "activity log". From the main Facebook page, you will see a little downward arrow in the top right of your screen, click on that and you will see a variety of choices:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxbB6MhVZzxzu6fXoK0aPEClJVDTpyqi5WsPbf2ozlgIxW9cf7LT7ryzzCmQlZrBaTHiSPerk8oQlIxUH-kMY9SbjrPqlUkwlmLD7BiEGkRvhpqQhxEkHyCtpLwwAVEKL5R3N190l0R3LM/s1600/Facebook_ActivityLog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxbB6MhVZzxzu6fXoK0aPEClJVDTpyqi5WsPbf2ozlgIxW9cf7LT7ryzzCmQlZrBaTHiSPerk8oQlIxUH-kMY9SbjrPqlUkwlmLD7BiEGkRvhpqQhxEkHyCtpLwwAVEKL5R3N190l0R3LM/s400/Facebook_ActivityLog.jpg" width="162" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Click "Activity Log"</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
5. Reload the Page</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Once you are on the Activity Log page, simply reload it by clicking the button to reload the page:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpJuveIvf5SZ6FH6u4cbFgYzRonL0jPPU9ZDriyumxhY_CzFCp2Y7kTWJ5zCms4fHR1-5OO9F4uU056DYBxbflyfnuA6YDVQkb5qw9C4EitKrLTXQNHU5XdP3SqzXMOCqEH0_aky280hEB/s1600/Firefox_ReloadButton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpJuveIvf5SZ6FH6u4cbFgYzRonL0jPPU9ZDriyumxhY_CzFCp2Y7kTWJ5zCms4fHR1-5OO9F4uU056DYBxbflyfnuA6YDVQkb5qw9C4EitKrLTXQNHU5XdP3SqzXMOCqEH0_aky280hEB/s400/Firefox_ReloadButton.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Give it time to reload and wait until you see a new window appear at the top of the timeline. It should look something like this:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-8QC1qiwWnGtQqcb5jIqQqEi5yLbNBv4cE3D_lFuOOinMxffsHO9puU3VIjLugUSJ_z5SsQcTSJcOuDIvioeIcD0Ov6UccM7ZnyWbmYrCE4z-_LD8pwb_Gkz2WmGJNroTfCSdIFwkoLWD/s1600/Facebook_ActivityLog_WithScript.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-8QC1qiwWnGtQqcb5jIqQqEi5yLbNBv4cE3D_lFuOOinMxffsHO9puU3VIjLugUSJ_z5SsQcTSJcOuDIvioeIcD0Ov6UccM7ZnyWbmYrCE4z-_LD8pwb_Gkz2WmGJNroTfCSdIFwkoLWD/s400/Facebook_ActivityLog_WithScript.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
6. Make Your Choices</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
You have a few things to choose:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Run vs. DryRun</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>"Autoscrollen" should always be checked so that the page can keep scrolling to pull up new posts to process</li>
<li>"DryRun" will simply highlight which posts will be deleted</li>
<li>"Run" will delete the posts</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
"Entrys Older Than" [sic]</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The number here determines what you want to keep. If you go with the default of "90", then all posts in the last 90 days will not be affected by the script.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
"Privacy Extension"</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>WARNING: Making this selection executes the script.</b></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Hide everything on Timeline older than X days</li>
<li>Delete everything</li>
<li>Hide everything on Timeline</li>
<li>Delete everything older than X days</li>
</ul>
<div>
Note: The "X" is the number you selected in "Entrys older than" [sic] box.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
If You Want To Nuke It All...</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If your goal is to get to a clean slate, with no activity left, then do the following:</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Select "Run"</li>
<li>Click "Delete Everything"</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
7. Wait Until It Finishes</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You can go do something else while it runs. The year bar on the right is basically your progress bar. As it moves backwards through the years, it is moving through your posts.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Let it finish. What does finished look like?</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>An activity log filled with things Facebook will not let you delete (being mentioned or tagged in a post, updates to profile pictures, etc.)</li>
<li>You should only see undeletable entries</li>
<li><b>The year may NOT be the oldest year on your account</b></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
As for the things Facebook will not let you delete, those things can only be hidden from your timeline.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
8. Keep Reloading & Running Until You Are Done</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is important. Because of the way Facebook likes to feed up whatever the hell it wants to you, you will not be able to do this in one run.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After the first pass, you will see a timeline with only things that cannot be deleted. When you reload, you will likely see more posts appear. This is not a problem with the script, it is a consequence of the irregular way in which Facebook feeds your activity to you.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you see some remaining posts:</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Reload the page</li>
<li>Run the script again</li>
</ol>
<div>
It took me a few passes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
It Does Not Delete *Everything*</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Because Facebook will not let you delete the following:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>"was mentioned in" (Tagged in a post)</li>
<li>"became friends with" (When you friend someone)</li>
<li>"sent a friend request"</li>
<li>"updated his/her pofile picture"</li>
<li>"was added to" or "joined" a group</li>
<li>"likes" a page - because you have to unlike the page to get rid of this completely</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
These things can be "hidden", though, and if the script cannot delete an item, it will hide it.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>Take note, hidden stuff will not be deleted</b>: This is important; if you hid a post, share, etc. that could normally be deleted, the script will skip it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Relax, You've Been Erased</h2>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well, at least as much as you can be. I hope this helped you.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
P.S. Are You Worried About This Script?</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As I mentioned, scripts can magically do good or bad things. If you want to be super safe, you can, in increasingly order of rigor:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Not use Firefox for Facebook unless you want to clean it out</li>
<li>Disable the script</li>
<li>Disable the Greasemonkey Add-on</li>
<li>Delete the script</li>
<li>Delete the Greasemonkey Add-on</li>
<li>Delete Firefox</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
It's up to you. Scripts can do things you do not want them to do. I leave it to you to choose.<br /><br />If you run into problems with my instructions, please comment on this post in case others have the same question.</div>
</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-59911643581680037312016-05-16T09:37:00.000-05:002016-05-17T10:48:36.297-05:00Basic Browser Troubleshooting With Minimal Pain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbQGfbTva_xdk2HuCV6vjbYxxMPsyYPpbUPZ8X8jHutRHb5s2Ejp9u4I_0_ys0-PzjEUKBg7W2ntw8qG4E2eVofFTS-9NYwcnBPWDSx3Cao-1YhipY3ScCWSLyhF5ybnV2zsUbgJoA7k28/s1600/EyeRoll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbQGfbTva_xdk2HuCV6vjbYxxMPsyYPpbUPZ8X8jHutRHb5s2Ejp9u4I_0_ys0-PzjEUKBg7W2ntw8qG4E2eVofFTS-9NYwcnBPWDSx3Cao-1YhipY3ScCWSLyhF5ybnV2zsUbgJoA7k28/s400/EyeRoll.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
A while ago, I suddenly became unable to create LinkedIn "posts", on one specific computer, in one specific browser. I knew it would be a bit like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, but I figured it would be educational. It was, and the problem was solved. Based on my experience, here is my basic advice on troubleshooting browser issues for Chrome, Internet Explorer (IE), and Mozilla's Firefox.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Problem - "Posts" on Chrome on Windows 8.1*</h2>
<br />
* - spoiler alert, neither of these was my problem.<br />
<br />
LinkedIn has a feature called "posts". This is a blog-like functionality built into LinkedIn. It worked pretty well for me for a while...until it didn't. Suddenly, it would not work on one specific computer, which was running Windows 8.1, and I only had the problem on Chrome. It worked with other browsers on the same computer and on a different computer, running Win 7, it worked with any browser, including Chrome.<br />
<br />
Time to fix it. First, let's do some broad passes to figure out the big problem.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Try Another Browser</h2>
<br />
Having another browser to test things is great. It's also nice if you want to be a little more coy about your travels on the Interwebz. For example, you might have one browser for your day-to-day stuff, where you store your passwords, etc. but another browser that you use incognito without any settings as a (relatively) safe sandbox.<br />
<br />
I usually have Chrome, IE, and Firefox installed. Recently, I added <a href="https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/canary.html">Chrome Canary</a>, a developer version of Chrome for early adopters. Canary uses its own settings and data, so you can run it alongside Chrome.<br />
<br />
Case in point: <b>My problem occurred on Chrome, but not Chrome Canary.</b><br />
<br />
If you try a different browser and your problem still exists, then it is likely a more systemic problem like network, firewall, antivirus, etc. If it only exists on one browser, then you may have a browser-specific problem, but I would still recommend some simple system-focused steps first.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Try Turning It Off And On Again</h2>
<div>
<br />
If you have not tried turning your <b>computer </b>on and off again, it really is worth a try. A lot of things get reset when you do that and many problems magically go away. <b>There is a good reason that this has basically become a folk saying for the modern age.</b></div>
<br />
Network issues can also be a problem, so if you have the ability to turn your <b>router </b>on and off again, it's worth trying. When I do this at home, I literally pull out the plug on the router and wait for at least 30 seconds, then put it back in. It may take a minute or two for everything to get back online. Be patient; this may be a great time to get a drink or take a bio break.<br />
<br />
Good news: you may also see a jump in your bandwidth and a better latency and ping, which would be icing on the cake. I actually do this somewhat regularly at home and more than 90% of the time, it makes our online access more peppy. :-)<br />
<br />
<h2>
Try Turning Off Your Antivirus Temporarily</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is an unobtrusive choice and there may be a setting inside your antivirus that is getting in the way of your browser's functionality without you realizing it. </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Antivirus can be the problem even if you have disabled or removed browser extensions related to it.</b></blockquote>
<div>
If this solves the problem, you will probably find a quick solution online by searching google for the name of your browser, the name of your antivirus program, and some keywords about the error. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
[Ultimately, this was my problem, as I explain in detail at the end of this post].</div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<b>Remember to turn your antivirus back on.</b></div>
<br />
<h2>
Make Sure Your Browser Is the Current Version</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
OK, now it's time to focus on the browser itself. First, let's make sure it is the latest version. </div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Firefox: Navigate to their "new: site - <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/">https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/</a></li>
<li>Chrome: Settings -> About</li>
<li>IE: Settings -> About Internet Explorer</li>
</ul>
<div>
There will usually be an easy way to update directly from these places if you find that you are not up to date.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Try Disabling Extensions</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Extensions are little extra features plugged into your browser. They can easily mess up a browser. It's easy to turn them off and verify that. Just go to:</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Chrome: Settings -> Extensions -> Click off "Enable" as needed</li>
<li>Firefox: Settings -> Add-ons -> Extensions -> Click "Disable" as needed</li>
<li>IE: Settings -> Manage Add-ons -> Click on each and "Disable" as needed</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
Then restart the browser and check they are off, because sometimes, one of them will stay on the first time.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Once you are sure they are all turned off, see if your problem is solved.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
If The Extension is The Problem</h3>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Google for an answer by searching for the name of the extension and a few keywords related to your problem</li>
<li>If there is a way to contact the developer of the extension, that may also be a good way to go; often you can go to the "store page" for that extension and find a link to the developer</li>
<li>Tweet to the developer's Twitter account if they have one (please be civil and concise)</li>
<li><b>I would not recommend trying to use a review for tech support</b> (e.g., "Your app didn't work for me, 1 start, you suck!"), that may feel cathartic, but it's likely to not help as they will probably not be able to contact you (and you don't want publicly post your contact info in a review)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Clear Cookies, Content, History, Etc.</h2>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>WARNING: This is where the fixes start to get more obtrusive and potentially painful as we wipe out data that makes things convenient for us.</b></blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Clearing out your cookies can solve a lot of problems. Usually, your cookies should be enough. Of course, this will mean having to re-establish various choices and sign ins on various sites. If you use two-factor authentication with Chrome, you will likely need to re-verify with them.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Still, just a minor annoyance if it solves the problem.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Nuke It From Orbit - Delete and Re-Install</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Removing and reinstalling the program may solve your problem as well. A bad install, sloppy extension code, gremlins, you name it. This is a bit more obtrusive as you will need to sign into things once again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you "sign into" your browsers and store your data that way, it will mitigate some of this. For example, if you use Chrome, there is an ability to sign into Chrome (not just your Gmail account). Then your bookmarks, saved passwords, etc., will be visible on any browser you sign into. Similar features are available in IE and Firefox. <b>If you take this route, please set up two-factor authentication </b>(e.g., when you sign into a new device, it texts a confirmation code).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Still Not Resolved? Reaching Out</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now it will get far more complicated. In my specific example, it was a problem with LinkedIn posting, so I reached out to them. That may not always be a possibility. If there is a community related to the site or feature, they may be able to help. Reddit is also a great place for crowdsourced solutions.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
My Specific Problem and Resolution</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This post reflects learning from a mistake. If I had followed the above steps, I would have solved my problem in a fraction of the time.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I tried just about everything above and then turned to LinkedIn support. Over the course of five weeks, we very leisurely looked into it. In the end it ended up being a very specific issue.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Avast Antivirus has an HTTPS scanning feature. Even when you disable the Avast extensions in your browser, this can apparently still muck about with your browser's performance.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To solve it, I had to go to <i>Avast -> Active Protection -> Web Shield -> Customize -> "Main Settings"</i> and deselect "Enable HTTPS scanning". Luckily, I have other protections related to HTTPS to pick up the slack.<br />
<br />
The more you know...</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-34082342616241009512016-04-07T09:25:00.000-05:002016-07-12T12:27:37.874-05:00Can Optimism Kill You?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYpIGVPGFilpNj-G1ONmDkUDcFP2DAPUjGiuWdLLHpMQ-neVxLT5cCm27lELvmFggyIM72Dv6sbyg-gNfcieZZw4XH8Nf0nE0eJNLw57WYnXebK0YuqOBuR8mT-xrFsKWlJkvTvIK2FNx_/s1600/monosaltarinf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYpIGVPGFilpNj-G1ONmDkUDcFP2DAPUjGiuWdLLHpMQ-neVxLT5cCm27lELvmFggyIM72Dv6sbyg-gNfcieZZw4XH8Nf0nE0eJNLw57WYnXebK0YuqOBuR8mT-xrFsKWlJkvTvIK2FNx_/s400/monosaltarinf.jpg" width="312" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://strigaroagustina.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/monosaltarinf.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Image source</span></a></div>
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It has been said that humans are "hard-wired for hope". It is generally true and, while it can have many positive benefits, and most certainly helped us survive this long, it can also be a dangerous thing as can any bias to our perceptions and thinking.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a>I freely admit that the title of this post is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but, hey, it sounded funny, so there it is. But the real punchline is that the answer to the question is "yes".<br />
<br />
The point of this post is to take a moment to simply cast a light on our optimism bias and the negative consequences it can have. As I make the point, it will seem obvious, and since both of us are human, it will slowly fade as our optimism bias kicks in and our brain refines it to:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
That is a good point, good thing I know it, because now I can avoid it flawlessly, cause *I* rock! W00t! High fives all around, me!</blockquote>
[Before I forget, <a href="http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2074067-2,00.html" target="_blank">this article in Time magazine</a> raises some good points on this topic as do many, many others.]<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Risk of Arrogance</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
One lesson that I learned too slowly in life was that optimism can not only come off as arrogant, it can be an absolute form of arrogance. For me, this gets at the crux of the downsides to optimism bias.<br />
<br />
For example, let's say you were just assigned to a team to resolve a thorny problem. Most of the members, if not every one of them, have been wrestling with this problem for years. You waltz in, all fired up to solve this problem, because, hey, you've solved problems before and this is a problem. you gush with optimism about how "do-able" this is.<br />
<br />
To many of those folks you are at a high risk of being perceived as arrogant, naive, or both. Not a smart start, because you should be balancing your optimism about solving this problem against the fact that the team you need to work with has struggled with solving it for years and it may be harder than you think.<br />
<br />
Does that mean you should approach every problem with a sense of doom and capitulation? No. But there is a happy medium.<br />
<br />
On a personal level, the risks are manifold. You see a challenge, do the math, and your optimism bias starts rapidly rounding numbers in your favor. Before you know it, you are creating great YouTube material for Tosh.0 and frantically trying to find your medical insurance information for your trip to the emergency room.<br />
<br />
Or maybe that never happens to you, because, hey, you are more awesome than everyone else. Chances are, it does (perhaps in a less dramatic fashion) and managing this can help you and your colleagues be more successful.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Setting Yourself Up for Failure</h2>
<br />
One example of this is found in the community college student population. The Center for Community College Student Engagement at UT-Austin's Spring 2016 report <i>Expectations Meet Reality: The Underprepared Student and Community Colleges</i> discusses in length the challenges facing:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...the two-thirds of community college students who enter our institutions every year underprepared and not ready for college-level work."</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
TWO THIRDS. Let that sink in. <b>Most</b> of the students applying are not prepared. But they think they are.<br />
<br />
In fact, according to this report, <b>86% of entering students believe they are academically prepared, but 68% end up requiring development education</b>. <br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
It's a Battle You Can Win</h2>
<br />
Remember those students that were overly optimistic about their preparation? Well, it is not just blind arrogance. Once they come to grips with the reality of the situation, they are on board with it. In fact, 65%-70% of students placed in developmental courses feel they were placed appropriately.<br />
<br />
So, we can fight this battle, with:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Good, objective data</li>
<li>Engaging others to provide their perspective (and maybe some humility)</li>
<li>Routinely doing a "reality check" on our assumptions</li>
<li>Actively trying to be honest with ourselves and our capabilities</li>
</ul>
We will still succumb, but we can do better (optimistic, huh?).<br />
<br />
Optimism can be a good thing. It helps us keep going. It helps drive ambition and things like going to the moon.<br />
<br />
But it is a double-edged sword. It biases our thinking and we need to be mindful of that. Let's use it to our advantage. Perhaps we should coin a new phrase, be optimistic cautiously.</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-70361988244359687502016-02-15T11:52:00.000-06:002016-09-10T11:15:40.315-05:00Community Chronicles - The Value of Community College<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
I firmly believe that community colleges are a vital part of the American dream and keeping our country strong. If not for community college, I am not sure I would have a PhD or have had the chance to conduct research with a Nobel Laureate. There are many reasons for this, most of them are personal. Time to share...<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
The Makings of a Disengaged Punk</h3>
<br />
When I was young, I was a bit of an arrogant punk (I like to think I am less of one now). Not a piercings-and-mohawk punk, but more of an "I am too cool for school" sort of punk. Many lessons in life encouraged me to question everything, and that included "the system".<br />
<br />
In many phases of my life, I was able to excel without attending school and that had an impact on my discipline. As I neared adulthood, I was very smart but lacked discipline. That was my first brush with community college.<br />
<br />
In a strange twist, I blew off high school to goof off at the local community college, which I paid for by working at fast food, data entry, and even manual labor. With the attitude I had developed, I earned the worse grades in my life, but they were still adequate grades. Looking back, I feel bad for the teachers that had me in their class back then; I did them, and myself, a disservice.<br />
<br />
But I learned an important lesson. In college, I might actually need to pay attention, attend class, and work hard to excel. A "hard knock" indeed.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
A Sense of Service</h3>
<br />
For most of my life, I have always had a desire to serve others. My father retired from the US Air Force and, as I neared adulthood, both of my brothers had enlisted in the Air Force as well. And that certainly must have fed this. It did not hurt that, as a child, I grew up revering the myth of King Arthur and knights in shining armor.<br />
<br />
These inspirations, along with a desire to get out of the house and strike off on my own, led to my enlisting as soon as I turned 18, as an Airborne Combat Medic in the US Army. At the time, I planned to become a Special Forces Medic and spend my life in the military, so I signed up for minimal college benefits. <br />
<br />
[It was the GI Bill, but the GI Bill of my generation was anorexic compared to most others.]<br />
<br />
The Army was good for me. I resumed my pursuit of excellence and relentlessly pursued (and achieved) honor graduate status at every turn. I was done being a punk.<br />
<br />
Now, you may have noticed that you are not reading my memoirs of being in the Special Forces, so you may have guessed that path was not taken...life threw me a curve ball.<br />
<br />
By the time I had earned a high enough rank for Special Forces, I was married and I already knew that choosing the SF path would be tantamount to asking for a divorce and I have too strong of a sense of commitment to do that. So, with a recommendation from the Physician Assistants at the Troop Medical Clinic, I was off to nursing school.<br />
<br />
It made sense to get out after I received my training, due primarily to familial obligations.<br />
<br />
But there I was, on a path I had not planned, with only a trickle of money for college. Not exactly the ideal launching pad for a PhD.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
A Need for Accessible and Affordable Education</h3>
<br />
Fortunately, I left the Army with a nursing license in hand. So, I started working full time. I had little money to spare and little flexibility in my schedule, but I wanted to pursue an education and I wanted to insure all opportunities were available along that path (Learning from my shortsightedness earlier in my life).<br />
<br />
However, the GI Bill would not cover the costs of a university or even a four-year college. I needed something within my budget and that could fit around a full time work schedule.<br />
<br />
Community College gave me that opportunity. In fact, I returned to the same one I had attended when I was a punk - Richland College.<br />
<br />
This time around, though, I was serious. I was able to find classes that fit my schedule and my budget. So much so, that I was able to complete the lower level requirements for a host of science and engineering degrees, to keep my options open.<br />
<br />
And it was here that I met a teacher that I fondly remember - Dr. Burnham. His class stands out in my mind as the exemplar of a challenging course that pushed me very hard, but never left me in the dust, tried to intimidate me, or confused me. I worked my butt off to get that "A" and it was amazing.<br />
<br />
Because of him, I *almost* settled on Chemistry as my major. Funny story, he was one of my teachers when I was a punk, too, so he knew better than most the journey I had taken (that led to an unusually entertaining and genuine recommendation letter).<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
A Great Launching Pad</h3>
<br />
With the education I earned and the skills I developed there, I went on to graduate from the University of Texas at Dallas with a BS in Physics, Summa Cum Laude and Physics Honors. From there, I went on to Rice University and earned my MS and PhD in Applied Physics under Nobel Laureate Richard E. Smalley, co-discovered of the "buckyball".<br />
<br />
<b>So I can confidently check the box of "quality education" at a community college.</b><br />
<br />
It might be nice to fall into the trap of thinking I am so amazing that I would have made it happen regardless. Maybe. Maybe not. But I know the path I have taken, and I know that community college was critical to my success.<br />
<br />
And I have seen it time and again with friends and colleagues.<br />
<br />
Community college is a vital part of providing educational opportunities to people, especially people with limited means and time.<br />
<br />
So, yes, I am a bit passionate about it, but I have good reasons.</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-7422283537085131172015-12-18T14:51:00.000-06:002016-10-08T10:26:09.420-05:00The Art of Terminology - Telemedicine or Telehealth?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4jCDsvsxGbiImI0ltJtkNt5wWOvOF2eZPpkIrEKnAoSW-MTosCYSH9KRZjybaKysBG3KYgoOIz4jPT8WAHKLSRoULMMQrqc3KoVrlJ-xShOYBPPPIvi54LGDEJ-traTiE6GfeOkXnpJ1/s1600/chi-matter-illinois-telehealth-initiative-bsi-20150224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4jCDsvsxGbiImI0ltJtkNt5wWOvOF2eZPpkIrEKnAoSW-MTosCYSH9KRZjybaKysBG3KYgoOIz4jPT8WAHKLSRoULMMQrqc3KoVrlJ-xShOYBPPPIvi54LGDEJ-traTiE6GfeOkXnpJ1/s400/chi-matter-illinois-telehealth-initiative-bsi-20150224.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/" target="_blank">Chicago Tribune</a>.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">With the relentless pursuit of efficiency in the delivery of healthcare, combined with advances in technology and policy, t</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">wo terms that are increasingly being used in the USA are <i>telemedicine</i> and <i>telehealth</i>. Are they meaningfully distinct terms? Do we need both?</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
It Depends On Who You Ask</h2>
<div>
In many cases, these terms are defined locally. In the same vein as "analytics" and "cloud", it's important to verify everyone is operating under the same assumptions. When you engage in a conversation on these topics, it is wise to explicitly state what you mean with your use of the term early on in the conversation.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Position 1 - Telemedicine is a Subset of Telehealth</h2>
<div>
Much like the use of "medicine" versus "healthcare", one term is naturally broader. Healthcare can include not just the medical practice of a physician, but patient education, population health engagement, and a host of other services aimed at prevention and treatment.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In a similar vein, telemedicine has historically been used specifically to refer to the practice of medicine and clinical services remotely. For the most part the things one would commonly associate with a physician, e.g., surgery by telepresence (aka "robotic surgery"). Telehealth, on the other hand, has been used more broadly, not only to refer to telemedicine, but also any remote services related to healthcare.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Position 2 - They Are Interchangeable</h2>
<div>
This is the position of the American Telemedicine Association. Given that their name has "telemedicine" in it and "telehealth" is the more encompassing term, one can understand why they would like to see them used interchangeably. I mean, heck, it's on all of their business cards.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Best Practices</h2>
</div>
<div>
"Best" can be a matter of opinion. This is what I do.</div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>If in doubt, use "telehealth"</li>
<li>If you are trying to distinguish clinical services from the rest of healthcare services, use "telemedicine"</li>
<li>In writing or conversation, state clearly what you mean as soon as you use either term</li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
As with any vague term, the key is agreeing with your audience on what it means. Communicating clearly, after all, is the goal; not winning a semantic victory.</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-45218375340465947002015-05-23T15:28:00.002-05:002015-09-11T08:07:50.960-05:00Blog Post Basics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Blog posting is not exactly rocket science, but there are some basic best practices that can help you create content that is engaging and useful for your audience.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Use An Appropriate Title</h2>
If in doubt, just use plain language that clearly communicates what your post is about. If that does not make sense for your blog, then ignore that advice. Maybe your blog is about Shakespeare's works, so you want every title to be some cute misquote of Shakespeare. That's fine, do what makes sense for your blog.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Lead Your Post With a Relevant Image</h2>
<div>
Your post is going to be linked in feeds filled with multimedia content. If you have an image in your post, it will dramatically increase visibility and avoid your wonderful content from being lost in the noise among the unrelenting tide of cute pet pictures and wacky video hi-jinks.<br />
<br />
Images also helps one distinguish and identify articles from one another. For example - "It's the one with the cat looking at the flower."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Use Jump Breaks</h2>
<div>
A "jump break" is that thing that tells your blog where to break up your article. The content before it will be included on the main blog. I recommend no more than a paragraph or two. Ideally, those few words give one a sense of what the post is about.<br />
<br />
The biggest benefit of this is that it stops your main blog page from becoming one big wall of text, dominated by your most recent post.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Err on the Side of Concise</h2>
<div>
It is tempting to just keep spitting out every idea you have on a topic and to wax poetic about each one. But your goal is communication. If you exhaust your reader with long walls of text, you greatly reduce the chance they will actually get the message of your post and reduce the chance they will want to read future posts.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, try to stay on track and if you can say something effectively in three sentences as opposed to three paragraphs, then do so.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Don't Wait for Perfection</h2>
<div>
This is a corollary to being concise. If you raise too high of a bar for your posts, you may never post. If you want to post on a lengthy topic, don't wait until you can create a novella on it. Get busy posting coherent bite-size pieces. It will be easier for you to write and for your audience to consume.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Labels/Tags Can Be Helpful</h2>
<div>
In your Blogger post creation window, you will see a little widget to the right called "Labels". If you click on that you can add tags to your pages. This is handy to facilitate searching within your blog. For example, if you occasionally post DIY posts, then if you slap a "diy" tag on those posts, you can pull them up with a quick search.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You can then copy the URL for that search and post it or pass it along to someone that just wants to see that information.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Schedule Feature Is Nice</h2>
<div>
In your Blogger post creation window, you will see a little widget to the right called "Schedule". The default is "Automatic" and that means that when you click "Publish" it will immediately post. You can choose to set a specific date and time, which allows you to create posts in advance and not worry about coming back to post them in the future.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Preview Is Your Friend</h2>
No matter how amazing you may be, sometimes we forget a line break or heading here and there. Click the "Preview" button before you post just to insure things are laid out well. I know from personal experience that some templates look better with some blank lines inserted and some don't. Always preview before posting.<br />
<br />
Now, go forth and post.</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-7572699007502517022015-05-16T14:39:00.004-05:002015-05-16T16:44:58.990-05:00Focus T25, Done, Not My Style<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCC8DiB__403hGU70_vgHc3517jOitsYs_j6uaHbpYPKMJhZBQqoFO6C0Ma3ozEt_QLhD0KLUyTdc-evqPa6xj97cbVTKQlwPdd3oumbO-Qhsbi7hhO8RRvyNYeMpXmX7b1uU_3Rsuz63/s1600/notmycupoftea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCC8DiB__403hGU70_vgHc3517jOitsYs_j6uaHbpYPKMJhZBQqoFO6C0Ma3ozEt_QLhD0KLUyTdc-evqPa6xj97cbVTKQlwPdd3oumbO-Qhsbi7hhO8RRvyNYeMpXmX7b1uU_3Rsuz63/s320/notmycupoftea.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I originally purchased T25 with the hope of learning some great new moves for body weight exercises. I did not formally try to execute the program until recently.<br />
<br />
I am now done with T25. I am not a fan and I can't really recommend it, but it might be your cup of tea, depending on a few things.<br />
<a name='more'></a>As I neared the completion of the 5-week "Alpha Cycle", I was quite resigned to not try the "Beta Cycle". But I thought to myself, "What if the next level is better?"<br />
<br />
So, I slid the DVD in for the first Beta Cycle workout and it was more of the same. After a few minutes, I stopped, hit fast forward and saw even more of the same. More intense, maybe, but way more dependence on jumping around than I want in my workout.<br />
<br />
So, I popped out the DVD, whipped out the dumb bells and returned to my traditional workout. It was fantastic. Within just one week, my physique was better and my clothes fit better.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
If You Like Watching Aerobic/Cardio Videos...</h2>
<div>
...you might like T25. While I had no problem with using videos for yoga workouts, this one was somewhat annoying. There are many quick changes and lots of times when maintaining good form means not looking at the screen.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
If You Are More Concerned With Fat Loss Than Building Muscle...</h2>
<div>
...you might like T25. Look, I am not saying you won't build any muscle with T25, that would be wrong. But the priority is lots of high energy hopping around and core work, so you will not get body building results.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Will it make you weak? Well, no. But I stopped my weight lifting to try this out and when I returned to weight lifting it was abundantly clear that I had lost muscle mass while doing this workout, especially legs, chest, triceps, upper back, and biceps.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
If You Want to Endanger Your Knees...</h2>
<div>
...you might like T25. Have I mentioned all of the freaking hopping? Yes, yes I have. Well, a lot of those moves are hopping or jumping while spinning 60, 90, or 180 degrees. As you get tired or just push yourself really hard, the chances go up that your toes will catch as you spin. I never managed to twist my knee, but I was keenly aware that I was walking a fine line.<br />
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Punchline Is...</h2>
<div>
...that I lost far more fat and built more muscle alternating days between free weights (3 days) and cardio (2-3 days) than I did with T25.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
My Old Friend, Proper Muscle Rest</h2>
<div>
Another Great Change With The End of T25 was once again having proper rest cycles for my muscles. Week 5 of T25 was a clear illustration of this. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, it called for the same workout, the Total Body Circuit. There was a noticeable, progressive fatigue as I repeated the workouts that week, indicative of inadequate muscle rest.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Step Down T25 Workout Might Be Better</h2>
<div>
Throughout the workout there is one person, Tanya, doing a step down version. This usually just means she is doing a low impact version, i.e., not hopping around. A co-worker told me of a friend that reported losing 30 pounds following Tanya (but I have no idea what percentage of her body weight that was).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This path could actually give you a better workout than the "normal" one as it may allow you to focus and push more on the rest of your body.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
For Me, It's Back to Free Weights and Cardio</h2>
<div>
It was educational, so I don't regret it, but I can say with confidence that you would probably be better served with regular old weight lifting and cardio. I know I will.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Whatever path you choose, best of luck and keep pushing!</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-11540497732451136422015-05-08T07:39:00.000-05:002016-09-10T10:46:26.745-05:00Agile/Scrum - The Product Backlog<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Product Backlog is vital to Agile/Scrum. It enables agility and responsiveness while insuring that you are creating the highest possible value for your customer. How does it do this?<br />
<br />
Spoiler alert: It's not magic.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Product Backlog Defined</h2>
<br />
The product backlog is how we capture what the user needs from the product. It consists of a prioritized stack of features captured in the form of <i>user stories</i> (what the user needs to do) with <i>acceptance criteria</i> (the things you need to demonstrate can be done with the product). It's easier to see this with an example:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
As a registrant, I want to sign up for the event via a web site, so that I can attend your event </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Acceptance Criteria<br />
<ul>
<li>I should be able to sign up without providing a phone number</li>
<li>I should not be able to sign up without providing a first name and last name</li>
<li>I should not be able to sign up without providing an email address</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div>
This is a very simple example and requires more detail before it would be considered ready for development. In practice, it might even be chopped up into smaller stories. But it conveys the general idea, and a story can be added to the Product Backlog even if it is incomplete or requires refinement.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Product Backlog is basically a single stack of User Stories. The closer to the top a story gets:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>The greater its value to the customer</li>
<li>The higher its priority</li>
<li>The more defined it is</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Product Owner Owns the Product Backlog</h2>
<br />
The Product Owner has the ultimate ownership of the Product Backlog, being the ultimate arbiter of the ranking of stories on the stack. User Stories in the Product Backlog can be changed by the Product Owner at any time.<br />
<br />
If anyone wants to suggest changes in priorities or to add/subtract features, they talk to the Product Owner. If someone bugs the development team about features or their priorities, they should be intercepted (ideally, by the Scrum Master) and routed to the Product Owner.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Backlog Grooming And Refinement</h2>
<br />
The Product Owner should feel free to manage the Product Backlog whenever he likes. I highly recommend trying to constrain this to the Backlog Grooming and Refinement meeting. This is a two-hour meeting in which the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team get together to:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Add items to the backlog</li>
<li>Update priorities of items</li>
<li>Create development estimates for items higher on the stack</li>
</ul>
<div>
In your first sprint or two, you may still be refining the vision and essential features, so you may need to focus on completely fleshing out <b>just enough</b> items to insure you are creating high value product in the imminent sprint. Once you get past those first few sprints, you should have a pretty comfortable lead on filling the stack up so you always have plenty for the team to develop.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
What About Random Thoughts For Features?</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sometimes you have a random thought or here a stray comment that might result in a valuable feature. You have the option of slapping it on the bottom of the Product Backlog. You can always take it off if you change your mind, and until it is refined and moved to the top of the stack, it's not going into development.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Because of this, I tend to err on the side of inserting what I call "placeholder" stories on the bottom.<br />
<br />
In a similar vein, I am a fan of creating stories in the backlog as we identify them, which is perfectly legitimate in Agile/Scrum. Have a rough idea? Slap it on the stack, below the better-defined ideas; I like to slap "WIP" on the front of the name for clarity.<br />
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Product Backlog & Sprints</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When the team meets for Sprint Planning, the Product Owner will again have an opportunity to reprioritize the backlog before items are selected for the sprint. This insures that the most valuable features are going into development.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
At the end of a sprint, during the Sprint Review, if items are deemed incomplete, they return to the Product Backlog.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Facilitating Agility, Mitigating Obstacles, and Maximizing Value</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This ongoing capacity for reprioritizing the backlog allows the Product Owner to be remarkably responsive to changing needs. The first obvious impact is that you can rapidly reprioritize what is going into development. In other words, you are agile.<br />
<br />
One way you can apply this agility is to mitigate hurdles. A user story goes into a sprint, but some task essential to it blows up because of a missing resource, technology, etc. No worries, leave it on the backlog while that concern is addressed and keep moving forward. This is part of the reason many say there is no critical path in Agile/Scrum.<br />
<br />
The more common benefit is that this agility dramatically increases the likelihood that items of value to the customer are being created and that the resulting product most accurately reflects the currents needs of the customer and the intended market.<br />
<br />
Managed properly, a Product Backlog is a powerful engine that powers the "Agile" in Agile/Scrum.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227173188828309781.post-58811741802483006792015-05-04T07:50:00.000-05:002016-09-10T10:46:58.438-05:00Agile/Scrum - Key Concepts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
Agile/Scrum is a relatively simple framework in concept. If you watched <a href="http://scrumtrainingseries.com/" target="_blank">the Scrum Training Series videos</a> I recommended in my first post on Agile/Scrum, you understand that well.<br />
<br />
In execution, the concept is often sabotaged by a lack of attention to the key concepts that make Agile/Scrum successful. Don't be that person.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a>This post will cover the main points of the key concepts. In later posts we will cover each concept in more detail.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Agile Manifesto</h2>
<br />
A group of smart people came up with the Agile Manifesto in 2001, which is the philosophical grounding of an Agile/Scrum framework.:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Working software over comprehensive documentation</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Responding to change over following a plan</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
That is, <b>while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.</b> [emphasis mine]</blockquote>
</blockquote>
It's important to note that these are priorities, not statements of exclusion.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The People</h2>
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The Product Owner - The voice of the customer and source of the product vision</li>
<li>The Scrum Master - The arbiter of process; insures the key meetings are executed properly</li>
<li>The Development Team - the people developing the product; developers, testers, UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) experts, etc.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Product Backlog</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
The product backlog is how we capture what the user needs from the product. It consists of requirements captured in the form of <i>user stories</i> (what the user needs to do) with <i>acceptance criteria</i> (the things you need to demonstrate can be done with the product). These are arranged in a stack. The closer to the top a story gets:<br />
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The greater its value to the customer</li>
<li>The higher its priority</li>
<li>The more defined it is</li>
</ul>
<div>
The Product Owner has the ultimate ownership of the Product Backlog, being the ultimate arbiter of the ranking of stories on the stack. User Stories in the Product Backlog can be changed by the Product Owner at any time.</div>
</div>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Meetings</h2>
<br />
While Agile/Scrum is relatively unstructured, there are some key meetings to make the process work:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Backlog Grooming and Refinement* - refine, reprioritize, and estimate development time for stories</li>
<li>Sprint Planning - decide which stories will be developed in the current sprint</li>
<li>Sprint Review - demonstrate new product increments to stakeholders</li>
<li>Sprint Retrospective - team after action discussion</li>
</ul>
<div>
* - Some consider this unofficial/optional, I do not. It works beautifully.</div>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Sprint</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
Sprints contain the activities that transform one or more user stories into <i>potentially-shippable product increments</i>. <br />
<br />
<b>Sprints are rigidly time-boxed.</b> They range from one week to one month in length.<br />
<br />
<b>Sprints are where development happens.</b> There are no "requirements sprints"<br />
<br />
<b>Sprints are fluid, iterative activities.</b> The various design, build, and test activities of development are performed dynamically throughout the sprint, not according to a project plan.<br />
<br />
<b>Sprints turn stories into potentially-shippable product, or nothing.</b> There is no partial credit in Agile/Scrum.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Protect The Sprint</h2>
<br />
Do your best to insure your team is not distracted by outsiders, outside activities, or their own team mates. The team should be focused on the sprint goals. If there is a defined Scrum Master, that person should be in charge of keeping people from distracting the team.<br />
<br />
If people want to come talk about the future features, suggested changes to the product, etc., they should be routed to the Product Owner. The team has one priority - create product for the stories they originally agreed to address for the current sprint.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Concept of "Just Enough"</h2>
<div>
<br /></div>
This concept is usually the most difficult for most people to embrace. It induces fear and uncertainty, especially for those familiar with the Waterfall approach.<br />
<br />
It is a natural instinct to want to completely flesh out your product/concept/software before you start work. But we have lots of instincts that are not necessarily great for efficient execution of tasks. This instinct has to be overcome for Agile/Scrum to be effective.<br />
<br />
A typical Waterfall process will involve documenting 100% of your requirements down to the last detail, then designing 100% of the solution down to the last detail, then developing 100% of the solution, and so on.<br />
<br />
Why could this be a bad thing? This approach dramatically reduces your capacity to be responsive to the customer and the market. Twelve months into your product development, if your customer comes to you in a Waterfall process and conveys that their priorities have dramatically shifted, the typical choices are 1) going back to the drawing board or 2) pushing out what you have anyway and then trying to accommodate your customer in the far future as you create a new version.<br />
<br />
Agile/Scrum, on the other hand focuses on knowing just enough to progress. You just need enough stories on your product backlog to keep your developers busy in the next sprint.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
It Starts With A Vision</h2>
<br />
Some people like to speak of "Iteration 0", "Iteration 1", and so on. I appreciate the logic behind it, but it's not how I prefer to approach it. I prefer to simply get busy as quickly as practical.<br />
<br />
Have a clear vision. Understand the customer's or market's priorities. Start knocking out some stories and get busy making product. <b>Just enough</b> to keep the team busy for the sprint is all you need.<br />
<br />
It's unsettling at first, because it feels very much like a leap of faith, and you're brain may be screaming, "but what if...?!" It may say that many times, in fact.<br />
<br />
But it really does work, if you let it. While that first sprint is kicking off with a few high value features, you can sort out more stories, refine your vision, and it won't be long before you are anxiously waiting for the development team to get caught up.<br />
<br />
Yes, there will be reformatting and changes in course. That's okay. The process is built to handle that. The good news is that Agile/Scrum is *built* to handle that.<br />
<br />
As we discuss some of these concepts in more detail, I will do my best to point out how they feed into a successful process both directly and indirectly.<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Let It Work</h2>
<br />
One of the key difficulties I see is people trying to burden an agile process with Waterfall-like concepts, artifacts, and processes for a sense of comfort. It's a dangerous game to play. It does not take much to sabotage the benefits of Agile and basically create a confused Agile-Waterfall hybrid.<br />
<br />
So, if you do embark on the path of Agile/Scrum, I encourage you to go "all in", so to speak, and give it a shot. You may be amazed at the results.</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17250034106940712533noreply@blogger.com0