My mate Julia has written a book! And, as per the title, it is really good. This is a book about helping you discover if that idea you've had - for a product, feature, book, business, whatever - is likely to catch on. It does this through the lens of understanding users. The Really Good Idea Test puts people at the heart of innovation, rather than the other way around. Essentially, it's a series of worksheets - provided free - which help you get answers to the seven questions which make…
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A practical book for practitioners and non-practitioners alike interested in better service delivery, this book is the definitive new guide to designing services that work for users. My former colleague Lou has written a marvellous book. It reminds me of the great “Simplicity” by Edward de Bono – it’s a series of short chapters, interspersed with large-print summaries. I regard it as essential to anyone involved in service design. Or anyone on the periphery of services. It clearly and calmly …
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I, unironically, love Reddit. But it's just USENET with a better UI, and a few moderation improvements. Most days I use DropBox. But it's just FTP, but a bit easier to use and automate. I waste a lot of time on Slack. When I explain it to old-school nerds, I say it's IRC - but developed by someone who gives a damn about user experience. Most people in the world don't have access to WWW. Instead, they use Facebook which gives them a much simpler way to post photos and share their thoughts. It …
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bləʊk ʧeɪn Noun: any technology which attracts clueless men User Stories are great! A simplified snippet to help you understand the problem you're facing. There are, of course, a vanishingly small number of genuine use-cases for the Blockchain. So cryptobores have to resort to ever more baroque explanations to sell their wares. I recently stumbled on this absolute gem of a user story, and feel compared to share it with you in all its horror. *sigh* I'll grudgingly admit, there's the ker…
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I want to stop someone from following me on social media. In this case, it's not a stalker or harasser - just someone who's presence I don't need in my life. This could be worse - they could be a lot more malicious and I could be in a more vulnerable position. I am positively festooned with privilege - so I don't have to worry about my physical safety, but it's annoying and distressing having to constantly filter them from my life. Other people aren't so lucky. I thought I had successfully…
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If you've spent any time in a modern design environment, you'll be familiar with the idea of User Stories. As a first-time user, I want to log in with Facebook, so that I don't have to set up a new account. Fairly easy, right? Stick enough of those up on a wall and you've got yourself a party! If you've ever played an RPG or Roguelike game, you'll be familiar with how your character can evolve throughout a game. You put on a cursed ring! Your attacks now do 10% less damage! (A…
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