I started a new job on Monday June 25 at Optum as a UX Director in the UX Design Studio (UXDS). Optum is part of UnitedHealth Group. The last time I did UX work in healthcare was for Summa Health System in 2010, so there will be lots to brush up on. And UHG is an order of…
Read moreAuthor: Samantha Bailey
Who knew there was a better German word than schadenfreude?
VERSCHLIMMBESSERN Came across this delightful tweet. To make something worse while trying to improve it. Painfully well known to anyone who has done multi-disciplinary projects, amplified when a deadline is part of the mix.
Read moreFriday Reading Roundup
Avoiding Half-Assed User Research by Jim Ross Great article with good reminders for all of us working in environments where we’re constantly making tradeoffs around time/cost/quality. I disagree with the idea that remote research is inherently half-assed. When the ability to conduct research remotely came on the scene it opened up so much opportunity for…
Read moreEthics and UX
I was recently asked to recommend some books that a new product manager could use to introduce UX to an organization that was completely unfamiliar with it. It made me realize that I hadn’t really perused books for “beginners,” possibly since the era of Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Scott Krug–a book I can wholeheartedly…
Read moreConfab 2018 – Recap
My first visit to Confab was really enjoyable–definitely makes me feel that I should spread my wings and attend more conferences outside my immediate areas of professional interest. One thing we can say for sure–Katrina Halvorson and Brain Traffic really know how to put on a great event. Highlights: I really like the mix of…
Read moreConfab 2018 – Day 1
I am attending my first ever Confab conference; decided that since it’s an event I can attend without travel I should take advantage of the learning & networking opportunities. There are ways in which Confab feels a lot like the Summit–I don’t have the tribal “these are my people!” vibe that I have at the…
Read moreA touch of schadenfreude
As most who know me know all too well, I’m not an Apple fangirl. So of course, any headline that whiffs of critical commentary always attracts my notice. Apple’s New Design Ethos: Making Gadgets Easy To Sell, Hard To Use This article in Co.Design makes a couple of interesting observations: To be fair, Apple didn’t…
Read moreBlockchain Overhyped?
Lawrence Baxter was the head of e-Commerce at Wachovia while I worked there and he was an effective and compassionate leader whom I respected a great deal. He now teaches at Duke University and has co-authored an interesting blog post on blockchain that is worth reading. https://sites.duke.edu/thefinregblog/2018/04/05/blockchain-is-overhyped
Read moreIA Summit 18 Recap
It’s already been more than a month since the IA Summit in Chicago and the various themes from the event are still swirling around in my head. This was Summit #19, (my 16th, Niles’ 8th!) and as it happens it will be the last conference called the “IA Summit” as ASIST is not going to…
Read moreLibrarians & Architects: Natural Enemies?
As an Information Architect who has always embraced the “information” appelation but long been queasy about the “architecture” bit, imagine my surprise to come across* this wonderful article by Marvin J Taylor and Andrea Geyer about the long history of tension between librarians and architects around the design of libraries. The article documents the evolution…
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