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Topic: Week 15 Power Rankings (Read 881 times)
Finnegans Wake
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Week 15 Power Rankings
Dec 12, 2008 at 14:50 »
Been a busy time at work, kids, so I've been lax in the old rankings. Here they are, with playoff outlook. Will try to add the computerized rankings if time permits.
1. Tennessee Titans, 12-1 (currently #1 seed in AFC).
Titans aren't winning with style points, but who cares? Probably the best D behind Steelers and Ravens. Should have a bye and homefield in the playoffs, which is a big plus. Remaining schedule:
, PIT, @ INDY. (Predicted wins in bold.) Even if they lose the last two, the Titans finish 13-3 and the #1 seed in the AFC.
2. Carolina Panthers, 10-3 (#2 seed in NFC).
Panthers also showing a strong defense, and a superb running game, which is a championship formula in my estimation. Much more consistent this season than seasons past, and an impressive win over the Bucs. Favorable stretch schedule may vault them past reeling Giants in seeding. Remaining schedule:
The Giants game will probably determine who gets the top seed. I suspect the Giants would normally win that matchup at home, but with Jacobs iffy and Plax being Plax, the Panthers may have conditions in their favor. Projecting them at 13-3, #1 seed in the NFC.
3. New York Giants, 11-2 (#1 seed in NFC).
Giants fended off retirements and major injuries to start the season on a winning note, but the next three games will be a real test for Coughlin. Still a formidable team, especially in the postseason, but could lose a couple still. Remaining schedule: @DAL, CAR,
Dallas is a mess, but I get the feeling they get up for the Giants game before missing the playoffs. Projection: 12-4, #2 in NFC.
4. Pittsburgh Steelers, 10-3 (#2 in AFC).
If the Steelers had the offensive firepower they showed in 2007, I'd be tempted to put them at #1 overall. The offense shows no signs of life at this point, but the defense is enough to scare any team. Remaining schedule: @ BAL,
As much as I am gloom and doom over the Ravens game, I think we can shut down the Titans on the road. And the Browns are, well, roadkill. Projection: 12-4, #2 in AFC.
5. Baltimore Ravens, 9-4 (#6 in AFC).
Ravens have shown a little life on offense, but the real threat is their defense, which is 1b to Pittsburgh's 1a. They could wind up 12-4 as well but make it as a wild card based on tiebreakers, but call Dallas winning the next two a hunch. Projection: 11-5, #6 in AFC.
6. Indianapolis Colts, 9-4 (#5 in AFC).
Well, it hasn't been pretty, but they're winning again, and could close the year winning their final three games. It remains to be seen if they're back to being the Colts of old, but they should be in the playoffs, and then, who knows. Remaining schedule:
Projection: 12-4, #5 in AFC. Not enough to beat the Titans for the division, the Colts will be a team like the Ravens, excellent record wild card.
7. Philadelphia Eagles, 10-5-1 (still alive at #8 in NFC).
Yeah, talk about getting there ugly. This team has severe schizophrenia, but enters a soft stretch of schedule with McNabb and Company looking like they're back on track. The Giants win was very big for this team. Remaining schedule:
The final wild card could come down to that Dallas game in Philly. Projection: 10-5-1, #6 in NFC.
8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 9-4 (#5 in NFC).
Bucs have a solid D, but the Panthers game really showed which direction both of those teams appear to be headed at this point in the season. A good team, but not a team that really inspires Super Bowl visions. Remaining schedule: @ ATL,
Projection: 11-5, #5 in NFC.
9. Denver Broncos, 8-5 (#3 in AFC).
Helped by a dreadful division, the Broncos are in by default. Still, even with running back woes and a defense that's about as sturdy as cat litter, this team can put up points, and has spoiler written all over them. Remaining schedule: @ CAR,
, @SD. Expect a bit of karma in a loss to the Chargers. Projection: 9-7, #4 in AFC.
10. Arizona Cardinals, 8-5 (#4 in NFC).
Pretty much the same notes to the Broncos, except the Cards have zilch in playoff experience and falter when they travel east. Remaining schedule:
. Is the New England win a bit of wishful thinking? Or will Warner pick apart that tattered secondary? Projection: 11-5, #3 in NFC.
11. Minnesota Vikings, 8-5 (#3 in NFC).
Vikings have a shaky hold at best in division over Bears, who have a real shot at displacing them here. With Tavaris Jackson back, the Vikings had better hope a steady dose of Peterson and the Williams sisters saves the day. Very shaky. Remaining schedule: @ ARI,
, NYG. Projection: 9-7, #4 in NFC.
12. Miami Dolphins, 8-5 (still alive at #7 in AFC).
Yep, I'm calling the upset. The Patriots aren't consistent, the Jets aren't consistent, and look who's playing the home stretch with enthusiasm. Oh, and a soft schedule is pretty nice too. Pretty damned good turnaround for the coach and players in Miami. Won't do much in the playoffs, though. Remaining schedule:
. Jets game for the division title, you think Curly Sue might have revenge on his mind? Sometimes teams like this just catch fire. And then, just as inexplicably, they're done. This is one of those teams. Projection: 11-5, #3 in AFC (!).
13. New York Jets, 8-5 (#4 in AFC).
Weeks ago, the verdict on the Jets was that they were terrible one week, great the next. Well, that crap is still going on, and I guarantee you that it's going to kill the Jets. Playoff bound teams get consistent as the season wears on. Remaining schedule:
, MIA. Couple of cupcakes, big wins, and then they drop the season at home. Sound about right? Projection: 10-6, OUT.
14. New England Patriots, 8-5 (still alive at #8 in AFC).
You have to give it to these cunts: even without video-cheating, without the Golden Boy, and with a defense that has to call up Junior Seau -- who's practically as old as I am -- these bastards refuse to die. Still, I don't think they have what it takes to finish out with three wins. An explosive offense like the Cards will expose their flaws. Remaining schedule:
Projection: 10-6, OUT.
15. Dallas, 8-5 (#6 in NFC).
Looked like the best team in the early weeks, and has shown glimmers of being a decent team. The Steelers loss may be the dagger. I suspect they rebound, but are overmatched by Philly in Philly with the season on the line. They just don't feel like a playoff team. Great season by Ware, though. Remaining schedule:
, @ PHI. Projection: 10-6, OUT.
16. Atlanta Falcons, 8-5 (still alive at #7 in NFC).
It's hard not to respect what the Falcons have done this year. Much like the Dolphins, they've turned around their team faster than anyone expected. Coach Mike Smith should be in the running for Coach of the Year, in my opinion; Matt Ryan has been the best rookie gunslinger since some kid Pittsburgh drafted; Michael Turner is having a better year than his ex-teammate Whatsisname; the Falcons still are a legit threat to make it as a wild card, although they would need to win out most likely. But perhaps the best thing about this team is that week in and week out, win or lose, they're fun to watch. Remaining schedule:
. If they do win their final three and make it as a wild card, they could pull an upset in the early going. Projection: 10-6, OUT.
17. Chicago Bears, 8-6 (still alive at #9 in NFC).
Matt Forte has been a superb rookie, breaking the rookie rushing yards record of Gale Sayers and the rookie receptions record set by Ditka. The defense has been sporadic, but at times has looked like the Bears of old. Even Kyle Orton resembles a real live NFL QB. But their margin of error is wafer thin, and some bad coaching decisions by Lovie Smith may have cost them the postseaon. Remaining schedule:
, @ HOU. Projection: 9-7, OUT.
18. New Orleans Saints, 7-7 (still theoretically alive, #11 in NFC).
Last night showed the best and worst of the Saints. The thrilling comebacks. Brees and Bush and Colston leading a top offense, with Rashard Mendenhall's former collegiate teammate Pierre Thomas providing a surprise spark. A defense that is slowly getting some better players... just not enough for this year. Remaining schedule:
, CAR. Projection: 8-8, OUT.
19. Washington Redskins, 7-6 (still theoretically alive, #10 in NFC).
You get the feeling that this team has never been right since the Steelers whacked them? Remaining schedule:
, PHI, @ SF. Projection: 8-8, OUT.
20. San Diego Chargers, 5-8 (almost unbelievably, still theoretically alive, #10 in AFC).
One of the great collapses of 2008 (see Jacksonville). With all the talent on this team, how are they 5-8? It's worth noting that Phillip Rivers is quite the douche, however. Remaining schedule:
Projection: 7-9, OUT.
21. Green Bay Packers, 5-8 (almost unbelievably, still theoretically alive, #12 in NFC).
At the beginning of the season, this team looked like they could win the division, and hang with just about anyone. Well, they're hanging all right. Swaying in the breeze. A few weeks ago, they were still ahead of the Bears and Vikings. A horrendous collapse. Remaining schedule:
. Projection: 7-9, OUT.
22. Buffalo Bills, 6-7 (almost unbelievably, still theoretically alive, #9 in AFC).
Collapse? You wanna talk about collapse? These guys are the Einsturzende Neubauten of the NFL: they're not just collapsing, they're doing it with a helluva racket. They scare no one. NO ONE! And seriously, they looked pretty good early on. Remaining schedule: @ NYJ, @ DEN, NE. Projection: 6-10, OUT.
23. Houston Texans, 6-7.
No shot for them, but they'll affect others' playoff chances. Maybe next year. Had some moments, but still the same old Texans.
24. San Francisco 49ers, 5-8.
Showing some life under Singletary. See notes to Texans. On the bright side, you have as many wins as the Chargers this year.
25. Jacksonville Jaguars, 4-9.
Mr. Del Rio, you have won exactly as many games as the Cleveland Browns have. And their starting quarterback this week is Ken Dorsey. Even with all the injuries, other teams haven't sunk this badly. Horrible.
26. Kansas City Chiefs, 2-11.
At least they're a young team, and may improve. Maybe. Coach Edwards, do you like your quarterback, Pig Pen?
27. Seattle, 2-11
. Their TE, Carlson, looks good. Another collapse that's hard to explain, even with injuries. Buh bye, Fatass Holmgren.
28. Oakland Raiders, 3-10.
The irony is that if Al Davis had sat his decrepit ass still with Little Lancie Kiffin, maybe, just MAYBE, the Raiders would have won a couple more games through sheer dint of consistent leadership. Meaning, with 5 or 6 wins they'd still be theoretically alive in the wacky AFC West. This team is a fucking mess, and has been for years, and there's no one to blame but the Meddling Corpse himself. A fucking disgrace to the NFL.
29. St. Louis Rams, 2-11.
When you're a worse team than the Raiders, already noted as a fucking disgrace to the NFL, you think I'm going to find a single nice thing to say about you? You're out your fucking mind.
30. Cleveland Browns, 4-9.
How's that division title thing going, bitches? Ken Dorsey is your starting quarterback. Your coach is all but fired. You're back to rebuilding. I piss on your grave.
31. Cincinnati Bengals, 1-11-1.
OK, at the outset of the season, I predicted the Bengals would go 3-13. No, said the experts, they can contend for the division. No, said my MGS peers, they won't be that bad. Well holy motherfucking sheepshit, I
estimated the sheer depth of their ineptitude. Yeah, whatever, Carson Palmer missed half the season. Bengals sucked when he was in, too, so whatever.
32. Detroit Lions, 0-13.
They could... go... all... the... way. Michael Crabtree, your fate is sealed.
Last Edit: Dec 12, 2008 at 16:44 by Finnegans Wake
Out of my mind on Saturday night...
Finnegans Wake
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Karma: 12199
Posts: 22,513
Re: Week 15 Power Rankings
Reply #1 on:
Dec 12, 2008 at 15:50 »
OK, crunched the numbers, just pasting here instead of inserting it through my previous. According to the calculations, this week's Ravens-Steelers is a clash of the titans!
Baltimore Ravens 105.2537
Pittsburgh Steelers 85.4113
Philadelphia Eagles 81.1302
Tennessee Titans 73.4112
NY Giants 69.7647
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 40.1302
New Orleans Saints 38.9403
San Diego Chargers 37.2436
Carolina Panthers 35.7097
Washington Redskins 33.6336
Arizona Cardinals 33.5488
Miami Dolphins 26.2959
NY Jets 23.1447
Dallas Cowboys 22.9961
Minnesota Vikings 22.3062
Green Bay Packers 19.6660
Chicago Bears 17.1193
Atlanta Falcons 16.1718
Indianapolis Colts 5.5698
San Francisco 49ers -5.0455
Buffalo Bills -5.0737
Houston Texans -14.9284
Jacksonville Jaguars -23.9810
New England Patriots -24.8093
Denver Broncos -36.4192
Cleveland Browns -66.1778
Seattle Seahawks -73.5286
Oakland Raiders -85.6113
Cincinnati Bengals -93.8608
Kansas City Chiefs -101.2509
St. Louis Rams -122.9336
Detroit Lions -123.7229
Out of my mind on Saturday night...
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Have a cup o' joe.
Re: Week 15 Power Rankings
Reply #2 on:
Dec 12, 2008 at 15:56 »
And read all of the the Finmeister Meisterfin's power rankings
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Finnegans Wake
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Re: Week 15 Power Rankings
Reply #3 on:
Dec 12, 2008 at 17:21 »
Based on my projections, I'll run some early playoff scenarios.
Wild Card Round
#6 Baltimore Ravens @ #3 Miami Dolphins.
A repeat of the week 7 game, that Baltimore won 27-13. Don't see much reason the result would be different. Ravens' thunderous D would shut down the Fins (or, alternatively, the Jets or Patriots if they won the division).
Ravens 30, Dolphins 16.
#6 Philadelphia Eagles @ #3 Arizona Cardinals.
Another rematch, and like the Ravens-Fins this one switches homefield without altering the end result. Eagles won 48-20 at home, but do it on the road by nearly as much:
Eagles 34, Cards 18.
#5 Tampa Bay Bucs @ #4 Minnesota Vikings.
Yet another rematch, switching fields. Vikes lost 13-19 on Nov. 16, and have some question as to who will be quarterbacking. Is home field enough to win against the Bucs? I'll say yes.
Vikings 17, Bucs 13.
#5 Indianapolis Colts @ #4 Denver Broncos.
Two teams with questions on D, questions at RB, and explosive passing games. Colts are on a 6-game win streak, and I project them to win their next 3. Broncos don't impress me as a real mover this year.
Colts 30, Broncos 24.
Bye: Tennessee Titans, Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers, New York Giants.
Divisional Round
#6 Baltimore Ravens @ #1 Tennessee Titans. Good. Let the Titans deal with them. Another rematch: Titans took the week 5 scrum in Baltimore 13-10. Expect another like that, only the Ravens seem to be the team on the rise.
Ravens 19, Titans 13.
#6 Philadelphia Eagles @ #1 Carolina Panthers.
It's all about momentum: the Panthers have it right now, but are they peaking early? Eagles could be a dangerous draw.
Panthers 23, Eagles 21.
#4 Minnesota Vikings @ #2 New York Giants.
Giants are balanced enough and playoff seasoned enough to expose Minnesota's flaws.
Giants 24, Vikings 17.
#5 Indianapolis Colts @ #2 Pittsburgh Steelers.
time, we don't piss the game away. Revenge is sweet.
Steelers 27, Colts 20.
Conference Championships
#6 Baltimore Ravens @ #2 Pittsburgh Steelers.
The thud of two ferocious defenses settling the score for a third time... Steelers' D comes through with vengeance.
Steelers 19, Ravens 10.
#2 New York Giants @ #1 Carolina Panthers.
Panthers' run comes to an end, as the Giants get healthy again.
Giants 27, Panthers 24.
Super Bowl
NY Giants v. Pittsburgh Steelers.
Steelers get another chance to atone for a blown game, and Bruce Arians pulls his fucking head out of his ass by some miracle no one can explain. Steelers' offense comes to life, finally.
Steelers 38, Giants 17.
Out of my mind on Saturday night...
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Re: Week 15 Power Rankings
Reply #4 on:
Dec 14, 2008 at 22:03 »
Nice job, as always. I do think Atlanta runs the table and edges out Philly for the last wild card - anyone who ties the Bungles deserves to have it bite them in the ass. Despite the win against Arizona, who is completely a creation of the horrid NFCW (they are now 3-6 outside their division), I don't think Minny is that good. Atlanta will find a key road win down the stretch there, and the mighty NFCE sends one team to the playoffs.
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Master of the figure-four leglock
Re: Week 15 Power Rankings
Reply #5 on:
Dec 17, 2008 at 12:07 »
Quote from: Finnegans Wake on Dec 12, 2008 at 14:50
30. Cleveland Browns, 4-9.
How's that division title thing going, bitches? Ken Dorsey is your starting quarterback. Your coach is all but fired. You're back to rebuilding. I piss on your grave.
31. Cincinnati Bengals, 1-11-1.
OK, at the outset of the season, I predicted the Bengals would go 3-13. No, said the experts, they can contend for the division. No, said my MGS peers, they won't be that bad. Well holy motherfucking sheepshit, I
estimated the sheer depth of their ineptitude. Yeah, whatever, Carson Palmer missed half the season. Bengals sucked when he was in, too, so whatever.
Great analysis overall, but these two were my favorites of the bunch. After all the hogwash I had to hear all offseason about how signing Mr. Pulledhammy and trading for a couple defensive lineman was going to put the Clowns over the top, well let's just say it's been quiet in these parts since about week 4.
I piss on your grave
. LOL, couldn't have said it better myself.
As for the Bungles, well, I just enjoy them sucking.
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Factory Head Noland
this wiki
Noland (ダツラ Datsura) | |
[[File:File:185px-Emerald Factory Head Noland.png|125px]] | |
General | |
Hometown: | Unknown |
Region: | Hoenn
Family: | Unknown |
Friends: | Unknown |
Class: | Factory Head |
First Appearance: | Pokémon Emerald |
Factory Head Noland (Japanese: ファクトリーヘッド ダツラ Factory Head Datsura) is the first of the Frontier Brains in the Hoenn region. He is called the Battle Factory Noland. He has the same title as Thorton but they aren't related.
[show]In the Games
After you defeat 20 trainers in a row at the Battle Factory, Noland will appear and fight you with 3 random Pokémon for the Silver Knowledge Symbol. He will challenge you again after you defeat 41 trainers in a row for the Gold Symbol, using random Pokémon like the first time.Noland wears a red cap a long greyish/white coat which he leaves open with a short sleeved shirt tucked into trousers with a belt and red shoes which he tucks his trousers into.
In the Anime
In the anime, it seems that he has befriended an Articuno, which he uses to battle Ash's Charizard. He flies with Articuno every night in his plane. He is an aviator and he fails every time, which is the reason why he has befriended Articuno. He was on one of his nightly flights and he saw a bird Pokémon hurt; that bird Pokémon was falling down from the sky. He realized that bird Pokémon was Articuno and he had to save it. So he made Articuno fly on his wing and saved Articuno. Articuno liked him and they became friends. His assistant at the factory questioned him why he did not catch Articuno, but Noland has never given him a proper answer.
In the Manga
Emerald Arc
He battled against Emerald and lost but he enjoyed talking to Emerald as Emerald also has knowledge. Though afterwards he was found lying on the floor knocked out after sometime. Everyone thought that Emerald was the culprit, but he proved his innocence. Afterwards he awakened after being knocked out, and was trying to solve the message on how to be able to ask a wish at Jirachi.
Noland's Battle Sprite |
In Anime
Venusaur, Rhydon, Golduck, Manectric | |
Machamp, Rhyhorn,
Lairon, Camerupt, Pinsir, Sandslash | |
Trapinch |
Factory Head Noland | Random | Random | Random |
First and Second battles | Level - | Level - | Level - |


text:
A light pasta dish loaded with shrimp, zucchini and fresh tomatoes. A perfect dish when summer tomatoes are at their peak.
I like it a little spicy but if you're not a fan of spicy food, you can omit the red pepper flakes. This takes no time to make, in the time it takes the pasta to cook, the shrimp and vegetables will be cooked. Top this with some really good grated cheese like Pecorino Romano.
Shrimp and Zucchini with Bowties in Light Tomato Sauce
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Size: 1/4th of recipe • Old Points: 7 pts • Points+: 9 pts
Calories: 366.9 • Fat: 6.8 g • Carb: 51.6 g • Fiber: 3.8 g • Protein: 26.6 g • Sugar: 2.1
- 1 lb shrimp, shelled and deviened (12 oz peeled weight)
- 8 oz uncooked bowtie pasta
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
- 2 shallots, diced
- 1 zucchini, julienned or cubed
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup fat free chicken broth
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
- cooking spray
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- salt and fresh pepper
While pasta cooks, heat a large skillet until very hot. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Season shrimp with salt and pepper and add to hot skillet. Saute for about 1 minute, until almost cooked through and remove from heat. Set shrimp aside.
Add olive oil to the pan, lower heat to medium, add shallots and garlic and saute until golden, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and season with salt and pepper, and cook about 1 minute. Add zucchini, saute another minute. Add chicken broth, red pepper flakes and mix well. Return shrimp to the pan and simmer 30 seconds.
When pasta is cooked to al dente, drain in a colander and add pasta to sauce. Mix well with the sauce and adjust salt and pepper. Add chopped parsley and serve. Top with some really good grated cheese!
Yields a little over 1 1/2 cups per serving.


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Author Nicholas Zakas assembled this collection of best practices as a front-end tech leader at Yahoo!, after completing his own journey from solo hacker to team player. He also includes rules recommended by other industry authorities. Use these tips and techniques to help your team set aside individual preferences and function at a higher level.
Nicholas C. Zakas is a front-end consultant, author, and speaker. He worked at Yahoo! for almost five years, where he was front-end tech lead for the Yahoo! homepage and a contributor to the YUI library. He is the author of Professional JavaScript for Web Developers (Wrox, 2012), Professional Ajax (Wrox, 2007), and High Performance JavaScript(O'Reilly, 2010). Nicholas is a strong advocate for development best practices including progressive enhancement, accessibility, performance, scalability, and maintainability. He blogs regularly at http://www.nczonline.net/ and can be found on Twitter via @slicknet.
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Good book
By wojo
from Cary, NC
About Me Developer
Comments about oreilly Maintainable JavaScript:
As a javascript noob, I thought it was a very helpful book to teach me some best practices for writing good code.I liked that they brought up having a javascript build system towards the end of the book, but I didn't find the how-to format of it very useful at this point.
(1 of 2 customers found this review helpful)
Great Resource -- And Not Just For Teams
By Steve
from Boulder, CO
Similar to the story Mr. Zakas tells, I began using JavaScript in the '90s as a minor component of web development, accreting knowledge as necessary without much systematic effort. In the last few years, that once minor component has become major, often THE major component of a web project, and my helter-skelter approach (I call it BF&I — "Brute Force & Ignorance") to writing JavaScript has started to reveal its deficiencies — and now this book has found its way into my hands at just the right time.There are three main sections here: "Style Guidelines" (e.g. spaces or tabs, naming conventions), "Programming Practices" (keep JavaScript out of CSS, keep CSS out of JavaScript, etc.), and "Automation" (he's in favor of it). In each section, Zakas recommends best practices, always providing thoughtful arguments for and against his recommendations and good alternatives to them.With his advice, judiciously employed, I've begun to square myself away, and although this hasn't made me a rock-star, it has increased my productivity and decreased my stress-level, and with a good set of standard practices building up I can spend more energy improving my programming skills rather than struggling with my work flow. Mr. Zakas writes "[T]hese techniques are really aimed at a multideveloper environment in which there are many engineers all working on the same code", and probably that is the best use, but even a solo freelancer, like myself, can find a lot of good counsel here — we're always, after all, collaborating at least with our future selves.The only criticism I have of the book is the singular use of Ant to describe automating build tools, a choice that makes the "Automation" section of the book less widely applicable, and mostly uninteresting to me, at least for the time being.Mr. Zakas has an engaging style, devoid of the forced goofiness that often plagues tech-writers. Confidant in his own abilities and respectful of the reader, he consistently provides valuable and enjoyable reading. I'll be reading this again, soon.
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Ever JS developer should read this book
By milkman
from new york
I learned a ton from this book, it made me a much better developer and made my code last much longer out in the wild.
Great book
By Rogelio Morrell
from Panama
Should be standard for any entry level developer
(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
Think you don't need it? You're wrong.
By Annabel
from Austin, TX
About Me Designer, Developer
Nearly ten years ago, 37signals published a book called "Defensive Web Design." And I remember reading a bazillion reviews of it that said, basically, "This stuff is OBVIOUS."Oh yeah? Of course it's obvious, except you're not doing it! Nowhere is the Curse of Knowledge more obvious than in website UX design, where we just assume that of course people know how to [enter a phone number/make a purchase/search your site]. In truth, the people who dismissed the book out of hand are probably the ones who needed it most."Maintainable Javascript" reminds me a lot of that. It starts as basic as it gets, with code formatting--indentation, brace positioning, spaces around operators, stuff like that. It continues to principles like DRY, separation of concerns, and so forth. It's stuff we all know. And yet, it's so easy to find code being written right now that violates all of these principles... usually under the claim of "I'll go back and clean it up later" or "formatting doesn't matter" or "I gotta get this feature done by EOB today" or some other excuse. Everybody knows better, but sometimes, when you're just knocking stuff out in a hurry... Reading this book is rather like reading a book about the damage that unhealthy eating can do, after you've been on a diet for several months and have felt the benefits but started to backslide. For anyone but a rank beginner, it's a refresher, not new information. But we need that reminder of how important it is to maintain those good habits, or maybe to add a few to our toolbox.Two thumbs up for clear writing, good examples, and general usefulness.
Great for Front End Developers
By Atom Bomb Speedster
from London
The use of JavaScript has radically changed over the last decade or so, transforming from being used for simple form validation and eye-candy into an entire webapp development system within its own right. This book is ideal for people who know the language, but wish to apply it more professionally within commercial projects that are heavily dependent on good JavaScript. It is also ideal for contractors who need to know the most common practices for deployment and testing in a nutshell.


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Kupperman Comics Featured in Adam WarRock Fundraiser | |
Written by Jen Vaughn | Filed under misc, Michael Kupperman, audio | 27 Jun 2013 11:18 AM |
If you're a geek, like hip hop and have ever been on the Internet, chances are you've heard of Adam WarRock. Having made his unique brand of pop cultural indie hip hop, the emcee has rapped about everything from Downton Abbey to Ron Swanson in his three years of releasing free music to the Internet. Fantagraphics and Michael Kupperman donated some comics from Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 2 just for you if you donate to his donation drive. If you've ever been to a Kupperman/WarRock version of the Crimestoppers show, you know the magic they possess dressing up and rapping as Albert Einstein and Mark Twain.
From the press release: Through July 3, Adam WarRock is having his Third Annual Donation Drive. Not only a chance to give back for all the free music he's released, donors of any amount will receive: a new album, a live video concert, and a digital comics package that includes comics and more from Michael Kupperman as well as Oni Press, MonkeyBrain, Nedroid, Atomic Robo and more.
Adam and I go waaaayyy back professionally. We hosted the 2010 Nerdlinger Awards together pre-SPX at Atomic Books and I designed his first set of shirt. Here Euge (center) and I are handing Fantagraphics' cartoonist Drew Weing his Nerdlinger award for Best High Seas Adventure, Unpronouncable Name or something silly like that (the awards are beers, people). So for fun, music and Kupperman comics, donate to a worthy cause.
(photo credit: Toby Craig)


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The best boyfriend in the world. He is a real charmer and will do anything for someone he loves. Eli is outgoing, passionate, strong, caring, truthful, artistic, funny, cute and overall amazing. All the girls fall for him but he only focuses on one girl.
wow. Eli is amazing. His girlfriend sure is lucky to have him.
xXNiNgAXx가 작성
2011년 06월 05일 (일)
Eli is a pretty cool dude. He's really funny even though sometimes he doesn't even try. He can be a total jerk sometimes but he's pretty easy to forgive. :) He usually likes techno but sometimes other stuff. He thinks shiny stuff is pretty great, and sometimes can get a little protective over it. He can talk alot or sometimes be sorta reserved. Kinda a nerd but doesn't show it. Electronics? Heck ya. Facebook? You bet.
Go find out for yourself. Eli's pretty awesome.
2011년 04월 15일 (금)
Adj. (ee-lie) - The state of being so high that one is unable to function.
Dude you're eyes are so fucking toasted! I think you've gone full Eli!
SwagDaddylol가 작성
2012년 11월 07일 (수)
The sexiest person alive! With perfect hair, perfect face, perfect personality, perfect body, perfect, smile. Some one who is strong with abs. Has beautiful dark chocolate brown eyes. Big hands and big feet too. Which means a big penis ;]. Crazy in bed, and his penis inside a woman would make you want him more and more and make you horny for his dick. You would want to have sex with him over and over and over because he got you so wet you would want more of him inside you. And his cum is warm it fills you up. He will make you moan so hard and you wont be able to walk after having sex with him. You will want him. He could get all the ladies he wants but only in love with one person. Probably in love with that person forever.
Girl- I love you Eli
Eli is such an amzing person
Eli is such an amzing person
bILLY U N ME가 작성
2013년 11월 09일 (토)
Eli is an amazing guy. He is shy sometimes and gets really shy when a girl he likes is near him and his friends. He is crazy funny, but will call you out if you say something stupid, but in a funny way. A lot of girls fall for him, but he doesn't know it, and if you try to tell him he won't believe you. When compared to celebrities he denies everything. He's very athletic and super gorgeous. Sometimes he'll forget important dates or plans that he's made, but will make it up in the fute. He won't let you down.
"Eli! Today's my birthday! Not tomorrow!"
"I know, beautiful. But, that's when I want to...take you out."
"Don't call me gorgeous like Edward Cullen. I look nothing like him."
"Yes! You! Do!"
"I know, beautiful. But, that's when I want to...take you out."
"Don't call me gorgeous like Edward Cullen. I look nothing like him."
"Yes! You! Do!"
ILoveThatCurlyHeadedOne가 작성
2012년 12월 16일 (일)
A wonderful person that tries their best to make you smile. May have a slightly dirty mind at times but you know you enjoy it! You want to bond with them when you meet them, you are attracted to them. Always cracking jokes that make no sense to anyone, unless you have a mind like theirs. Seems sweet and peaceful to everyone till you get to know them. When you make them mad, they honestly get dangerous. Can kick ass if nessissary. Very dare devilish. Loving person and you know you love them, even if you don't except it. Very caring on a deep level, romantic even. Just a sweet, lovely person.
Eli is such a great friend, always making stupid jokes to make me laugh.
Flyhatcher가 작성
2013년 10월 13일 (일)
The most amazing guy in the world! He is a gentleman and he is very loyal despite his past. When he says he loves you he really means it. He isn't the most popular guy in school but if you know him you are very lucky :D He will stand up for what he believes in and isn't afraid defend his girl. He is very handsome and is not afraid to show his country side.
Eli: I can't sleep cause I can't stop thinking about you
Girl: OMG!!! Your sooo sweet! :D
Girl: ......And then he said he couldn't sleep cause he couldn't stop thinkng of me :D :D :D :D
Friend: Thats Awesome! He must be an Eli
Girl: OMG!!! Your sooo sweet! :D
Girl: ......And then he said he couldn't sleep cause he couldn't stop thinkng of me :D :D :D :D
Friend: Thats Awesome! He must be an Eli
JolieluvsEli가 작성
2013년 06월 13일 (목)


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Murano Art Deco Blue and Silver Heart design Keychain
Price: |
$1.03 |
Item Number: |
Estimated Delivery: |
Thu. 5/7 - Thu. 5/14
Weight: |
0.12 |
Impress your guests with the elegance of our art glass favors. Inspired by the artisans of Murano Italy, these handcrafted Murano like glass key chains are stunning and will wow your guests with it's elegance and style. From Cassiani collections exclusive Murano art deco collection this elegant solid heart design handmade Venetian like glass keychain is made of blue and silver colored art glass and attached to a high quality metal key ring holder. This favor is sure to impress your guest with it's sophistication and elegant design. Each of these unique art deco key chain favors are handmade and because of that no two are exactly alike. They come packaged in high quality two piece white gift box and stamped with our authentic "Murano Art Deco" logo . Each keychain measure approximately 3.5" in length.
Availability: |
Ships in 1 - 2 Business Days |
This product will be shipped from New York. See below for transit time (in business days) for UPS Ground Service.
Transit times do not include order processing time. See shipping info for details.
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Heavyweight Landscape Edging Kit
This 4"H edging is the heaviest weight vinyl edging that we offer but is still flexible so that you can install in irregular-shaped areas. Holds up to string trimmers and other abuse for many years. Vinyl edging kit is easy to install and gives your landscaping projects a professional look. Features patented locking connectors and is made from 100% recycled materials. Includes four flexible 4-ft. sections, four connectors, eight anchoring pin adapters and eight anchoring pins. 16-ft. combined length. USA made. Specify color: black or green.
2015 Master Catalog: Page 343
(based on 1 review)
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By juniata
from Pa
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Comments about Landscape Plastic Edging Kit - Heavyweight:
If you are using around curves, there are'nt enough connectors and the stakes are too flimsy.


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Cooled-Shipped Sperm Quality's Effect on Fertility
One vet said sperm quality thresholds his team identified can help veterinarians in making better breeding decisions.
Photo by Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse
Top Equine Reproduction Studies of 2014
Studies covered biofilms, chilled and frozen semen, endometritis, placentitis, oxidative stress and fertility, and more.
Photo by Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse
Equine Life Stages: Stallions and Mares
Stallions and broodmares require special care. Learn how to keep breeding horses healthy.
Photo by Vince Cook
Cooled-Shipped Sperm Quality's Effect on Fertility
May 01, 2015
One vet said sperm quality thresholds his team identified can help veterinarians in making better breeding decisions.... Read More
Top Equine Reproduction Studies of 2014
January 20, 2015
Studies covered biofilms, chilled and frozen semen, endometritis, placentitis, oxidative stress and fertility, and more.... Read More
Equine Life Stages: Stallions and Mares
December 04, 2014
Stallions and broodmares require special care. Learn how to keep breeding horses healthy.... Read More
Post-Thaw Semen Quality Tested
June 10, 2014
Non-sperm cells in fresh semen release an enzyme during freezing which could decrease thawed semen quality.... Read More
Seminal Plasma Removal Not Needed for All Stallions
March 22, 2014
While seminal plasma removal can stabilize sperm before cooling, that stability didn't affect pregnancy rates.... Read More
Breeding with Frozen Semen
January 08, 2014
The benefits of using frozen semen when breeding a mare are numerous. ... Read More
Stallion Semen Tests: Which to Use and What Do They Mean?
September 12, 2013
Learn what different semen evaluations can tell veterinarians about a stallion's fertility.... Read More
'Cheap 'n' Easy' Method for Evaluating Stallion Sperm Described (AAEP 2012)
January 27, 2013
Researchers studied the use of Dip Quick stain for examining sperm morphology with positive results.... Read More
Single Layer Centrifugation Benefits in Horse Breeding
April 20, 2012
SLC can help breeders address problems associated with breeding both stallions and mares.... Read More
Approach to Assisted Equine Reproduction
March 14, 2012
Rob Foss, DVM, of Equine Medical Services in Columbia, Mo., describes reproductive technology for horses.... Read More
Stored Semen Processing Method Evaluated
January 13, 2012
A scaled-up single layer centrifugation method improved stored semen quality.... Read More
Artificial Insemination: What's New?
December 01, 2011
Precise timing and specialized tools are the mainstays of successful equine insemination.... Read More
Assisted Reproduction in Horses: Practical Usage (AAEP 2010)
February 06, 2011
Technology is an amazing thing--especially technology that allows veterinarians to produce live foals from horses with very poor fertility and even from those that have died. A number of assisted reproductive technologies for horses have been ... Read More
DHA Positively Affects Semen Quality
January 12, 2011
Various supplements are commonly given to breeding stallions in hopes of improving semen quality, but conflicting reports exist on their effectiveness. Researchers have found, however, that the supplement ingredient DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid found ... Read More
EVA Confirmed in Great Britain
December 10, 2010
A breeding stallion in West Sussex, England, has tested positive for equine viral arteritis (EVA), according to a report filed by the British equestrian magazine Horse & Hound. The confirmation of the EVA was announced Dec. 8.... Read More
Cooled Shipped Semen Quality Impacted by Collection Centers
December 02, 2010
When it comes to the quality of cooled shipped semen for artificial insemination (AI), all semen collection centers are not equal. They're far from it, in fact, according to a new study by Austrian researchers. The huge variation in the quality ... Read More
Building a Horse Breeding Shed
December 01, 2010
Before you open a horse breeding operation, carefully consider the facilities and equipment required.... Read More
Horse Reproduction Trends And Tools
December 01, 2010
Whether reproduction occurs through natural breeding or artificial insemination, techniques and tools exist to help mare and stallion owners achieve their final goal: a complication-free conception, a problem-free pregnancy, and a healthy foal.... Read More
10 Steps for Successful Artificial Insemination for Horses
December 01, 2010
Artificial insemination (AI) is today's breeding standard for many types of horses. To find out how to make our readers' artificial insemination programs more successful, The Horse went to two recognized experts in equine artificial insemination... Read More
Icelandic Volcano Disrupts Semen Shipments
April 15, 2010
The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano has closed airports and canceled flights in Europe, leading to the suspension of equine frozen semen shipments at the height of the breeding season.
Jamie Anderson of Equine Repr... Read More
Semen Centrifugation Speeds Examined in Study
January 17, 2010
Theriogenologists typically recommend low centrifugation speeds for separating equine semen from seminal plasma in ejaculate, as it was unknown whether higher speeds would damage the cells. However, higher forces did not damage sperm in a new s... Read More
Breedings to Deceased Stallions Offered Via Injection Technique
November 17, 2009
A reproductive technique called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), in which a sperm cell is injected directly into an egg, has resulted in foals from many mares that were no longer able to produce. However, it might be equally as... Read More
Sexed Equine Semen Available Commercially in 2010
November 12, 2009
The ability to have stallion semen sorted for sex-selected foals is being offered on a commercial basis through a new alliance between Sexing Technologies and Equine Reproduction Innovations. The use of sex-selected semen in conjunction with... Read More
Equine Semen Extenders: Effect on Bacterial Growth and Sperm Viability
October 20, 2009
Preliminary results of a collaborative effort between researchers at Oklahoma State University and Texas A&M University were recently presented at the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians in San Diego, Calif. These... Read More
Stallion Hygiene Key for Improving Frozen Semen
August 22, 2009
The semen of some stallions tolerates freezing well, while the semen of others does not. Researchers are trying to discover the reasons for this in order to develop freezing protocols that decrease the variability of sperm, thereby increasing th... Read More
Related Topics
Related Multimedia & Downloads
Farm Call: Your Questions Answered
Q. We are getting ready to breed our mare to a stallion whose semen is only shipped frozen. Does using frozen-thawed semen instead of cooled semen reduce the chances of our mare getting pregnant? Generally, any time you manipulate semen, the per-cycle pregnancy rate decreases. The rate should be highest for fresh semen, then shipped semen, followed


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COMM4030 - Public Relations Prac Glob Soc
Fall 2011 Globalization has propelled mainstream organizations to rethink business plans and conduct strategic planning from a new perspective. As a result, the practice of public relations requires a new dimension: understanding the culture, media, economy and political structure of the country in which the organization operates or seeks to operate. Students enrolled in "Public Relations Practices in a Global Society" can earn credit by taking the course at RMU or through participation in an international experience and preparing a research document reflective of an international PR issue. 3 Credits |
Schedule Book for All Active and Available Future Terms, Course starting with COMM4030
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You are using an old web browser. Such browsers do not support modern web technologies and do not offer proper security. Please update your browser or download one of the others suggested for free. Mozilla Firefox | Google Chrome | Internet Explorer | Opera
Enter multiple entries. Just use a different email address and names from the same household. Its a sure thing for the Super Bowl http://www.papajohnscointoss.com/?utm_source=753952&utm_medium=CoinTossKickoff1202013&utm_campaign=2012753953&cm_ven=ExactTarget
Make post sticky on:
I dont think there are any of those in the NY/CT area. Which brings me to my weird question. Why is it in the northeast there are less franchises then other places. For example in NY/CT area we have Wendy/Mcdonald/Burger king but if you go south you have those and about 20 others? WTF
I have been looking for a Jack in the Box for years. I traveled 2 hours out of my way when I was in North Carolina once to go there. Back when in the days gone by when Hitman was young, there were much more but now nothing on the east coast. No In and Out Burger, No Jack in the Box and so many others. Weird question but dont have a weird answer for ya. Maybe its the tax issues or franchising fees or something.
jack in the box and in n out I think were always only west, never had franchises in the northeast
Jack in the Box used to be in New Jersey when I was a kid. I would always get stoned and get their tacos and when I was really wasted get their triple decker burgers. There was 1 Jack in the Box in North Carolina and I found it when I traveled to Asheville a few years ago. But otherwise I dont see em very often.
The nearest IHOP to me is two hours away. I love IHOP and anytime I am out of town I always have breakfast there.
Some of you might think I am crazy, but I actually do not care for Papa Johns Pizza. I will have to pass on this offer but will share it with my friends. Thanks.
To be honest and you want to talk about crazy. I have never been to Papa Johns. Have not been to Pizza Hut since 1990 something. And havent been to Dominos in at least the same amount of time. I guess I just frequent my local pizza guy to support small business.
already signed up for 2 tails.
Thanks for the link Pizzas not on my menu lately but hard to say no to a slice of free pizza
Im not a big pizza eater but wth its free so


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Visual Studio Code
Apr 29, 2015
Some little, loveable features I've discovered about the new Visual Studio Code IDE.
3D Printed Tiny Sea Creatures
Mar 12, 2015
The other day I used a FormLabs Form 1+ lithographic 3D printer to print some tiny sea creatures. Here's the result.
Presentation at ASB
Feb 19, 2015
Today I talked to middle school students who already have enough ambition to join the Code Club at their school, stay after hours, and learn about writing software. Kudos to all of you students, and good luck learning about software. Here's a summary of what we talked about for your reference.
Command Monkey
Feb 11, 2015
Learn to command IoT devices with the power of your voice and JavaScript from end to end. We'll start with Cortana integration to a Windows Phone app running JavaScript, then we'll build a simple Node.js service, then use the power of web sockets to push messages down to the waiting monkey. A pretty cool code path if you ask me.
Windows Phone Emulator on Windows 10 TP Build 9926
Feb 4, 2015
After upgrading to Windows 10, I wasn't able to run the Windows Phone Emulator. Here's the fix.
SnagIt 12 Tip
Feb 1, 2015
I recently bought the latest version of TechSmith's awesome SnagIt program and I just want to share a quick little tip that really improves my life.
Jan 26, 2015
A short, philosophical rant about the nature of the very popular, modern maker movement.
PowerShell Profile That Enables Posh Git and Azure
Jan 25, 2015
Take a little time out of your day to sharpen your axe. In this article, I'll talk about how to create yourself a PowerShell profile that persists through system reloads because it hard links to your OneDrive folder. I'll also show you how to sprinkle some code into your profile that allows you to use a standard PowerShell window to call Azure commands and to get full Posh Git integration. No more opening the Azure PowerShell or the Git Shell. Just open PowerShell.
A Simple Model using Fusion 360
Jan 19, 2015
...and codefoster waxes ineloquently about the future of 3D modeling and printing. I'm still a baby when it comes to Autodesk Fusion 360, but that's not going to keep me from showing you the basics. I guess you could say I learn by teaching :) In this video, we'll create a very basic model, and I'll use the opportunity to introduce you to a few basic concepts in this very cool 3D modeling software.
Jack in the Box
Jan 13, 2015
I just had a new boy and his name is Jack. This is the story of how I made his first crib.
Microsoft Exam 70-532 Study Guide
Jan 10, 2015
I'm currently studying for Microsoft exam 70-532. Here's how I study and a copy of my study guide for you.
Tweet Monkey!
Dec 8, 2014
No monkeys were harmed in the making of this project.
This Week on Channel 9
Dec 6, 2014
I recorded This Week on Channel 9 with Steve Seow this week
Using Visual Studio to Write Node for Devices
Dec 6, 2014
You can write Node apps and put them on devices and watch cool stuff happen, but you can dramatically simplify the process if you employ Visual Studio as your editor. We'll look at the many productivity benefits of the IDE, we'll see how to use Gulp to deploy and run our app, and we'll see the awesome power of remote debugging.
The Intel Edison
Dec 1, 2014
An index of my articles regarding the Intel Edison.
Writing JavaScript for an Intel Edison
Nov 25, 2014
Learn how to writing robust software using JavaScript for an Intel Edison device.
Taking Twitter by Stream
Nov 25, 2014
Twitter says "Don't call me. I'll call you" with their streaming API.
Open Existing Node.js Project in Visual Studio
Nov 24, 2014
It's easy enough to create a Node.js project in Visual Studio using the Node.js Tools for Visual Studio, but what about creating a new project when you already have the Node.js project?
Project GoChute
Nov 22, 2014
Have you ever wanted to take an aerial selfie from REALLY high up, but can't afford a drone? Try a GoChute.
Setting up an Intel Edison
Nov 20, 2014
This is a guide to getting started with the Intel Edison.
The Azure CLI
Nov 12, 2014
The web portal for managing your Azure subscription and all of your services is very powerful, but more powerful still, IMHO, is the ability to quickly do everything you want right from a command line using node.js and very short, intuitive commands.
I had one gripe with the Microsoft Band... Now I have zero.
Nov 9, 2014
For the most part, I've loved the Microsoft Band I bought the day they went on sale. There was just one little thing I didn't like, and I've recently discovered that it's not a problem.
The Place for Styles in HTML and XAML
Nov 8, 2014
The HTML and XAML UI languages treat styles a little differently and you may be left wondering which is best... which is right. Let's have a look.
Things a Web Developer Should Have Memorized
Nov 5, 2014
There are a few things that are critical to the day to day function of developing for the web platform. Here's a run down of the ones that come to mind.
12 Things to Do Before You Start a Presentation
Sep 30, 2014
A lot of us are not only writing code, but we're standing up in front of our peers - either virtually or in the flesh - and we're talking about writing code. Before I give a presentation, here's what I do to be sure my system is rock solid and ready to go. It doesn't always work, but it's pretty good insurance.
Recursion Plain and Simple
Sep 24, 2014
Recursion is the simplest and most complex of topics. Let me explain.
Web API or WCF... Which Way to Go?
Sep 4, 2014
Perhaps you have some experience garnered with Microsoft hugely capable WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) but you've been seeing a lot of chatter about Web API. Which direction to go? Let me see if I can help.
App Images
Aug 18, 2014
Images to represent your app are very important, because they're often the first thing a potential user sees and the first opportunity to convince them your app will add value to their day.
I'm On a Boat
Aug 11, 2014
This is a scheduled blog post. I'm currently on a boat.
Git Cheat Sheet
Aug 5, 2014
A PDF Git cheat sheet for the masses.
Acquiring Images Without Committing Plagiarism
Aug 4, 2014
Bing and Google bring back image license information that you can filter on... you know, to avoid being a thief.
One Strong Case for Windows RT
Aug 1, 2014
Windows RT has never pretended to be the power house that Windows 8 is, but still some people get a little worked up about it.
OSCON 2014 in the Rearview Mirror
Jul 29, 2014
A chat with Olivier Bloch from Microsoft Open Technologies at OSCON 2014.
Top 5 Things C# Developers Hate About JavaScript
Jul 28, 2014
Many C# Developers have a hard time loving JavaScript, and some number of them downright loathe those days when the next story in the queue involves some client-side scripting. As I see it, there are 5 big reasons why.
10 Most Overused Tech Terms
Jul 23, 2014
There are a few words that have caught on in the tech world, but if you're in marketing right now and pondering printing a poster with one of these words on it, please reconsider.
Jul 21, 2014
codeShow is a app for learning to make apps. It's very meta in that way. The whole project is an open source project with community contributions. Use it to learn the web platform and Windows app development.
Tapping Into Your Localized Resources Using JavaScript
Jul 20, 2014
Many developers (hand raised) are neglecting to take advantage of other cultures and thus other markets and thus other revenue streams by simply implementing localized resources in their app. It's simple enough to add your data-win-res in your HTML, but what about when you need to do the same thing from JavaScript?
Free Microsoft Oakley backpack
Jul 20, 2014
I'm giving away a Microsoft branded Oakley backpack to a random person that leaves a comment to this post.
Windows Phone Keyboard
Jul 17, 2014
The software behind the keyboard on my Windows Phone astounds me.
Microsoft's Vendor Specific CSS Prefixes
Jul 16, 2014
It's not as easy to discover the browser functionality offered by vendor prefixes as it is the standards. Let's have a look at the Microsoft prefixes (-ms-).
A Grand Voyage
Jul 15, 2014
I'm fixing to sail off in a 38' boat.
That Was Good... This is Better
Jul 14, 2014
I am launching a new version of codefoster.com and I'm using BetterCMS for the content. I'm always thrilled with a new system when I first plug it in and this is no exception. I think, however, that I'm going to like this one a lot longer and a lot more.
Bring it on OSCON!
Jul 14, 2014
I'm going to OSCON in Portland this year. Are you? In the article, I'll enumerate a few of the technologies that I think are hot and worthwhile and likely are going to be the sessions I'll tweet and write home to mom about.
Introducing CodeChat
Jun 24, 2014
Introducing CodeChat. A new weekly polycast by codefoster.
The Semantics of HTML and XAML
May 19, 2014
HTML is less verbose than XAML, but it's often times harder to figure out what's going on with a bunch of div's on the page. How do you determine by looking at your HTML what's going on with the styling? Shouldn't it be more like XAML - easy to read?
App States and Activation Kinds
May 8, 2014
The difference between PLM and ALM and an introduction to the various possible states of a Windows app.
The Why and How of DreamSpark
Apr 7, 2014
Microsoft loves giving software away to students.
How to take a nap
Mar 7, 2014
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is take a nap.
Don't make your app boil the ocean!
Mar 4, 2014
As developers, we like to solve hard problems, but sometimes it's the simple ones that end up really helping (and attracting) end users.
8tracks for Windows 8
Feb 17, 2014
An interview with Paul Tidwell about his awesome 8tracks app for Windows.
Why Azure is Running the Sochi Olympics and Not AWS
Feb 14, 2014
Azure is running the media for the Sochi Olympics and with good reason. Azure delivers powerful services that go well beyond mere infrastructure.
App Dev Entry Points
Jan 30, 2014
Sometimes the hardest part about getting started with app development is knowing where to start. Here's my take on the entry points.
What's Microsoft Doing for Students?
Jan 10, 2014
Microsoft is huge on students. Here's an attempt to enumerate the offerings you might want to check into if you're a pupil.
Microsoft Insights
Oct 28, 2013
Looking forward to a nice little chat about Microsoft Learning opportunities with fellow technologists.
Where to Start
Oct 18, 2013
Which monitor do you want your Start Screen to appear on?
Death of the PC... I Think Not
Oct 18, 2013
It gets a little old hearing people stereotype and pigeonhole PCs and call for their demise. It's not entirely right or wrong. It's just entirely cliché.
Giveaway - Prometric Exam Coupons
Oct 16, 2013
The Design of Rustic Citrus - Interview with an Indie Game Dev
Oct 14, 2013
Rustic Citrus is a groovy word game for Windows 8.
Student Resources
Oct 13, 2013
Create Something
Oct 10, 2013
Game On Events
Oct 8, 2013
My Q&A with Indie Game Dev Studio, Random Salad
Aug 29, 2013
A couple of young, indie game developers offer up an interview and an opportunity to learn how you too can get into game development.
Going Paperless
Aug 27, 2013
It's been the goal for a really long time - let's get rid of paper and live digitally. Well, how are we (people... humans... earth dwellers) progressing and what more can we do to get there?
Windowing in Windows 8.1
Aug 25, 2013
Learn how to control the window that your modern app appears in and how to control it using not only touch and mouse, but even keyboard.
Easy Caching in WinJS Apps
Aug 24, 2013
Sure you can set up official caching, but you can also use this little feature of WWA (Windows Web Apps) to just take care of it for you.
Extending that Splash Screen
Aug 23, 2013
It's all about giving the user a good experience and getting off of that static splash screen as quickly as you can is a big one.
Did you know about Microsoft HomeOS?
Aug 23, 2013
An operating system for your house.
Let's Go MoDev!
Aug 8, 2013
Mo is for mobile. Dev is for development. Put it together and you've got a conference in Seattle for all things mobile development.
Zen Coding
Aug 7, 2013
The All New codefoster.com
Aug 7, 2013
Woohoo! Welcome to the all new codefoster.com website.
Cutting through the noise
Jul 8, 2013
As an application developer, you're trying to communicate with your users in a sense. Not so much like an author is, though. An author can only communicate information, ideas, and the like, but an app developer can communicate behavior as well as information. You have the opportunity to make your users feel empowered as well as informed.
Prometric Exam Giveaway
Jul 3, 2013
5 Ways to Be Effective
Jun 6, 2013
Children of the Nations
May 17, 2013
UW Seattle Student Appathon
May 1, 2013
App Art
Apr 15, 2013
CorelDRAW App Tile Template
Mar 29, 2013
A CorelDRAW file that will get you started making visual assets for your app in no time.
Push Notifications for Specific Users
Mar 18, 2013
Ready to start developing for Windows 8?
Feb 11, 2013
Content for Boise Code Camp
Feb 4, 2013
Azure Websites
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This is my index of good and mostly free images, video, audio, fonts, etc. I end up referencing this post all the time. I hope you use it as much as I do :)
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Mark Hurst Talks About Listening
Mark Hurst is an entrepreneur and writer concerned with the idea of "good experience"—in particular, what enables or detracts from meaningful experiences of creativity, technology, community, and life. Every spring in New York he runs the Gel conference, spotlighting heroes and innovators of good experience in a variety of fields. There are many videos online of past Gel talks. Hurst also writes Good Experience as a blog and email newsletter for tens of thousands of readers. In 1997 Hurst founded Creative Good, a firm devoted to helping business create better experiences for their customers and employees.
UX Magazine contributor Michael Grossman spoke with Mark about his views on creating good experiences, getting companies and executives to care about good experiences, and how UX professionals might need to rethink their approach to advocating for UX. You can listen to the recording (below) or read this transcript.
- Michael Grossman: I'm Michael Grossman for UX Magazine. I'm speaking with Mark Hurst. Mark is the creator and host of the Gel Conference. He is the author of the book Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and Email Overload. He's a blogger. You can see his thoughts at goodexperience.com. He shares fun online games for the iPhone and the Web (also at goodexperience.com), and maintains online job postings for those looking to create good experiences. Mark, thank you for taking the time to talk with us today.
- Mark Hurst: Sure thing. Thanks for having me. And you might also throw into the mix the consulting firm I run called Creative Good.
- Grossman: Where can people find out about Creative Good?
- Hurst: Creativegood.com. It's actually both a consulting firm. We advise companies on customer experience and do a lot of customer research. And we also run something called The Councils, which is a peer executive network for managers, directors, VPs and above who are working on a customer experience of some sort. And we've got about 420 members worldwide and it's growing.
- Grossman: Good, and I think that's a good lead into to what we want to talk about today, which is to cover some important components of what it takes for user experience professionals to successfully create good experiences. So I wanted to begin with your views on listening, a topic that's really important to me and should be to anyone designing and delivering products today. Sometimes it's difficult to sell the idea of, "I want to go out and talk to customers," if the people in power at the company think they know enough. "I know what my customers think; I don't need to go and actually talk to the customers." So this is things I've heard from other folks in the field. What would you do to help them to go back to the company and say, maybe that's not such a great idea?
- Hurst: Well, generally the interest level in listening to the users flows from the top of the organization. If the CEO on down is saying things like, "I heard about a new bright shiny object on the golf course, and that's what we're doing now, and forget about any kind of user research," that's a corporate culture that's probably not going to embrace a lot of authentic listening or research—almost no matter what the UX professional says. They're simply not at a position in the organization to change the CEO's mind on that point. So in those cases I would recommend that the UX professional look for a different job. Just to put it bluntly—I mean, we have to be pragmatic about it.
- On the other hand, there are plenty of organizations where there is at least lip service paid towards listening to the customer even if it's not totally acted out. In those cases the lever here is for the UX professional to ask—either gently or forcefully depending on the situation—ask the person in charge, "Hey, you talk about listening to customers. When's the last time you saw a customer in person. I mean, like talking, so that you could listen? Since you talk about listening." And challenge them, or invite them, or however you want to present it. Again, it depends on the culture and the moment and the situation. But bring it up somehow to try to join the lip service with action.
- And most of the time executives, if they tell the truth, will reveal that they have never seen a customer. It's not that they do it once a year or once every two years—they've actually never once in their career done it. Because we have a corporate culture in the US (and I think the US is more customer-centric than other countries in our business culture), so even in the US, we say a lot about listening to customers, but executives tend not to really do it. There are things that pretend to be listening-to-customers, but aren't in reality true listening-to-customers. And that, as I said before, I think is a core mission of UX professionals today. It should be to include the company in this transformation towards becoming actually a more customer-centric organization. But that requires doing other things than what's often done in the profession today.
- Grossman: Yeah, and I think to help, if going through a transformation you need help—and I've had help in the past just by if you have someone that is a champion of what you're trying to do, that helps. Are there some tools, or presentation things, or something you could do to recommend for the user experience professional that's out there that's swimming upstream that, even if they can't the CEO, maybe they can get some other folks around him to help to champion a Listening Lab?
- Hurst: Well, for your readers and/or listeners who weren't at my presentation last week at the UPA, I'll say something—I'll repeat something I said there. There are two ways to try and be listened to as a UX or UI professional. One is to convince everyone else in the room that you're smarter than they are, or more famous, or cooler, or more fashionable, or something like that.
- And this is the route (this is one of my provocative things), I think this is a route that the UX profession chooses almost all of the time. They load up professionals with complex frameworks, obscure semi-academic language, and buzzwords. And we teach our professionals all of these tricks of the trade, so to speak, to go into meetings with stakeholders and justify their existence. "I am the expert who will own the user experience. And look at my vast selection of tools and verbal resources that I can throw at you to convince you that yes, you have hired a well-trained professional for the job." And I guess it works because companies have hired a lot of people who, in a way, are being rewarded for that behavior. I think it's fine as far as that actually is able to effect some change in the organization.
- But I'd like to suggest a different way which some people use—I think not the majority. It's subtle, and it's got a lot less ego attached to it and, in the end, it's much, much more effective in my experience. And this method is to say: I'm not trying to become the owner, the expert owner, of the user experience. I, as the UX professional, am simply a facilitator. I am trying to facilitate a conversation between the organization and its users. And to that end I'm going to use plain, simple English. I'm not going to hide behind complex frameworks or jargon. I'm going to speak the language that stakeholders understand about improving business metrics, and I'm going to invite them to watch the customer in something I call a "Listening Lab" (or you can use whatever term you like), but we're going to have a session to listen to customers.
- I will facilitate conversations with the customer and then I will facilitate conversations within the stakeholders. These stakeholders will be present and they'll actually see a customer. For some of them, for the first time in their careers, they'll actually see a customer. And we're all going to speak a plain, simple language to each other about what we heard, what we observed, and what we heard when we listened to the customer, and how we can make the customers life better by improving our product, and thereby improve the business. That's a completely different approach from coming in with a nine-point matrix of the whoseywhatsit.
- Grossman: And it almost naturally has a… making this whole thing cultural automatically versus, you know, I've been at companies where you have your own usability department or user experience department where if it does become a fiefdom type of approach like, "I own the listening channel," that doesn't seem to go that well.
- Hurst: Well, if you're in an environment where you need to build a fiefdom in order to survive, it's good to acknowledge that. And you have to ask yourself, is this how I want to spend the majority of my waking hours in my life, doing this? Is this meaningful enough? Maybe it's time to look for another job. There are organizations out there that—there aren't many yet—but there are some out there that live and breathe the kind of alternative method that I just described where the stakeholders… I mean, it's less that there's a user experience department that owns this off in the corner, and it's more that the whole company buys into this.
- Years ago, I wrote a column in Good Experience called Usability Professionals Should Disappear—and yes, it was meant to be a little provocative—but it's essentially the same message I'm saying today, which is that usability is not something that should be owned and jealously guarded. It's something that should be shared and imbued throughout the organization, and in fact should be an invitation for others outside of the profession to take part in it. And the only way to authentically issue an invitation is if you let go of it first. You know, I can't give you an invitation to my party if I have it clenched in my fist. And unfortunately I feel like a lot of the time the academic track, and the books, and conferences, and the training programs teach UX professionals how to build a high wall or a high ivory tower around their profession so that nobody else can get in except the elect few.
- And that's why we have thousands of professionals around the country all saying the same thing: "Why don't stakeholders listen anymore? Why don't I feel like I'm having an impact?" Well, you put yourself in a fortress, that's why. So people should come down from the tower and speak in the language that the rest of the company is already speaking in, and try to make human-to-human connections between customers and the executives in the company. All kinds of great things happen at that point. If they don't—if things don't start happening right away when you try that—then you're in the wrong place. Find a better job where the organization will appreciate that more genuine approach.
- Grossman: It's not easy to implement a Listening Lab within a company that, at first, is resistant to one. What can you do to maintain that once you've got it implemented, to keep the spirit of what having a Listening Lab is about?
- Hurst: At that, if you've already gotten started and you've run a couple of these, and you're looking at then how to extend the progress and the success of that initiative, at that point you are ahead of about 99.9% of other organizations and professionals out there. So you've jumped from entry to black belt training at this point. There are some tips and tricks in there, which I can't take credit for. I look at other organizations where people have been fighting this good fight for a few years.
- And this is actually where I would point people to Council members who are doing this within companies and they can tell stories about setting up a dashboard of their results—their quarterly results—or maybe another place will have weekly labs and there's a standing invite. Some companies actually tie executive compensation to metrics within the customer experience. That really gets their attention, when their bonus is tied to this stuff. There's any number of tools.
- But see this, Michael, this is the kind of session that I would like to see at a user experience conference. Not yet the hundredth time we've talked about the same tactical methodology, but this much more important set of questions about how do you get the organization involved? How do you continue your success after you've done this, and what are some case studies? By the way, why are user experience events always full of user experience professionals? Why aren't there stakeholders who've converted to this mindset and will tell their own case study about what they're doing? There aren't more of those going on. This is the worldview that I take when I look at the conferences, books, academic tracks, and training workshops. There's a much more important set of issues for user experience professionals to address and they're mostly not being addressed right now and there's a huge opportunity to dive into that.
- Grossman: So on that topic, have you seen the way companies are structured where they're placing user experience professionals over the last five years or so? I guess where you're placed in an organization can lead to whether you're successful or not.
- Hurst: Well, I'm not sure how well I can speak to that because I don't track HR trends or team structure trends—who's being appointed to which positions. So I can only give a couple of random thoughts. One is that many of the most customer-centric executives that I know of in business today do not have any formal usability or UX training. They don't have a master's degree in the thing. They're not seen at the conferences and the various places that you might look for user experience professionals. And yet, these are seriously customer-centric executives who are listening to customers, making changes based on their feedback, and measuring the results. Everything that UX is supposed to be about, they're doing.
- And I have to say, I don't think that's a coincidence that there's that disconnect. I think that there are people who are just really passionate about customers, and they grow into these roles and suddenly they're the VP of product. And, unfortunately, what I think happens is when they need some extra bandwidth for more tactical jobs they say, "Okay, let's go out and hire in an interaction designer and a user experience director," and that kind of thing. And these people then get plugged into more tactical roles. "Let's do a touchpoint map," and "let's look at these ten different user flows and make sure that the buttons are in the right place in each case." Those are important tasks, but those are tactical not strategic.
- The strategic work is not being done by UX professionals. And, of course, the UX professionals do what they're asked, and they do good work, and then a few years in they say, "You know what, I really feel like I'm not having a strategic impact on the organization." That's how I see it shake out. Again I'll say I think there's an opportunity for the UX community to begin to talk about more strategic issues, and spotlight better case studies, and start reaching out to people to learn—to learn really what they need to do to help their respective organizations do this work better, being led by a UX professional rather than the very rare executive who happens to get it on their own.
- Grossman: That speaks to things you see within companies that do deliver good experiences. Are there any other common traits that you see within companies that they have in common?
- Hurst: The single most important driver for a customer-centric company is to have a CEO who gets it. That's, by an order of magnitude, the number one most important thing. And so it's not hard to come across case studies of companies that get it. I write about them, I spotlight them at Gel, and a lot of them are council members. They're freely available at these companies. People who really want to work in such organization should pursue open positions at those companies.
- With that said, there are mammoth organizations out there that have dozens of business units, some of which get it, some of which don't. And in those cases you want to look for a business unit that's headed up by somebody who seems to be doing this sort of work well. The funny thing (I think I pointed out at my talk last week) is that the key driver of success in creating a better user experience has nothing to do with the website or the technology. The key driver is political. And you wouldn't know that from the agenda within the conversation of the community that you see, which tends to be all about the technology and the methods as I've said.
- But it's really about the people—user experience is about people, customer experience is about people. I've been advocating for customer experience for thirteen years, and the first word in that phrase is "customer." It's about the people. And the better you are, the better an organization is, at listening to people and hiring in people who can listen, the better it does.
- I'll give one other pointer. One thing that I always recommend to user experience professionals who are interested in this alternative method that I'm espousing here, I always recommend that they look outside the discipline for material. Look for companies, for speakers, for books, that have nothing to do with the user experience profession, but which seem to have a bent towards listening and empathy and making change on behalf of somebody else.
- One such resource I've pointed people to for years now is a book called Setting the Table written by a guy named Danny Meyer. He's (depending on who you ask) one of the, or the top restaurateur in New York City. He owns, I think, eight different restaurants here in New York and they're consistently rated the highest—the best in New York. And he wrote a book—again, it's called Setting the Table—about imbuing his organization with a sense of hospitality. And he talks about what hospitality is—meaning how to always want to do the best for the customer—and, most importantly, how he hires people who have that knack for hospitality, and how he manages those people to continue delivering hospitality day after day after day. Because that's really the business they're in.
- I think if user experience professionals would put down the academic tome for a season and pick up something like Setting the Table, they would learn so much about what they need to do in their careers to help transform their organization. They'd be surprised by what they'd learn.
- Grossman: That reminds me a lot of what they tell authors or chefs or people that… when you talked about having the user experience professional go outside of their tool sets, it's sort of what others in other fields are told to do to make what they do a lot more rich. So you mention Danny Meyer, which I think leads us to the Gel conference. I think he's spoken at Gel before, correct?
- Hurst: Yes, '06 or '07, yeah.
- Grossman: So what are the things that user experience professionals will get from this year's Gel? From attending Gel, what would they get that they might not get at other conferences?
- Hurst: Well, Gel's a conference that I've run since 2003. The acronym stands for Good Experience Live, and it's a conference that is about good experience. Not user experience, because that's freighted with all sorts of professional associations and methodological associations. Gel's about good experience. And here's the way I like to describe it to the user experience professional: have you ever been to a usability or a user experience conference where the experience of the conference wasn't so great? I'm not talking about anybody in particular. Everyone can probably think of their own example.
- Isn't it ironic that, whichever conference that was, a conference that purported to be about user experience was not itself a good experience? What if there was a conference that was so committed to the idea of good experience that is actually made the conference itself a good experience? In fact, what if that was the founding vision of the conference? That's what Gel is. Gel is a conference that teaches good experience by creating a series of good experiences throughout the conference.
- And it's a subtle design. I don't really talk about it explicitly at the conference, but it exhibits itself in many different details of the event and it's so subtle that some people don't get it until the end of the conference or, in some cases, months later. They say, "Now I understand what Gel is about and it's… wow! It's given me so much material to work with in my job." So what I don't do at Gel is hold a bunch of workshops on different UX methods. What I do do is create opportunities for people to have direct good experiences from which I invite them to pull the patterns out by themselves. If you take just the superficial look at the agenda you say, "Oh, this sounds fun. This looks interesting."
- I talked to someone yesterday who said, "Yeah, I looked at the agenda and there's like a scavenger hunt or something? Why would I go to a conference for a scavenger hunt?" I said, "Yes, it sounds like all fun and games, right?" No. I mean, it is fun, and people do have fun there, but the idea is to go and, let's say, get a tour of Brooklyn Brewery by the brew master himself and then sit down with the brew master and have a beer and cheese pairing of artisanal beers, artisanal cheeses, that the brew master picked out himself as he tours you through the details of each pairing. That's an experience that you can't get anywhere else and that's something meaningful and rich. It's a learning experience. It's unique. It's a good experience.
- So after you have that experience as part of your Gel experience, you come away and you say, "Man, that was good. Wow!" And then my invitation is well, what made that good? Well, let's see, he was personable. He was honest. The guy in charge came through. There was something authentic about it. There were connections to different… and I say, okay, those patterns—how can you apply that to whatever you do in your work? How can you bring in more authenticity, more richness, more connections, more personability? How do you do that? Those are the elements of good experience that I wish user experience professionals would build their career on. Not, "I know this method, I know this method."
- Grossman: Well those methods also usually have a shelf life, whereas what you're talking about probably will last beyond our lifetime as opposed to the latest style sheet techniques.
- Hurst: Listen, there's nothing wrong with methods. I mean we need to know methods, we need to know about style sheets. But that's a tactical learning you can pick up in a couple of days or you can read a book on that. It's learning of some tactical methods. It's no problem. But yes, if you buy into these more underlying patterns of authenticity and interconnectedness, listening and empathy…
- Last year we had one of the best sleight of hand magicians in the world, Jamy Ian Swiss, came to Gel and he spoke and he did, I think, three magic tricks in his talk. But his entire talk was about, as he put it, the most important skill for both magicians and user experience professionals, which is empathy. And some people told me that was the best part of the conference for them because the sleight of hand magician taught them something that they can now use for the rest of their career.
- And, by the way, that talk is at Gelvideos.com. It's free and online, people can watch it right now. But that gives you a sense of what I'm trying to communicate and accomplish with Gel. It's intensely related to user experience and I frankly wish that the user experience community would pay it a little more attention because we don't get enough professionals coming out of the woodwork to come to Gel.
- Grossman: I've attended Gel in the past and one thing I really enjoyed outside of the amazing speakers that you have and the day-one experiences that you are firsthand experiencing. You'd actually get a beer and some cheese as opposed to a PowerPoint about beer and cheese. But this unique blend of people that attend there, that was almost as important as… just to see all the people around me and to get to interact with them and talk to them about how we do all this stuff and it wasn't just a bunch of the same type of folks that you see at other conferences. Was this organic or was this something that you strove for when putting Gel together?
- Hurst: Well, it's both. I mean, I strive for these beautiful things that happen at the event, but they are, at the same time, organic. Gel is a very bottom-up event. I don't tell people what the event is about because I don't presume to tell them what it's about. It's about something different for every person. But it is nice to see that diversity of attendees show up. The name of the event is Gel, after all. The idea is we're taking diverse sources, diverse material, diverse people and we're putting them together and we're seeing what comes of it. It's mostly out of my hands, but usually by the end of the event it really does feel like the group that has been there with us for two days Gels at the end. It's a really neat experience.
- As for how, people ask me sometimes how this very diverse set of people hear about Gel, I don't really know. I post it online. I don't really advertise or anything. I think what happens is the right people hear about it and the right people come. It's not a conference constructed for a certain profession, so you don't have everybody from the same profession. And it's also not a conference that offers something easily definable like access to the rich and famous. That's not something people are coming for and it's not something that has anything that the press has shown much interest in up to this point.
- So the people who are coming are not coming for the wrong reasons. They're coming for whatever they heard was good about it, which presumably came from word of mouth and from people who've been in the past. So it tends to be a really cool crowd of people—really enthusiastic for the event and, as people have told me over the years, there are really no jerks there. I mean, everyone's really cool.
- Grossman: I can attest to that. I really enjoyed and was inspired and learned a lot from going to it in the past. When and where is Gel being held this year?
- Hurst: It's April 29th and 30th and it's being held in New York as it always is. And we're in the Times Center again this year, which is the theater in the New York Times building in Midtown.
- Grossman: Well I look forward to seeing you there, and thank you so much for taking the time to talk today.
- Hurst: Sure thing Michael. Thanks a lot for inviting me.
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I just visited your website and noticed that you don't have a one-on-one footer chat bar for your users.
I would like to introduce you to CometChat - a Facebook style floating chat bar. CometChat includes some great features such as video chat and 2-player games. It also integrates seamlessly with your website.
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Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any queries whatsoever.
Warm Regards,
Rebecca Jones
CometChat Sales
There is a good book on UX that focuses on selling UX within companies and building teams it's published by O'reilly named Effective UI. I thought about it when you were referencing all of the books written that build walls vs help introduce more of a UX culture within an organization.
Thank you Michael for helping me with this...
Besides my team and my supervisor nobody knew what UX is when I arrived. All of a sudden the clients were told that we're not going to design their website first, but we're going to design the UX first and then the website. Since then, everything is a nebula to them.
"When they hire someone new in HR or legal, do they mistrust their role/methods?" - No, I don't think so.
"Do people in other departments have to attain "trust" in order to do their work?" - I work here for 7 months, I'm not sure, It's an old world wide respectable institution with a very individualistic culture. Nobody can define what it is or what's the secret of being happy (professional wise) working here.
"Could it be that the person/group that hired you presented you to the company in a way that created this situation?" - It might, never thought of that. I was indeed introduced as the UX/front-end engineer who redesigned W3C website, who built this and that ... anyways, taking their culture and the extrinsic way of embracing new things, I guess they preferred to lock themselves and be very skeptical about this new "UX" guy :)
What did you fail at? Did they hire you to evangelize UX or create great products?
I was hired to create not evangelize. Although since hired I held a lot of presentations/talks evangelizing UX and the importance of it.
I'm failing at engaging the people for whom I'm building the product. When I'm saying: I'm building this for you, because you're going to be using it and I need your help because I don't have expertise in your field etc. they're afraid to take responsibility for their products and probably other person from inside it's going to do the same thing.
In the end 60% of the project is going to be designed and produced based on my guesses with no way of measuring the success nor the failure.
Another conclusion that I took from this is that as an UX professional you need to speak your client's language and be extremely versatile. They need to understand you with their own words ... and then, maybe, if you dress and smell nice they might be more responsive :) ... I don't know ...
Thanks a lot for this...
Amazing interview, really inspiring ...
I have a question though...
I played both roles that Mark was talking about: the "I am the UX master" and "I'm just bridging between you and the target audience" and people still have hard time seeing the value of UX.
Very few of them get it, some of them become UX experts over night and next day they teach you ...
A conclusion that I can take from my experience is that you need to be known within the company in order to be trusted. The bigger the company the more time you need to be there as an employee...
I got hired with "I am the UX master" and then I tried both ways and failed since then. Lately I think that reading about psychology and human behavior might help more than actual UX methodology and techniques.
I would love to hear your opinion on this.
Thank you,