Comments for Raman's Blog

Comment on Thanks, User Experience Guys by Adam Scroggin

Adam Scroggin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:40:39 +0000

I’m glad I’m not the only one who couldn’t find the Document properties in Word 2010. How frustrating. We are such creatures of habit. Oh well, can’t wait to see where it ends up in the next version of Office.

Comment on Thanks, User Experience Guys by David Mathew

David Mathew — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:49:32 +0000

Amusing post, I’ve had this same problem for a long time! It’s definitely one of those things that once you train yourself, you notice it all the time whether you want to or not! However, I think over all it has become a pretty invaluable skill, something that will help distinguish us amongst others in our industry. I think most engineers tend to focus on the technical, accomplishing tasks as quickly as possible as that seems like the most efficient way to get things done or adds the most value. This is typically a good quality to have but it’s important to keep a bigger perspective. Sometimes the fastest or most efficient solution isn’t always the most effective or the one that achieves the desired outcome, the most important thing is that you’re solving the right problem. I watched a video yesterday that I thought had some humorous points to think about in this regard. You should check it out: http://www.ted.com/talks/rory_sutherland_life_lessons_from_an_ad_man.html

Comment on Thanks, User Experience Guys by MaTT

MaTT — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:58:06 +0000

This is amazing. Laura keeps making fun of me because I walk around and say things like “wow, well that was a bad design…Patton would be PISSED”, or, “…someone didn’t do any usability testing.”

And, I found myself LAUGHING OUT LOUD at the statement “…should be ’simple’ and ‘easy to use’”…which until this year, I thought were perfectly acceptable desires and requirements!

I was, most definitely, blissfully unaware…and now I see it everywhere I look!

I think this is a good thing, because as engineers we won’t let those little things slide anymore. (Not saying that we have in the past, but being aware is a step in the right direction to getting better!)

Comment on SEP is an ESOP! OMG! by Wilson Senior Care named ESOP Company of the Year | Rehab Centers Network

Wilson Senior Care named ESOP Company of the Year | Rehab Centers Network — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:51:43 +0000

[...] SEP іѕ аח ESOP! OMG! « Raman's Blog [...]

Comment on Story Mapping – Getting Started by Story Mapping – Quick Follow-up « Raman's Blog

Story Mapping – Quick Follow-up « Raman's Blog — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:31:59 +0000

[...] this post, I talked about ways our teams could get started using story mapping (and associated techniques) [...]

Comment on Story Mapping by Story Mapping – Getting Started « Raman's Blog

Story Mapping – Getting Started « Raman's Blog — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:29:05 +0000

[...] our recent training, Jeff Patton presented a structured discovery process centered around the story map and personas, [...]

Comment on SEP is an ESOP! OMG! by Kelly Wilson

Kelly Wilson — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:44:46 +0000

Well said Raman!

Comment on Alistair-style 2009 Resolutions by Tweets that mention Alistair-style 2009 Resolutions « Raman's Blog -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Alistair-style 2009 Resolutions « Raman's Blog -- Topsy.com — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:10:07 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Alistair Cockburn, Raman Ohri. Raman Ohri said: @TotherAlistair My Alistair-style resolutions? More difficult that I expected! http://bit.ly/8fgvIn [...]

Comment on Deliberate Practice in Software by Raman Ohri

Raman Ohri — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:47:00 +0000

That’s pretty encouraging. Still, we would be remiss if we didn’t at least give it a sanity check from time to time to make sure we were still living up to that.

Comment on Deliberate Practice in Software by Todd

Todd — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:20:58 +0000

Wow. There’s a lot to digest there…thanks!

Regarding the Craftsmanship Manifesto, BJB had a talk about that a couple of weeks ago, and it was an interesting discussion. I think there’s plenty of analysis to be done, but what struck me was how many people around the office got tripped up trying to contrast it with the Agile Manifesto because (IMHO) the Craftsmanship Manifesto refinements of the Agile Manifesto are what we around here thought the Agile Manifesto said anyway.

We could probably go through all four points and play the same game, but, for example, when you read “customer collaboration”, did you not already have a picture of a productive partnership with your customer? Yes, there’s some wiggle room in the specifics of “partnership”, but did anyone really think the “collaboration” was supposed to be anything other than “productive”?

Maybe what I’m saying is that I think we’ve been on the craftsmanship road for a long time around here. It’s just part of who we are. It’s part of what we interview for. It’s part of what we indoctrinate new-hires with. It’s part of how we evaluate progress.

…and it’s all a Very Good Thing(TM).