Pearson Street

Wisdom

ericwyman — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:08:13 +0000

I was tricked into appearing on video to discuss mobile web design several months ago. These are the results.

The Omnivore’s Hundred

ericwyman — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:41:17 +0000

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle ?
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

The greatest title sequence you never saw.

ericwyman — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:27:23 +0000

Via artofthetitle

Finally, a user experience diagram I can understand

ericwyman — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:38:07 +0000

The very funny folks at xkcd have put everything you need to know about user experience in to one diagram. After hours of investigation this is referred to in the business world as a 2×2.

100 gTalk avatars

ericwyman — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:43:31 +0000

Someday I see a world where we only communicate through quote and avatar to describe our current situation.

Here are the first 100 avatars that I have used.

Friday’s Cover Art Challenge

ericwyman — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:36:59 +0000

Great activity from Chico de la Bangs en Nueva Yorka, esq.

My attempt:

Photo credit: »¦×мємє»¦×

They called it “strategibility”

ericwyman — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:35:38 +0000

We been doing “strategic workshops” for as long as I can remember and I don’t think anyone has ever really been comfortable with the name. Sometimes it means defining a statement of work, other times it means enduring or giving a presentation, other times it means there’s gonna be free lunch, but mostly it’s about requirements gathering. Not so heavy on the strategy or the workshop. So how do we do that? How do we create an atmosphere where we talk about the strategy of a project exclusively?

UXI Vancouver 2007 – Day 1: Design Strategy

First off, tons of kudos to Brandon Schauer from Adaptive Path for a really valuable and engaging day. I walked into the day not knowing what to expect, but knew there was gonna be value in whatever it was, the question was the pain that was gonna be involved. There was none, even the table activities were a good time and probably the most valuable parts of the day. On to the concepts…

Focus and gain consensus on scope
You can’t go into a project with two unique views of the project’s scope. Make sure the client’s vision and your vision are one and the same. At the same time you need to maintain a focus that allows you to succeed. A single project can’t “fix everything” and it can’t be everything to everybody.
Utilize tradeoffs
Map out the features and opportunities available to design, but unlike typical scenarios where anything and everything is up for discussion make clients make decisions on what is most important to them.

[average score] x [number of items] = [points available]

By listing out potential features and working within “a budget” clients need to make these trade-offs and identify which features are truly most important. Additionally, if you chart the results you can see how these features can shape the strategy.

Accentuate the important, remove the unneccesary.
Explore evolution
Since we can’t do everything in one project, remain focused on how a product will grow. Use a similar method as with feature prioritization and apply it to the features over time. Assign each feature a level of effort (3 for high, 2 for medium, 1 for low) and budget these based on a schedule that allows for [x] points per release. By defining scope in this manner you can focus attention on the important tasks and ensure you actually accomplish them, instead of working form a never-ending “to-do list”.