Digital Insights

If you want a transcript of this article, access to the links I mentioned, or to find more reading material and imagery go to the associated blog post.

If you would like a transcript of today's episode, access the links I mentioned, or find more reading material and imagery, please visit the associated blog post.

If you want a transcript of this episode, access to the links I mentioned, or to find more reading material and imagery go to the associated blog post. 

If you want a transcript of this episode, access to the links I mentioned, or to find more reading material and imagery go to the associated blog post.

If you want a transcript of this episode, access to the links I mentioned, or to find more reading material and imagery go to the associated blog post.

Hello again,So I recently had a fascinating discussion with one of the people I coach. She works as a UX designer for an agency and was asking about how she should handle situations where she believes terrible decisions are being made. She struggles to balance speaking up and knowing when to accept defeat graciously.It is a topic I touched on tangentially a while back, but I wanted to discuss it more directly today because I believe it is a balance many people struggle to get right. It is certainly something I struggle with myself.Some people fail to speak up because they lack confidence, while others must learn when to keep their mouths shut and let things go. I will let you guess which category I fall into!You Don’t Know the Whole StoryI have learned over the years that I don’t know as much as I think I do, and any decision probably includes many more factors than I am considering.For example, the user experience must always be balanced with factors like business objectives and return on investment. It is n

Today I will show you why you shouldn’t take me (or any other supposed expert) too seriously. I will contradict myself entirely and, in doing so, show you how context is everything.But before I do, can I be honest with you? You are not supposed to say things like this because you want everybody to think you are in high demand. However, the current state of the world means I am light on work. So, if you need some consultancy, coaching, training, or help to improve your conversion rate, drop me an email. I’ll even throw in a 10% discount if you book in October.I Often Ignore My Preferred ApproachNot too long ago, I shared with you my preferred approach to developing digital services. An approach that began with a discovery project that crucially includes user research.I have even written about what you should do as a minimum in this type of user research.However, if I am being honest with you, I often ignore my own advice. Blindly following best practices can often be wasteful and less effective in delivering r

Hello again,I have found myself thinking a lot about working with others recently. Digital requires us to do that a lot. We work with designers, developers, marketers, researchers, copywriters, and countless other stakeholders.We need the expertise of each to deliver effective websites and digital services. However, balancing those many voices can be challenging and being heard even tougher.Each stakeholder approaches projects with their unique perspective and personality. So it is unsurprising that this can lead to conflict and some voices being drowned out, resulting in simmering resentment.Yet the alternative is not particularly attractive either. Organizations that prioritize consensus do so at the risk of reducing progress to a snail's pace, nobody taking responsibility, and solutions being watered down to the point they please nobody.My Three Techniques to Working With OthersSo how do we run collaborative, cross-disciplinary digital projects without them either grinding to a halt from too many opinions

I cannot tell you how much I hate Gantt charts. Why? Well, because they are the greatest work of fiction since Facebook declared it cared about user privacy.In 27 years of working in digital, I have not once worked on a project that stuck even vaguely to the timeline laid out in the Gantt chart.Trying to map out the entirety of a digital project from the start is a work of futility, and yet, time and again, executives and clients ask for it.The truth of project planning is that we can only be confident about how our project starts. The further into the future we go, the less we know.But, for a moment, let's imagine a world where this was possible. Well, when it comes to a digital project, that is still a terrible idea.Mapping Out Projects From the Start Is a Wasted OpportunityYou see, digital has two distinct advantages over many other types of projects.It has no raw materials as such. No inherent costs outside of labor. Pixels are free.It is easy to gather detailed data about user behavior and characteristic

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