Sarah Doody
Here’s a quote I love …
Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn once said, “if you’re not embarrassed by your first release, then you launched too late.”
I heard this saying years ago and always share it with my consulting clients. But as with most “sayings” it’s much easier to say than it is to apply.
Quick update on what I’m working on and hopefully some lessons you can apply to your own projects!
First up, the re-design of the website for The UX Notebook. This week I did some quick feedback sessions with readers of this weekly newsletter as well as some other people in the UX industry. I wanted to get some fresh eyes on the project so that I could make sure I wasn’t stuck in a silo.
I’ve been beta testing a program about UX portfolios recently. When I first had the idea, I did some research and then, armed with my research, I went to work and created the curriculum. But here’s the thing, I didn’t stop doing research once I launched the product. I’ve continued to research as I’ve been building this program.
How do you validate your idea? What happens when you don’t validate your idea?
A friend of mine works in sales and has been watching me slowly venture into the world of online courses. While at lunch a few days ago he said that he wants to start doing online courses as well. I immediately blurted out, “you have no idea how much work it is”.
Newsflash … nothing is an overnight success.
A lot of people ask me for shortcuts in UX. People want to know tricks and the paint by number way to do something. One thing I know for sure is that there are no shortcuts.
Recently I’ve been telling you a bit more about the behind the scenes of my business so that you can follow along and see how I put into practice what I tell you to do when it comes to product development and design.
Recently I’ve been doing some UX coaching with companies. For these companies, they have their own internal UX designer or team, but they know that they are stuck in the weeds. So, they look to me to be that second set of eyes and coach them on how they can move faster, see what they’re missing, and make smarter product decisions.
I spent almost 4 years living in Portland, Oregon at the beginning of my career. I was young and was fortunate to be hired by a big software company there, so I worked full time and finished school full time. It was a ton of work! But it was awesome to be getting real world experience while I was getting my degree.
Welcome to the last day of Q1 2017! At the beginning of the year, I encouraged you to set monthly goals. It’s easy to get distracted when you have a big grand vision in mind. I know I easily get paralyzed by the big picture. I see the vision, but then I get overwhelmed with all the different paths I could take to get there.
Something’s been on my mind for a while …
Many people email and ask me on Twitter about whether or not they’ll ever like they “know their stuff” when it comes to their role as a designer.