How organisations stifle good design

An excellent opinion piece by Leisa Reichelt on the challenges faced by designers. Not tricky design problems though. Organisations, politics, ego and immovable complex processes. Sound familiar?

UX & senior management awareness

It seems that (at last) user experience (UX) is beginning to appear on the agenda and in the vocabulary of senior managers. A couple of articles I read recently illustrate the gulf between the corporate and public sectors.

In-house UX advice

A couple of articles for those trying to establish a culture of UX within their organisation. 'UX for the masses' blog is written by an in-house UX lead, focusing on the challenges he faces.

Organisational relationships are essential for good website management

Paul Boag explores the real reasons why projects don't deliver and websites turn bad - people and politics. Thankfully he also provides great suggestions to help overcome these problems.

10 ux mistakes to avoid

Taking the "don't do what I did" approach, this article lists 10 things to avoid as you work to improve the user experience of your website or product.

UX modelling templates & resources

I'm really enjoying a book at the moment - Communicating the User Experience - which takes the reader through a series of techniques, working towards a user centred website or application. Best of all the resources from the book are freely available.

People & strategy over technology

Reading a brief  and spot-on post by Paul Boag (Invest in people and not just technology) set me off reflecting on our situation at the University of Edinburgh. I also did a bit of digging deeper into articles on web governance and how if organisations are really going to have online reputations that match where they are offline, organisationally things really need to change.

Design concept communication case study

A presentation by the founder of foodspotting.com in which she goes through how she turned her concept into reality by communicating her vision of the user experience.

University website complexity

Too much choice confuses. It can paralyse. Matt Klawitter shares his experience working on US university website redesigns, the research that informed and backed up decisions, and the culture that continues to resist a drive for greater simplicity.

UK Government ICT strategy report - what can universities learn?

An interesting summary of a report on UK Government ICT strategy and where they need to up their game. Seemed to me to be the same story I've encountered in 10+ years of public sector web management.

Homepage stakeholder management

How do you maintain the coherency of your homepage, while keeping stakeholders happy? Paul Boag explains an activity he uses to focus the minds of the group all making demands for homepage real estate.