UX lead at allstacks, husband, father, son, brother, designer, learner, teacher, lover of craftsmanship, lover of beauty, disciple of jesus
Four Oaks
Joined May 2009
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At the end of every week, I divide the next page of my notebook into quadrants and personally retrospect: 1) What went well 2) What didn’t go well 3) What I accomplished 4) What I intended to do but let slip
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This week a coworker said that since their childhood they haven’t laughed so hard as they have since joining our team. I can’t stop smiling about it. Work should be a delight!
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A few months ago, I started reaching out to friends/colleagues I hadn’t seen in a while and inviting them out to lunch/coffee. I try to meet with one a week. It’s been incredible. If you start one new habit this year, make it this one.
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Making prototypes is easy. Getting excited reactions to pretty mockups is easy. Getting real value into customers hands isn’t easy. Designers need to be champions of dev traction if they want to stay relevant after they’ve built a backlog of pretty concepts
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As a designer/maker, if you have to carefully track billable hours through the day, your whole brain can never get fully engaged on designing/making. Some fraction will always be minding the clock, and you’ll never do your best work. Dont handicap your craft.
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Luke 2, adapted to have it's 1st century impact:
Walmart employees were stocking shelves at 2am, when suddenly reality ripped apart & a shining divine messenger appeared saying: “Don’t freak out! God’s chosen you to be the first to hear the news that will rock the whole world!
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Long ago, news came to night-shift shepherds, an obscure girl named Mary, & foreign astrologers, announcing a king who will finally bring peace to earth. He will lift up the poor & obscure & bring down the arrogant. Let us seek to be his subjects, bringers of peace. Merry Xmas!
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If you can count on one hand the number of times leadership has praised or thanked you in front of the team this quarter, get out. Leadership is either too negative or too stressed to praise, or they’re unconcerned with discovering what makes you thrive.
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In a recent retrospective I was surprised to hear how much a backend developer appreciated having my UI mockups to reference when building an API. Good reminder that the WHOLE team benefits when we tell the story well- using words, pictures, & activities!
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“We could develop an mvp in 8wks”
Awesome. Could we ship an internal-use alpha in 2wks? Could we ship an alpha to select customers in 4wks? Could we release a beta to all customers in 6wks?
Finding creative ways to ship earlier is easily in the top 3 most valuable design skills.
Something scary you can do in your hotel room is flip through the cable tv channels and realize millions of Americans watch this garbage every day on purpose
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I joined allstacks just over a month ago, so it’s really exciting and humbling to celebrate this hard-won milestone with the team!
Thrilled to share the great news! @allstacksapp secured $4.7M in funding led by @HyperplaneVC to expand the team and continue to meet customer demands for our #predictiveforecasting platform. Learn more now: bit.ly/2P6vuny
#technews #softwaredevelopment #raleigh #austin
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Great teams are comprised of people who are socially perceptive, who take turns talking, who are intentionally diverse. Raw talent isn’t the key. It’s great collaborators.
insight.kellogg.northwestern…
Definitely keep an eye on @allstacksapp, or better yet come work with us :)
So proud of these amazing startups! #RIoTAccelerator #startups @GreenStream_io @allstacksapp #aevalabs
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If you’re not welcome to probe beyond the stated scope of the task, you’re not designing. You’re just drawing.
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I love you @Raleigh_CC and we’ve had a lot of good times, but these invisible steps are pretty dangerous
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Most people who are burned out don’t realize it yet or they’re trying to push through. Know the signs, and take immediate steps. You deserve it, your team can handle it, new possibilities will open, you’ll grow. #allthingsopen mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifes…
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Too often designers will say things like “I’m the only one who can finish this design”. If engineers behaved this way they’d be fired. Design at scale has to have an engineering mindset and actively share ownership. Thanks @yaili #AllThingsOpen
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Sending meeting agendas out ahead of time isn’t just a way to be more organized. It empowers timid, anxious, English second language, etc team members to be ready to participate. Demonstrate that you value their input. Thanks @ladyleet #allthingsopen