720 Megapixel Picture!  Sydney Harbor by night. Man! What a cool shot!

Working with Me Rules Although I didn't write these rules, I certainly think they apply to me. Thanks to Donna for expressing what I feel about myself....

* I may spend a long time seeming to do very little. Don't panic - I'm thinking. Exactly what you pay me to do.

* I spend a lot of time with earphones in. That means I'm trying to think and concentrate amongst the chatter of an office, not that I'm anti-social.

* If you give me a gantt chart all arranged in linear order, I'll nod and get to the end on time and budget, but not by the path you set.

* I spend a long time gathering information and thinking, and little time producing towards the end. Once I have nailed an idea, all else is straightforward and fast. So if you think I'm going to miss a deadline because I haven't produced much, stop worrying.

* Outputs need inputs - I have experience, but I can't design a good system out of nothing. I need to base it on something. Don't stick me in a corner and not let me research and talk to people.

* Teams are good - I have lots of experience at what I do. But so do you and the team. Let's work together to create something great. Don't make me work by myself and expect me to produce miracles.

* I'll occasionally rant and get passionate. That means I care.

* Give me challenging work, give me time to work through it and we'll get there. Don't expect me to to hard work in the same time I do easy work. That's just dumb.

* If there isn't enough work, I'd genuinely prefer to be at home. I'm not hanging around to chase dollars.

* I hate banging my head against a political brick wall. I'd prefer to be anywhere else - that's just a waste of time.

Good Customer Service Means Dealing With People

Cap'n Dave on JetBlue out of Boston
Originally uploaded by mojohand.

On a Jetblue flight last month out of Boston, we had megadelays. Yet the captain (Captain Dave!) kept us well-informed: he told us about the brake light that was coming on, he told us throughout the process what they were doing about it, and he apologized sincerely for the delay. Ultimately, we had to deplane and board another plane...but throughout the process, we knew what was going on, what to expect, and what the resolution was.
Too bad most companies as well as technological devices & software don't have the same ethics and behavior.

New Bike!

It's Mine!
Originally uploaded by mojohand.

Went to Western NY and picked up my new Moto Guzzi Breva 1100. Scheweet!

Been Busy  Listening to "The Ipcress File"'s main theme...what a great movie, and what a great John Barry score. Anyway, haven't been blogging much atall. Geez...and so much going on: Haditha and militarized borders and defence of marriage (is divorce now going to be illegal? Hardly...ask Newt about that) and the beginning of hurricane season (go to www.spencerbohren.com and click on the image listed as "Spencer's Newest Music"...Get his song "The Long Black Line" for free) and Idol worship and...well, it's just been all out there.
Maybe after I pick up my new Guzzi I'll get back to blogging.

Grand Funk Railroad  ...especially Closer to Home, reminds me of 1971-1972 in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. I remember when my brother Ray brought the album home, its stark black-and-white tower of the heads of Mark Farner, Don brewer, Mel Schacher offset by blood-red "GRAND FUNK" across the left side of the cover. We used to listen to "Mean Mistreater" over and over, and we of course glommed onto "I'm Your Captain"'s nine minutes and fourty-seven seconds of paintive story.

Now, in the CD, I can hear not only the whole 1970 album, but an alternate mix of "Mean Mistreater" along with three live tracks. The true beginnings of heavy metal in the late '60s/early '70s....

Black Cash  Go see 'em!

Great Roads in the C-ville Area  I've been in Charlottesville this week, fighting the GWOT. With great weather and the advent of daylight savings time, I've been able to take a motorcycle ride after work...over roads that are some of the best in the state. From 29's bypass I took 610 northwest to 810 east over to 664 southeast. Yesterday I went up 29 to take a side road that connects with 230 west to Stanardsville, then 810 all the way back almost to Crozet...and back to C-ville.
Those who live here are blessed with the ability to ride motorcycles on great roads. Enjoy!

IA Summit 2006  The summit is a lot of fun this year, both personally and professionally. Actually, it's probably more fun professionally—I'm not feeling 100%, so I'm laying low. For example, tonight was the Adaptive Path free drink night...and I bagged off it. Instead, I ate sushi by myself and came back to the room to crash. Fell asleep watching Lawrence of Arabia, one of my favorite movies.

But Vancouver is a neat city. Liking it a lot.

When is a Blog Not a Blog  I just stumbled onto Clooneygate.

Halliburton Redux  Sheesh. Things like this come out, yet almost none of the MSM cover it...much less the screed-head propaganda arms of the right wing (AKA Fox, Limbaugh, Beck, and so on): Seems that the administration-imposed no-bid company failed to purify water for troops in the field:

Halliburton Co. failed to protect the water supply it is paid to purify for U.S. soldiers throughout Iraq, in one instance missing contamination that could have caused “mass sickness or death,” an internal company report concluded.

Read more.

Deep Down in Florida  Every time I think about Florida, I think about that Muddy Waters song.
Anyway, I'm recovering from the vacation. It really was a fun time, though. We had a great two-day drive to get to St. Petersburg, where the folks are renting a condo.
We took in a Braves-Pirates game in Bradenton, which was great. We also spent some time in Ybor City, but really during the day; we didn't participate in its infamous night life. We also went to Sun City, to visit my father's cousin by marriage, Eve. What a hoot! "Preserve our lifestyle; slow-moving vehicles" is the community's mantra. How cute, really. Then we went to a restaurant by a marina, and afterwards visited a manatee-viewing site at a power plant.
As a side trip, I went to New Smyrna Beach—all the way across the state—to visit Bill Blue. Yup, the ol' denizen of Hard Times and my one-time boss lives there now. He surfs almost daily in season, and he has a recording studio.
He makes guitars, and he still performs. Looking good, too. In fact, he took me out on the beach at NSB. For me it was cool driving on the hard-packed, flat beach. I could see Daytona in the hazy distance north.

Anyway, I'm still working on uploading pictures.

On Vaca...  No entries lately, because we've been on vacation. Right now I'm blogging from a motel in Dilon, SC, on the way home.

Blog Timeline  Heiko links to the New York Magazine's timeline of blogging. Nice to see my old acquaintance Peter Merholz gets his props.

Facing Time  Fast Company has a great quotation about time management. Basically, if work requires us to respond to emails on Sunday, we need to be able to set our time limits to go to the movies on Monday afternoon. That is, if companies require us to be available on weekends and evening, then they should also not look askance if we go to the movies in the afternoon or sleep late.
This morning at klatsch at Wired on Robinson, this topic came up. In too many jobs, it doesn't matter if you work until 10 p.m. or on the weekends—if you come in later than those who surf desks, the perception is that you're a slacker. Unfortunately, corporate management often disparages those who come in late...despite other efforts they make.

PUT-ing Development on the Right Track  I've just written an article for the James River Chapter of STC. It's for their newsletter The Watershed. Here's my central point: Why do we always have time and budget to do things over (“We’ll fix it in the next version”), but we never have time to do things right?
From the article:

I spent two years in Germany, working for an international full-service Internet consultancy. Sometimes we had to check a feature of an application or Web site we were developing. Rather than stop development for a months-long series of usability tests involving video taping, one-way mirrors, and agency-recruited subjects, we relied on the Putzfrau approach. Because Putzfrau means “ cleaning woman,” the idea is to test with someone nearby who’s not part of your specific development project.
We would get someone from another team or department and ask them to perform specific tasks, either on a digital or paper prototype. These quick results helped center the development on user-oriented approaches, rather than technologically oriented ones.
Steve Krug has a wonderful chapter on usability testing in his critically important book, Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. While he takes the informality of usability testing to its extreme, he does highlight how cost-effective informal testing can be.
Rather than spending $10,000 to $50,000 on a series of usability tests, you can perform tests for a few hundred dollars. This approach eliminates the typical response to suggestions of usability testing, “We don’t have the budget for testing.”
We’ve all heard that before. I maintain, Why do we always have time and budget to do things over (“We’ll fix it in the next version”), but we never have time to do things right?

Missing Another Summit  Sadly, I'll be missing the Information Architecture Summit in Vancouver in March. It's too bad, too, because it's my favorite conference & training event. I always learn so much, I always get inspired—even when, like last year, I felt like one of the uncool kids. After a few emails & stuff, I'm feeling much better about that ;)
Still, the IA Summit is an important event in the user experience (UX) world. But try telling that to Central Virginia business leaders. Bottom line: this state don't git it.

Hard At Work

Hard At Work  The Good Humor Band at Poe's on Sunday was, as I said earlier, just simply amazing! Fun, funny, and brilliant. Go to the band's site for their story. You won't be sorry!

Another Example of Poor Usability  The Virginians who want to roll back the estate tax have an example of extremely poor usability. A link purports to take you to a map contrasting states with

So here's the question: what does blue mean, and what does white mean? Without a legend, this map loses meaning.
Sheesh. Yet another example of the dearth of UX in Virginia.

The WayBack Machine in Full Function  The Good Humor Band landed this weekend for its annual wacky music fest. Too bad for those who missed it, and too bad for me to have missed every one since the early 80s. Still, I finally got to see the bad boys of comedy (and musical excellence) for the first time since I went off to the Army way back when.
What a show—or should I say "shows." Saturday night at The Canal Club was fabulous. Great sound, nice stage, and cold beers. With Terry Garland ripping through a flawless set of blues, the evening was set. Even Joe McGlohon's daughter's band did a quick set of 80s covers to warm things up.
But the night belonged to the Humoroids. From "A Cowboy's Work is Always Done" to "Harlem Nocturne," the excellent musicianship combined with, well, good humor, made for a wonderful night.
Sunday afternoon at Poe's Pub also proved to be a never-forgetter. Guests such as Robbin Thompson (who can forget the band's intro to him?), Chuck Wrenn, and drummer David Eggleston's teenage son (is he even yet a teen?)(whose version of "Iko Iko" showcased his second-line skills, while Led Zeppelin's "Rock & Roll" was just short of fabulous) helped create a true party atmosphere.
All in all, I felt taken back to 1979 at the Pass...what a gas!