Category: good idea – bad idea

UX versus ice cream

It seems natural or implied that we all prefer our job to be something we like to do, something that, together with the people we work with, we understand its impact and can feel its effectiveness, how it’s perceived, its potential, expectations and pains from the world it operates in.
Is that the case in your company, or in your project? 

Deep down, for the people it’s aiming to help, your project has a very good chance of not being the choice between:

– solving what ever the problem via your project 
versus
– eating an ice cream this very moment – replace ice cream with what ever delicious craving or spoils apply.

What if it were though?

A UX designer, or Product designer is the kind of role that can build a bridge between your team(s) and the people they’re trying to help, and create together communities. The result, which would make the choice instead of the ice cream, is excitement (even if for some only deep inside – cause “they rocks”) for the results and even (or specially) the process.
Such is inclusion and the melting pot of perspectives that are bringing value – not after you’ve already spent time and money and realized it wasn’t impactful, but from the beginning. It may not be without any errors or provide absolute guaranties – but it will sure make that ice cream seam like something they’d want to share instead of going for it alone. If you have failed, you have failed together, the shoulder that helped in all the effort that failed would be the shoulder that will help you push through understanding and learning from the mistakes and try again, and even a shoulder to lean on when it all feels like a bit too much. You’re not alone – however the more people you did not include their perspectives (or even rejected) the more alone it may feel when it does get difficult – and it will get difficult. But together, it can be a shared stride.

So then:
Do projects in your company last longer than you initially expected?
Does focus shift a bit too much to really call it focus – maybe because the target isn’t very clear – understanding and visions diverge?
Does important information, technical or contextual get ignored, or even siloed, to then spring at you a bit much later than you’d prefer?
Does the result of the effort not exactly yield the expected outcomes?
Did you spend a lot of time working on something that turned out wasn’t quite what was needed?

Say hello to a UX guy or gall, today.

Why so? Such a role would:

  • Help you understand what the people you’re trying to help with your project are really trying to do (they hope that your project will help them).
  • Clarify what the context is for people when trying to do what ever it is they want to do (and which you would be aligned on considering the bullet above) so that you can adjust in order to ensure increased efficiency in the way your project and effort really does help them.
  • Even help you realize things that people maybe didn’t think they want to do but you can build it for them and they would throw money at you because it addresses one or more of their basic needs (like efficiency, certainty, security, entertainment/ escapism, health, connection/belonging, stability, and more).
  • Help you and your team be aware and aligned in understanding the standards and familiarity of people and their context – so that your outcome would be easily understood and adapted, and simplify things instead of adding a level of complexity which can imply a learning curve that adds to the initial complexity of what ever it is that can be helped (before really helping out).
  • If a learning curve is inevitable, help identify where are they getting stuck, identify why that happens and what would avoid such bumps.

There’s more to this, and things are not black or white or binary, like that pressure situation asking for a yes or no, cause “it’s a simple question with two options”.

As a UX Designer, with experience in Enterprise software and familiar with Agile methodologies, and continuous process improvement, I can help.

Let’s talk.

PS. While I know it can help at least with grammar and typos, no AI flavors in this post.

trying your best

I’ve been thinking about this again lately and ended up with this, at different points (same period), so i thought i make a note of it so i don’t forget : )

trying your best has momentary thresholds, it’s actually a very elastic capacity – expanding as you exercise it… you’d be surprised


just try to do your best, you’ll be surprised how far that will take you sometimes

(n-)am spor

“am așa un spor că poți să tai cu cuțitul prin el”

“am așa un spor că poți să-ți faci o haină din el”

“destul spor ca să hrănești toată planeta”

“o plantație de spor”

“nimic nu se compară cu o ceașcă de spor de dimineață”

“trezește-te și miroase sporul”

“ah, ce minuat e să fi tânăr și să ai spor”

“am un spor că aș mânca un cal”

“spor, nu pleca de acasa fără”

“unele lucruri nu pot fi cumpărate, pentru orice altceva există spor”

“all you need is spor”

“Cobori în jos, spor blând,
Alunecând pe-o rază,
Pătrunde-n casă şi în gând
Şi viaţa-mi luminează!”

balada sporului: “zzzz zzzz zzzz”

about shit

I’d like to say a few, or more, words about shit.

There’s that saying, true saying might I add, that “shit happens”.
And it’s very natural, not all things we put in our mouth (and swallow) are useful for our body – not to mention that we’d get even fatter; so some has to come out, the bad stuff or excess / the recycled, the left-overs. Liquid is piss and solid is shit. Well, sometimes shit can be pretty liquid too but for comfort sake let’s not get into details.

But, as I was saying, shit does happen, it’s a natural phenomenon, we share it with the rest of the animals (as they eat too) and we also instinctively associated the word with the bad stuff, just like the stuff that our organism decided that is, well, shit.

And so whenever something bad happens, we tend to make appeal to the word shit, and we have quite some expressions around it too. Surely you must know some, like the simple ones: Oh shit! Shit happens. Shit Happened. Holly shit! or Holly fucking shit! or just Fucking Shit! or Shit hit the fan! or Shit is going down!

And indeed it’s very intuitive, natural. So much so that actually: do you know what makes “shit go down”?
Maybe you do, but in case you don’t here’s the scientific answer: gravity! Gravity makes the shit go down. It’d be floating about otherwise would’t it?

Part II

So we know shit is a natural thing, very much like gravity and we’ve seen the connection how, because of gravity, shit inevitably will go down. Also we’ve remembered some expressions that are present with us in our everyday life as reactions to bad shit.

But about those expressions with shit; though most of them are natural exclamations, just reflecting amazement equal to merely interjections, there have been appearing some shitty expressions too – with shit. And one in particular which is not very rational, not mostly it seams to me, is really bugging the shit of me. Here it is:

“Shit happens so get over it!”

Well… where should I begin?
Yes, as mentioned above, shit does happen, and normally – as it’s not an un-natural thing, not an extra-ordinary thing to happen, we’d rightfully think it’s normal to “get over it” and to see this as the best thing to do.

But if you notice, the incentive here is rather passive in relation to ‘the shit‘. Which I think is a bad idea and can / will lead to passive behaviour regarding shit.
I mean, NO! Don’t JUST get over it! If you say just that then the receiver is tempted to have the excuse to do JUST that, after all, it’s the natural thing to do.

But if we’d do JUST that, we’d be swimming in shit. Not that we aren’t more or less (at least sometimes) already swimming in shit, and I’d say that’s due to such passive attitude.

So again, no, don’t just get over it. Is it yours? Clean it up! Notify the author if it’s not you, the author might be deluded in thinking it’s jelly-beans and might need an awakening; or maybe it is jelly-beans and you could use an awakening. Don’t accept shit like it’s just so natural to swim in it… clean the pool at least now and then.

Now, I must say, sometimes you should just get over it and indeed it’s not very rational to dramatise – but don’t go in the other extreme either. Like: you planned a picnic and it started to rain – I suppose some might be tempted to say shit happened, but it’s just water, you CAN (could) actually swim in it and dance and enjoy the rain. Or you tripped and hurt your self… unless you fell on a spear or broke your neck – it’s nothing, you might be upset as to bring shit drama into it, if so – so be it, shit happens – you’ll heal, indeed not much to do but put a patch on it (but even so you did something – didn’t just get over it).

My reaction is to this incentive for passivity (aware or not). This expression tends to be used when someone might really be down, a wreck, with low self-esteem, low or no hopes, disappointment, the kind of situation when some empathy would be helpful, someone to say “i’m with you” or “me too” or someone to remind them of the successes too, to remind them that failures bring lessons and assure better new tries, better chances for new beginnings, and of how natural it is sometimes to make mistakes or be overwhelmed, that everything can be OK again, just hang on, that they believe in him/her…
The one that is down, to which the shit happened, is so because he/she cares about something (positive) and doesn’t need to be reminded that it happens, they know, they feel it. And your reminder and incentive to be passive (mostly negative) is not really helpful.

An encouragement is usually what’s missing for the needy to materialise own potential in a solution motivated by the care on the situation – a rational / realistic and empathic encouragement. Instead this expression usually motivates dropping the problem entirely, not caring anymore, it suggests so quite aggressively / disregarding.

Also, personally, I don’t recommend getting stuck to sympathy or falling to the coziness of superficiality – artificiality or silver-lining – which is usually bitter and a let down.

good idea – bad idea

Erau nişte desene animate, pe Cartoonnetwork, pe când mă uitam şi eu (şi încă nu erau vocile româneşti), Animaniax, producție Warner Brothers. La un moment dat între mini-episoade era: “It’s once again time for good idea – bad ideea!: it’s a good idea to go ski at the mountains in the winter. It’s a bad idea to go ski in your neighbour’s flower garden in the spring.” (cam asa ceva)

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