Rian is passionate about designing and building software that people love to use. After spending several years working in Silicon Valley and Cape Town, he is currently Product Manager at Postmark, working from Portland, OR. He also blogs and tweets regularly about user experience and product management.
Yes, deliverables can slow us down and result in documentation that no one reads. But the right deliverables anchor teams in a united product vision, provide early validation for product ideas and speed up (the right) making activities. Those are worth the drawbacks for me. “Get out of the deliverables business” has become quite a mantra in the lean startup and UX movements. What follows is an account of Rian van der Merwe’s journey in navigating stormy design seas together with the community. Remember, deliverables aren’t bad. Bad deliverables are bad.
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In the context of software development, a product is the website, application or online service that users interact with. Depending on the size of the company and its products, a product manager could be responsible for an entire system or part of a system. This is confusing because, in most contexts, a product is a thing you sell to people. Product managers often get confused with category managers, which are the team that sources and merchandises the products sold on an e-commerce website. So, yes, “product” isn’t the best word for it, but it’s what we’ve got, But do companies really need product managers? And, if we can agree on that, what are the characteristics of a good one? Also, where does this role fit in an organization’s structure? Let’s explore these questions.
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The best way to sell work to clients is to apply user-centered design not only to the work we produce, but also to the clients who commission that work. Our clients have their own needs that are shaped by their personalities and the political environments they work in. If we ignore that, then the best design in the world won’t mean a thing, because it will never see the light of day.
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The purpose of this article is not to convince you to stop reading articles that help you learn the techniques of your craft. Its purpose is to make the case for a more balanced information diet, with which we all take the time to nourish the parts of our brain that give us much-needed context to understand and effectively use the techniques that we see in galleries and tutorials.
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In this essay, Rian van der Merwe weaves a story about the current state of Internet discourse. At the end, tells us how he thinks we can make it better.
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Design patterns bring many benefits, as well as some drawbacks to watch out for. But we’d be foolish to ignore these helpful guidelines. There is no formula for what we need to do; rather, we need to operate within certain boundaries to ensure we’re creating great design solutions without alienating users.
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Designing apps for children is extremely hard. Not only is quality, age-appropriate content hard to create, but designing the flow and interaction of these apps is made more difficult.
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Have you ever looked at a bizarre building design and wondered, “What were the architects thinking?” Or have you simply felt frustrated by a building that made you uncomfortable, or felt anger when a beautiful old building was razed and replaced with a contemporary eyesore?
You might be forgiven for thinking “these architects must be blind!” New research shows that in a real sense, you might actually be right.
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There are many ways to skin a redesign (I think that’s how the saying goes). On a philosophical level, I agree with those who advocate for realigning, not redesigning, but these are mere words when you’re staring a design problem in the face with no idea where to start.
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