PinnedLeadership valuesI’ve been interviewing a lot of people for leadership roles lately, and one of the questions I like to ask is: “What are your values as a leader? What are your foundational beliefs about how you want to lead a team?” It’s admittedly a big question, but one of the…Leadership5 min readLeadership5 min read
Mar 27, 2021Save the quartersI originally published this in March 2019 in another personal space I used to keep on the internet. I’m republishing it on Medium to keep my online writing together. This morning when I arrived at work, almost the moment I stepped through the door, the strap on my purse broke…Personal Essay3 min readPersonal Essay3 min read
Oct 10, 2020On the importance of tensionUnsolicited career advice for people in R&D — One of the best pieces of advice I have for people who are early on in a career in R&D is to learn to hold tension and sit with it, rather than seeing tension as negative or to be resolved. When I look back, I can see that many of…UX4 min readUX4 min read
Sep 1, 2017What old cameras can teach us about designing better digital experiencesFor as many years as I can remember, I’ve wanted to improve my technical photography skills. iPhones and automatic settings on digital cameras make taking nice enough images convenient and easy, but the experience is so lightweight that the outcome feels disposable. I take hundreds of photos on my phone…Photography7 min readPhotography7 min read
Published inShopify UX·May 19, 2017Locating Polaris: How we built a style guide for our design systemDesign systems — how they’re documented, shared, and maintained — matter because of what they facilitate and represent. If the system is created to enable real work, it should reflect how an organization makes things and what it values. …UX6 min readUX6 min read
Apr 5, 2017DedicationHey there! I’m writing a book about interface content called From button copy to bots: Writing for user interfaces to be published by Rosenfeld Media in 2018. This is my first post about the book. It was originally shared on Rosenfeld Media. I’ve written quite a bit about why interface…UX3 min readUX3 min read
Published inHackerNoon.com·Nov 28, 2016The design of legal termsA case study featuring Uber’s November 2016 update — In the UX world, we talk a lot about how important it is to design with the needs of users in mind. We’re passionate advocates for patterns that are recognizable, set clear expectations, and are easy to follow. We’re aghast at companies that place misleading text on buttons to inflate…Design11 min readDesign11 min read
Published inUX for Bots·Aug 8, 2016How to develop content for useful, not-scary chatbots and other talking interfacesLately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to do content strategy for chatbots and other conversational interfaces. These days, everyone seems to want their interface to talk. …Bots10 min readBots10 min read
Published inWrite Like a Human·Jun 1, 2016Designing for before, during and afterI’m currently staying in a hotel in an area of London I don’t know very well. I woke up early today and have spent the morning preparing for three days of consultancy I’m doing here. There’s no coffee in my hotel room and hotel breakfasts are notoriously low in value…Startup4 min readStartup4 min read
Published inWrite Like a Human·Apr 12, 2016Practicing Empathy in Product DesignEmpathy is a buzzword in the tech industry. Although it’s important to work to understand the needs of the humans using our products, sometimes it seems like we talk about empathy more than we actually do it. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Silicon…Design7 min readDesign7 min read
