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Pointers
Pointers, pointers, pointers -- when they're brilliant or funny or delightfully surprising, they're really cool. When they're yet another annoying email from someone who hasn't figured out that you're not interested, well, there you have it.
Here are some all-time favorites, recent discoveries, and general sources of wonder and enlightenment.
Extreme Programming: Like so many other fads, Extreme or Xtreme Programming is one of those things that everyone was suddenly talking about three times a day, then not so much, then more again.
My $.02: Happy programmers are productive programmers, and they can fly any flag they like. (I'm partial to pirate flags, especially this one and this one). But without a discovery process that finds the place where user needs and business requirements overlap, well, everyone might as well go home now. When users are being well cared for, things can work out just fine even if the programmers insist on working naked while they eat their flat food in their cubicles.*
*Historical note: The Nudist on the Late Shift tracks down the legendary geek said to be so awesome that his contracts specified his right to work unclothed during overnights.
Pre-Contract Scoping Workflow: What do you do when the sales team walks in with a prospect who wants something round, made of granite, that floats and will arrive yesterday? You sit down and do the pre-contract scoping to manage the expectations ... with input from leads in each work group, and revision and approval cycles.
What Seth Says: Always fresh and essential. Astonishingly, it's been a decade since Yoyodyne unplugged the Planet 10 clock, per our acquisition by Yahoo!
The Good Experience Blog: Filled with quick hits, deep insights and doh! moments. Mark Hurst's Bit Literacy is necessary, too.
Queen Bee Creations: Groovy purses and accessories, finding a national market via the innertubz.
Church of the Customer: It works for customers? Good. It doesn't? Broken. Fix it.
Gaping Void: Insights, angst, and cartoons.
Library Thing: Catalog, share your books, and update via RSS feeds. I messed with it enough to set up a recommended reading list for UX/IA types and to discover that its search function finds just ISBN's; no ASIN's or ISRC's. Why wouldn't it cover all media as part of today's modern library? Hmmmmmm ...
