Rosenfeld Review Podcast

Jim Ottaviani: Nuclear Engineer to Graphic Novelist

Jim and Lou go way back - to when they still called it “library school!” Thirty years later, Jim is a NY Times bestselling author who specializes in science-themed graphic novels on subjects ranging from Jane Goodall to Alan Turing.
Here, Lou and Jim discuss the evolution of cartoon and graphic novels,how their audiences have changed over time, and the role of storyboarding in their respective crafts.
About Jim
Jim is the author of fourteen (and counting) graphic novels about scientists. His most recent books include Naturalist (with E.O. Wilson), Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier, Hawking, about the famous cosmologist; The Imitation Game, a biography of Alan Turing; Primates, about Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas; and Feynman, a book about the Nobel-prize winning physicist, bongo-playing artist, and raconteur Richard Feynman. His books are New York Times bestsellers, have been translated into over a dozen languages, and have received praise from publications ranging from Nature and Physics World to Entertainment Weekly and Variety. Jim lives in Michigan and comes to comics via careers in nuclear engineering and librarianship.
Jim recommends:
"Ologies" podcast with Alie Ward
"99% Invisible" podcast with Roman Mars
826: 826national.org/, which provides writing and tutoring support for kids across the U.S. (Jim has tutored and taught for 836michigan for over a decade.)
The Sirens of Mars by Sarah Stewart Johnson
Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars by Kate Greene

Conversations with Things: UX Design for Chat and Voice

Diana Deibel and Rebecca Evanhoe first crossed paths on a Slack channel back in 2018, where they were seeking out colleagues who might know a thing or two about conversation design.. Fast forward to 2021, and their new book on conversation design is finished and available for preorder! Conversations with Things teaches you how to design conversations that are useful, ethical, and human-centered—because everyone deserves to be understood, especially you. In this episode, they chat with Lou about writing the book, the ethics of voice design, and more.
Diana recommends:
• AmberNechole Hart’s Why does Siri sound white? https://slideslive.com/38925092/why-does-siri-sound-white?ref=tag-33116-latest
• We Should Get Together by Kat Vellos https://weshouldgettogether.com/books
Becca recommends
• Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need By Sasha Costanza-Chock https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/design-justice
• Design Justice Network https://designjustice.org/

Writing About Writing: Steve Krug returns to the Rosenfeld Review Podcast

Steve Krug, author of Don’t Make Me Think, and Rocket Surgery Made Easy, is back for a third appearance on the Rosenfeld Review Podcast! Here, he shares some details with Lou about his book in the works, Writing Made Slightly Easier, and his perspective on the process of writing in general (and why he might advise against it!).
Check our Steve’s previous two appearances:
How To Get Usability Testing Right: https://soundcloud.com/rosenfeld-media/how-to-get-usability-testing-right-steve-krug
Life with the Apple Watch and other wearables: https://soundcloud.com/rosenfeld-media/conversation-with-steve-krug-life-with-the-apple-watch-and-other-wearables
Steve’s wise words for writers:
Don’t be afraid to always start at the beginning. Always assume that your reader knows less rather than more.
Steve recommends:
Follow Laura Klein on Twitter https://twitter.com/lauraklein
More about Steve Krug: https://sensible.com/

The Power of Care: From Human-Centered Research to Humanity-Centered Leadership

What is the role of care in user research? Why is care a user researcher's greatest superpower—not only in how we do our work but how we lead? In her talk at Advancing Research 2021, Etienne Fang, Principal Researcher at Amazon Search, will discuss the importance of inclusive leadership and share lessons on leading through care, helping researchers leverage their research strengths for leadership as individual contributors, team leads, and people managers alike.
Etienne Fang is a human-centered research and strategy leader passionate about people and the power of their stories to create inclusive experiences for all. She is currently a Principal Researcher at Amazon focused on inclusion and has previously led research teams at Uber, Method Products, and The Clorox Company. She is the founder of Redefining Having It All, a non-profit organization that supports female empowerment through stories of women’s ambition.

But Do Your Insights Scale? with Katy Mogal

When stakeholders have access to real-time data about millions of user interactions, how can qualitative researchers articulate the value of small-sample studies for product and business strategy?
Katy Mogal, UX Research Lead at Google Assistant, joins Lou to offer a preview of the case study she’ll share at Advancing Research 2021 (https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-research-2021/sessions/but-do-your-insights-scale/), including learnings about how human-centered researchers can effectively collaborate with functions like data science and business strategy, and how to persuade analytically-minded stakeholders to embrace rich qualitative data about people’s needs and motivations as an input to business strategy.
Katy recommends:
• Ideo University’s course “ Insights for Innovation” https://www.ideou.com/products/insights-for-innovation
• Jump Associates’ workshop on how to move from data to insights through a synthesis process: https://www.jumpassociates.com/learning-posts/insight-action-making-connection/
Register for AR2021: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-research-2021/register/
About Katy:
Katy is on a mission to help product teams develop and ship experiences that make people’s lives better, through building and leading research teams that deliver synthesized insights with a strategic point of view. While working in marketing at Warner Bros. in London, Katy became fascinated with the idea of using survey and analytics data to understand and build for human needs. After graduating from the Wharton School she joined strategic consultancy Lieberman Research Worldwide as an account manager, where she led insights-based strategy engagements for clients including Nike, Weight Watchers and Viacom. Later she moved to Cheskin Research, a design and marketing consultancy that was a pioneer in applying ethnographic research to problems of design strategy. Exposure to a wide variety of data types, and experience bringing them together to tell a holistic story of user needs, became a theme that has run through her career in research and insights. She went on to build and lead UX and Design research teams at Fitbit, Facebook and most recently at Google, where she currently leads research teams on Google Assistant. Katy’s current focus is on developing the research function as a strategic partner to UX, Product Management and Engineering, and as a force for culture change in product organizations. Her side hustles include teaching product design and design research courses at Stanford Continuing Studies and California College of the Arts, and frequent speaking engagements at conferences such as UX Week, UX Lisbon, FlUXible and People Nerds. In her spare time Katy enjoys throwing weights around at the CrossFit gym in San Francisco’s Mission District, where she lives with her husband, son and two rescue dogs.

Promise Theory with Jeff Sussna

Lou and Jeff Sussna, author of Designing Delivery: Rethinking IT in the Digital Service Economy, examine the relationships between Design and Operations, DevOps and DesignOps, and DevOps and Agile before wending their way to promise theory, which looks at the “promise” made between a product and its user. Color Lou convinced on the promise of product promises!
• Watch Jeff’s presentation at the 2017 DesignOps Summit: https://youtu.be/uWZxsul8Rek
• Read Jeff’s book, Designing Delivery: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/designing-delivery/9781491903742/
• Listen to Jeff on a previous episode of the Rosenfeld Review, DesignOps in a Post-Industrial World: Crash-Coursing Complex Systems: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designops-community/archive/designops-jeff-sussna/
• Jeff recommends: Mark Burgess’ Thinking In Promises: http://markburgess.org/TIpromises.html
Jeff is Founder and CEO of Sussna Associates, a Minneapolis consulting firm. Sussna Associates helps software teams and executives meet the demand for continuous service delivery.
More about Jeff: https://www.sussna-associates.com/about#jeff
Twitter: @jeffsussna
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsussna/

User Science: Product Analytics & User Research with Marieke McCloskey

Want to help make better product decisions? You’ve got to combine qualitative human insights from user research with data analytics and experimentation. Questions about how many users do something goes to analytics, questions about which design might work better goes to user research. But what if you partnered with those other teams to answer the questions together? In her session at Advancing Research 2021, Marieke McCloskey, UX Research Lead at Humu, will share how, as a qualitative UX researcher, she’s partnered with analysts to identify high-growth opportunities and gain a deeper understanding of users.
In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, Marieke offers a glimpse into her presentation, and what led her to the insights she will share at the conference.
• Marieke recommends: No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy
• Follow the authors: https://twitter.com/lizandmollie
• Attend Advancing Research 2021
https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-research-2021/register/
• About Marieke
https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-research-2021/speakers/marieke-mccloskey/

How Creativity can Help Remote Teams Collaborate with Denise Jacobs

We’re bringing Creativity Evangelist Denise Jacobs to our virtual workshop lineup this year! Here, she chats with Lou about how the current era of “doom-scrolling” means it’s more important than ever to unlock our creative minds and make meaningful connections.
One challenge of working remotely is the loss of a sense of personal connection. Having tools that allow you to collaborate in a virtual environment and overcome isolation is a way to expand the collective creativity of the whole team.
Her workshop (https://rosenfeldmedia.com/public-ux-workshops/master-creative-collaboration-and-communication/) is an opportunity to expand your knowledge base, skill set, and be inspired by creativity and collaboration using new and different tools to figure out how to add extra life to the work-from-home environment.
Denise’s three day workshop this February (10 hours over 3 segments: February 2-4, 2021) will focus on leveraging collective brilliance, becoming confident in sharing your ideas, and learning to be an excellent listener. Next comes “the fun part” — how to use improvisation to make collaboration feel like a game, and not like work.
Denise Recommends:
° Restore Yourself by Edy Greenblatt https://www.amazon.com/Restore-Yourself-Antidote-Professional-Exhaustion/dp/0981929915
° Around the Writer’s Block by Rosanne Bane https://www.amazon.com/Around-Writers-Block-Science-Resistance-ebook/dp/B0085DP1LM
About Denise
Denise Jacobs is a Speaker + Author + Creativity Evangelist who speaks at conferences and consults with companies worldwide. As the Founder + CEO of The Creative Dose, keynote speaker, and trainer, she helps individuals in companies unleash their creativity through banishing their inner critic and hacking their creative brains. Denise’s keynotes and trainings give A Creative Dose™ – an injection of inspiration and immediately applicable tools to help people do their best work. Through working with Denise, people become engaged contributors, synergistic collaborators, and authentic leaders. Denise is the author of Banish Your Inner Critic, the premier handbook on silencing fears to unleash creativity. A web and tech industry veteran, Denise is also the author of The CSS Detective Guide and co-author of the Smashing Book #3 1/3 and Interact with Web Standards. She is also the founder of Rawk The Web and the Head Instigator of The Creativity (R)Evolution.