I achieved my resolution and read more books than I had in 2018, though only 3 more — 69 vs. 66. Once I passed my 2018 mark in late November, I slowed my pace by picking up the second half of Gene Wolfe’s Book of the Long Sun, a book…

I’ve always been a reader, but last year, for the first time, I decided to track all the books I read, inspired by a friend’s New Year’s Resolution. I read 66 books in 2018 (roughly 1 book every 5.5 days). …

The #1 way to ensure a smooth-running workshop — I’ve facilitated workshops for many years now, and while I’m always tweaking activities, structure, materials etc., it’s rare that I come across something that completely shakes up my practice. But since I’ve started doing this **ONE SIMPLE TRICK** I’ve noticed huge returns on investment. Our workshops run smoother, we achieve…

In our workshops, we tend to start with an activity centered around two questions — 1) What problem are we trying to solve?; and 2) How do we measure success? The first question is for context. We work in a variety of industries, from pharma to math education to leadership…

For the first time I can recall, I actually made a New Year’s resolution this year. Don’t give me too much credit — I stole it. At an NYE party, a friend asked what people’s resolutions were for the upcoming year. …

Ever find yourself saying “We did the research, but nothing changed”? — Ever had this happen? You conduct a research study or usability test, only to find that no one can agree on how to interpret the results. Or the team agrees on the interpretation, but can’t decide how to move forward. People get frustrated. Loud arguments break out. Should you conduct…

Get out of a creative rut with this simple technique. — With any creative work, it’s important to shake up your process now and then. When we initially start work on a project, we do a lot of white-boarding, sketching, etc. as generative exercises. But as time goes by and the work becomes more defined, we often find ourselves doing more…

I’m planning my first talk at a design conference and am doing what every “first time” speaker does — desperately hoping I don’t screw it up. Fortunately, I’ve had a lot of practice: As a classroom teacher, I was essentially giving 5 talks a day, 180 days a year, for…

Facilitating without a whiteboard — Everyone who works in tech has been stuck at one time or another in the dreaded Remote Meeting Death Spiral. That’s when the people in your meeting disengage and start answering email, doing other work, getting on social media, writing snarky Medium articles, etc. instead of focusing on what’s being…