Olympics fever has gripped the McConnell household as I’m sure it has for many of you. It’s brought my family together (on the couch at least) to stream new feats of speed, agility and mental fortitude each night. Luge and Freestyle Skiing have been the big draw so far but…

The vocabulary of product design is full of phrases and terms that we all assume we have a shared definition of. We use terms like management, culture, communication, and leadership in and across design teams, but they don’t always mean what you think they mean. When you dig a little deeper to really understand what people are saying, you find that we’re all speaking a different language. What one person considers culture, another person calls Process. Management can be a taboo word among designers and an aspirational goal at the same time.

How do you make the total greater than the sum of the parts? There are lots of talented designers. There are teams with meaningful missions. But rare are the teams that are able to harness the talent, the mission and the culture to produce results that transcend expectations. The best…

I learned to drive stick-shift in a pouring rainstorm, late at night, on a ferry crossing the Gulf of Corinth. The mini-car stalled out on the first try up the gangplank. A cacophony of angry horns rang out from the cars backed up behind me. Angry longshoremen screamed and waved…

The core premise of Servant Leadership is putting the needs of your team first. I believe it’s a large part of success for any team is creating an environment that designers can thrive in. Attracting, retaining, and engaging talented people requires intentional effort. The end goal is a highly performant…

This article will provide you a concise guide on how we run usability tests for our apps on Apple TV, Playstation, Roku and other devices connected to your TV. There’s a lot of resources out there for testing mobile apps, websites and desktop applications. There aren’t many resources that address…

Rules of the road — Hello, my dear friends from across the pond. Thank you for visiting New York. Please allow me to welcome you by providing a few brief pointers on cycling in our good metropolis. Contrary to popular belief, cycling is by far the best way to get around town. But there are…