I'm Back...

It's been a long time. Nine months since my last post- ever since I got my new job. Now it's time to pick up where I left off.

Making information easy is hard work. I've been rattling around in the washing machine of information overload, running through the spin cycle, and my head really hurts.

It's time for me to teach my team to embrace concise emails.

It's time for me to communicate the importance of usability and usability testing to my colleagues.The cost of poor usability is more support, more training, fewer clients, and an unnecessary trip to the unemployment office.

While I'm at it, I'll try to share the practical problems I face with you.

I'm back. It's time.

Meet Leroy Stick

A nomination for Best Press Release 2010: Meet Leroy Stick.

"Leroy" is the person behind @BPGlobalPR on Twitter, the unofficial, unaffiliated PR campaign that pokes fun and hostility at the official British Petroleum PR machine. Leroy keeps smacking BP with his stick,  in 140 characters or less.

In his press release, Leroy tells a good story, explains why he's doing this, tells us why we should be angry, and helps us find a constructive outlet for our anger. He beats public relations, marketing, and brand management folks about the arms and legs by pointing out the folly that exists in their work, but is only made obvious in extreme situations like the Gulf oil spill. Leroy comes off as intelligent, funny, and sharp; he found his voice and his forum and uses it to spread his message.

Great use of Twitter, superior content, and brutal satire that makes you think about morality in the corporate world. We need more Sticks.

Job Hunt- Mission Accomplished!

Sorry for the gap between posts- I've been focused on working through a job offer that will get me back to work (and probably blogging less).

Here are the numbers:
* 4 months "in transition"
* 11 resumes sent
* 6 initial interviews
* 5 follow up interviews
* 1 job offer (accepted!)

During my job search, I spoke to people in the career counseling business, people who have been out of work recently, people who know people who are out of work, people who have ever known people out of work, and I kept hearing the same reaction- Whatever you're doing, keep doing it!

I'm no job search expert, but that won't stop me from blogging about it. I think my successful job search came down to three guiding principles:

1. Figure out what you want, and focus your efforts on that: I make it easy for others to find and use information. I looked at a number of jobs where that was either the theme of the role or where I felt I could apply that theme. 
2. Network, network, network: This one is obvious. Your network can't help you if they don't know you're looking. Let them know and people will volunteer to give a hand. You never know where you're going to run into the right job- it could be through LinkedIn, it could be from a former colleague, it could be in the stands at a Little League game. Keep talking and keep listening.
3. Don't let yourself get overwhelmed: I preach Less is More. If you've cultivated a network (even a small one) and you let people know, you're going to hear a lot of advice. Most of it is probably not for you, so listen carefully, thank everyone for their help, and figure out what you think works best for you. I decided to keep a list of all the possibilities and options I heard, while spending my time working on a few opportunities at a time. I didn't apply for jobs where I didn't meet the key requirements and/or didn't have a network connection; these aren't worth the time it takes to apply and manage them. Eleven resumes in four months may sound lazy to some, but I call it ruthlessly efficient.

I secured a leadership role where I'm in charge of managing authoritative clinical content so clients can find and use information to make the best decisions about cancer treatment options. This role fits my criteria for "the right opportunity"-  I get to use my strengths and skills, follow my passion, have a leadership role and a positive impact on patient health while reducing healthcare costs, and work at a small, innovative company surrounded by very smart people.

Mission Impossible? Mission Accomplished!

The Fine Print

Two links about reading and understanding the fine print.

Legal contracts and user agreements are filled with difficult to understand content (thus the term legalese). Why can't lawyers collaborate with information designers to create agreements that users can actually understand?

Siegel+Gale = If it makes your immortal soul feel any better… «

Reader Story: Learning to Read the Fine Print

Enterprise Search Summit

I didn't make it up to NYC for this year's Enterprise Search Summit. Going from Speaker to "in transition" is tough, and I hope to be back next year.

Daniel Tunkelang (formerly of Endeca, currently with Google) was there and he posted Marti Hearst's and Peter Morville's keynote slides on his blog, The Noisy Channel. Marti is doing wonderful things with search UI design and Peter is a leader in Information Architecture and Findability.

Enjoy!

Bad Day at the (Unemployment) Office

Unemployment is complicated. Staying organized, creating structure to your days, and getting things done to ensure you land well takes focus and commitment. It also takes good information management skills- you  have to deal with a lot of information relating to severance, unemployment compensation, and your benefits. If the information you receive isn't well designed, i.e. with the main points and your required actions clearly highlighted, you will make mistakes and possibly lose benefits.

I missed the first biweekly claim deadline for my unemployment benefits. That's a $1000+ mistake. I received several letters from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry- my Claim Confirmation (I opened an unemployment claim), my determination of benefits (I am eligible to receive unemployment benefits), an unemployment handbook, my debit card (the state pays via debit card), and a PIN number to access my online account. The note about the deadline to file my first biweekly claim was buried in the Claim Confirmation letter, which I received before my benefits were even determined.

So I missed the deadline. I didn't read every word of each piece of mail. The most important information wasn't highlighted and I didn't see it. I can rail about poor information design, how the critical information was buried in a stack of mail, and how the point of unemployment compensation should be to help those who have been laid off, not make it hard to get the money owed them.

Maybe the state needs someone like me to make it easy for people to get the information they need to act.

Regardless, I'm the one who didn't recognize what I had to do and I'm the one who missed out on $1000. That's an expensive lesson to learn and I take responsibility for my error. Just because the information is poorly designed or hidden in plain sight, doesn't mean I relinquish my responsibility to read and understand it. Especially when the outcome will hit me in my wallet (or debit card).

Everything is Miscellaneous- The Video

If you have a spare hour (and let's face it, you're going to spend more than that surfing the web today), check out this video about classifying things. David Weinberger talks about purpose as the driver of developing useful classifications or taxonomies. The organization of information can then make it easier to find and use information, which fits my goals. The talk is funny and entertaining, with easy to understand examples. Weinberger makes a strong case for using metadata, including user-created tagging, as a basis for classifying and finding objects.

I'm going to check out Weinberger's book Everything is Miscellaneous.

Seth's Blog: All the news that fits

In his blog today, Seth Godin talks about money/business model driving length of message. This can differ among newspapers, web sites, blogs, and marketing brochures. Seth's point- sometimes the format and business model don't matter- give people the information they need and let them be done. Less is, once again, more.

Seth's Blog: All the news that fits

Writing? Can Do!

I think there are 3 rules of good business writing:

1. Know your audience.
2. Be concise.
3. Other than basic rules of grammar and spelling, there are no other rules.

I was excited to find a new book at the Library that sets down similar rules. Can Do Writing (by Daniel and Judith Graham) provides a 10-step system for effective business writing. The book guides you through the Graham's process to produce effective, concise communications for your target audience.

Can Do Writing helps you with the critical details of defining your target audience, developing and organizing your ideas, and drafting and editing to make it easy for your readers to understand what they need to know and do.

It's a quick read (of course) and there's a lot there to help you become a writer who makes information easy!

Exactly My (Power) Point!

I enjoyed Dona Wong's response to the NY Times article about PowerPoint.

Bulletpoints may lead to the demise of society, but probably not.

Does the format/tool you use make it easy for your audience to understand (and act on) your message? If the answer is "Yes", then you're using the right tool, whether it's PowerPoint, Word, email, just you on a podium with Arcade Fire playing in the background...

It's not the tool, it's the story you tell and the way you tell it. Even my kid knows that!

SocialMediaPlus Business Summit- See you there!

I'll be attending the SocialMediaPlus Business Summit in Philadelphia on May 25th. If you see me there, let me know you read my blog. I would love to talk with you about making information easier to find and use via social media, the internet, and other technological "advances".

If you're interested in attending too, you can register here:
SocialMediaPlus Business Summit - RegOnline

There is still an early bird registration special of $395 (through Friday). I used the coupon code PBJ15 to get an additional 15% off the registration fee- they're giving that discount to the first 20 registrants- so hurry!

Jobs and Blogs, Blogs and Jobs

I'm in transition. I'm looking for new opportunities. I'm insert euphemism here. Anything but unemployed. I'm trying to connect my next role to the theme of this blog, to my personal passion- I want to make information easy to find and use.

The problem I've run into on several interviews is the standard response I hear: "It sounds like you haven't figured out what you want to do". The interviewer leaves one minor point unsaid: "because it doesn't sound like you should be doing this job".

There are many jobs where I can apply my skills and passion to make it easier (for employees, for customers) to find and use information. I don't have a job title in mind; I'm happy to let a company figure that out and I'll explain how I can help them. But it's a hard sell when the skill set and philosophy don't clearly meet the job requirements.

Maybe the interviewers have a point- I should focus on finding (or creating) a role where the primary goals fit what I do and believe, rather than take a job and figure out how to apply my philosophy. As a job seeking objective, that will get my next company a great new employee and make me a happy member of the team.

Still, making information easy to find and (especially) use can be applied to many roles, processes, and tools- even yours. That's what my blog is about.

What's Cooking?

How about Pan-roasted Halibut from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home cookbook?

Let's see halibut, salt, oil, more oil, more salt. Simple, elegant, delicious...if the halibut is great. (and mine will be- here's a shoutout to my friends at Floyd Alderfer's at our local Farmer's Market)

The halibut is your message, your content, your information. If it's great and you don't overpower it in sauce, then people will want to eat at your home every night. If it's not, don't serve it!

Kid Stuff

My 10-year-old is working on his 4th grade project- a presentation on the Battle of Antietam. He visited this Civil War battle site, learned about it, took pictures, and did research on the Internet and at the Library.

Last night he practiced his draft presentation. He created a PowerPoint presentation with words sweeping in from all angles (kids love that!), a lot of random facts, and no context or story. I've actually seen similar presentations in business settings, minus the flying text!

We talked about it. What is the main thing you want your class to know? (Answer: it was America's bloodiest day). Are there things the class would know about that you could compare the number of casualties to? (Answer: D-Day, 9/11). Can you incorporate your visit to the battlefield to make your presentation more like an interesting and relevant story? (Answer: we dipped our feet in Antietam Creek, which ran red with blood the day of the battle)

I hope he learned something about delivering information and public speaking. The presentation is a little bit better and I think it will be more fun for him and his classmates.

You're never too young to learn to get your message across to the audience.

Great Minds...Post Alike!

I was going to talk about writing effective emails today, but since Oliver Fontana just did, I'll point to his Less is More Email post at Power Presentations.

Purpose, Actions, Supporting Info: Sounds right to me and, since Less is More, I'll leave it at that.

The Only Place

I love it when information is easy to find and use. When I'm shopping, if I can quickly compare prices and features of relevant products, I'm happy. When buying airline tickets, I like to go to Kayak to compare airlines, prices, and schedules to find the best fit for my needs.

So why is Southwest bragging that their web site is The Only Place to find and buy a ticket on their airline? The Only Place. The Only Place, repeated about 10 times in their 30-second commercial. Maybe they think if they say it enough, I'll assume it's a good thing.

If I know I want to use Southwest, that's fine; I'll go to their site and buy my ticket. But as a consumer, I want to compare my options and choose the best one for me. Southwest is making me go to at least 2 sites by being The Only Place- that's more time spent searching, writing data down, figuring things out, and making a decision.

Southwest acts like they're doing me a favor by being The Only Place. How are they helping me by excluding their flight information from the travel aggregator sites?

Finding the best travel arrangements is complicated. I want to go to One Place, but that place is unlikely to be Southwest's web site.

Tools of the Trade: Project Charter

When I manage projects, I like to keep my team focused on project business goals and timeframes, while minimizing the amount of information they need to deal with to deliver. In a project, you have a Business Problem and Solution and I keep them front and center in every meeting and discussion. Most importantly I create a simple Project Charter and get agreement from the team and project sponsors to use it as the guide for what we do and how we do it.

The Project Charter consists of :

• a simply stated Project Background and Business Problem (3-4 sentences)
• the proposed Solution (2-3 sentences)
• major milestones, with timelines
• key expected Issues and Risks (5 bulletpoints or less)
• Project team members, roles, and contact information
• Project oversight committee members, roles and contact information
• Communication Plan (communication types, methods, roles in a simple table)

One page is the ideal, but the Charter usually rolls into a second page.

I use the Charter to initiate the project and I point to it when we need to figure out how to handle problems, whether to change the Project Plan or Design, and how to know if we're on track to provide a real Business Solution.

To me, projects are about solving real business problems, rather than simply implementing technology or process because it's on our annual objectives. The Project Charter helps the team and the oversight group make sure we deliver something valuable.

Speakers Speaking in Code

Just got back from my one-day Digital Fast and I'm starving! It wasn't that hard to stay away from the computer and keep my cell phone off the whole day. Maybe it was because I was sick and stayed in bed most of the day reading? Regardless, it's a nice exercise to try and limit your bit consumption and to recognize how much time is spent (wasted?) on your digital equipment.

In other exciting news, I saw an amazing Wilco concert this weekend in Philly- 3+ hours, nearly 40 songs on a Saturday night. Talk about just the right amount of information...(okay, that was a reach, even for me).

I'll be back soon with a tool I use for making sure I don't overload my project teams with information and keep them focused on our project goals.

How not to keep your customers

In my last post, I wrote about providing the right amount of information, which is subjective when reviewing content, but becomes much clearer when using the content, i.e. in context.

For the past 2 days I've been trying to renew my Norton Internet Security subscription, with no luck. The Express Renewal option didn't make it clear when my credit card would (or would not) be charged. Since I wanted to apply a discount code, this was problematic. Say what you want about Ticketmaster, at least they make it clear whether your credit card will be charged as you proceed through their ticket purchase workflow. Norton's Express Renewal workflow provided too little information.

I went directly to the Norton web site so that I could renew my subscription and apply the discount code. I ended up on a purchase page that let me apply the code, but didn't let me complete the purchase. Maybe there was a problem with their site, maybe there was a problem with my purchase- regardless, I was not given any indication or error message that would help me give my money to Norton (Symantec)- again, too little information.

I then tried the Contact Us page and was faced with a lengthy form to complete in order to chat or even send an email (assuming I wouldn't mind waiting 48 hours for their response). Suddenly Norton decided I needed to provide them with too much information, to figure out what the problem was.


So what's the cost of not have the right amount of information? In my case, it's $50-60 that Norton lost because I couldn't complete the simplest transaction on their site.

After close to a (frustrating) hour trying to renew my Norton subscription, I went to the McAfee site and completed my purchase (including discount) in under 10 minutes.

Sorry Norton- now I'm a McAfee customer.

The Less that is More

I had a job interview this morning for a project manager position at a local IT consulting firm. During our conversation I heard myself become overly animated when talking about my Less is More philosophy and how I apply it to managing projects- meetings, presentations, project documents. I babbled so much that the interviewer probably thought I was the poster child for More is Less! 

I think the interviewer got it, and maybe even appreciated my enthusiasm, but he also asked how my approach to creating project plans fits with my "KISS" philosophy (his term, not mine). My project plans start at the highest level of project components and work their way down to the gory details, as much as is needed to capture a clear task, even one that has multiple simple parts.

The goal of Less is More is to provide the minimal amount of information to help people understand the message and act on it appropriately. In other words, Less can still be A Lot in some cases.

The Less that is More is relative to the typical quantity of information that people provide, which obfuscates more than it clarifies.