almost daniel.

Lots of books get inspired by blogs. Why is a book a good thing for you (other than being a life-goal)? Are there methods of publishing outside the major publishers, or how do you work inside that system? What kind of information is book appropriate?

The bottom line: Find something to say. Write good stuff. Get known. Be proud of your work. Be creative in your own marketing.

Presenters

Pam Slim

Kate Lee

Stephanie Klein

Guy Kawasaki

Hugh MacLeod

Date

Tuesday, March 17

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I arrived at this session and it was SRO and full. I got some final ideas (after making it inside with 15 minutes to go):

• When designers push their vision out to “version 10″, it can cause tension with developers who are usually starting from the other end (i.e., Agile). Developers want to start small (and efficient/elegant) and progressively build toward a design. Balance is key.
• The best possible thing a designer can do for a developer is to share the problem and challenges, not just ask for a composed feature. That way the designer is asking to partner on the solution with the developer. Happiness ensues.
• The best possible thing a developer can do for a designer is to communicate principles and needs to designers to create a more common ground. For example, talking to designers about considering both real-time interactivity and asynchronous actions.
• The best possible thing both can do is hang out with each other outside the office.
• Build trust.

For the rest of the notes, I depend on my trusty Michigan friend, daniel slaughter. He takes amazing notes.

These are notes from a session at sxsw interactive. My own take on topics are mixed in with what the presenters were actually saying, so do not assume all of this content is my own.

My jaw rarely drops when I happen upon another web professional’s blog. This article entitled “the problem vs the answer” made my jaw drop because it is something I have been ranting about for the past two weeks. I have been stumbling over the explanation; I couldn’t have said it better than Tom Knoll did:

Why is everyone more interested in the answer than the question?

When you have a problem that needs to be solved, you should be more interested in the questions than the answers. Solutions come from good questions, not prepackaged answers. I know you are pressed on every side and feel like you do not have enough time to worry about good questions. But good questions now, will save you exponential time in the future. If you allow many small under-pressure-solutions to stack up, you end up with a building that cannot be repaired, but can only be torn down and rebuilt.

There is a tendency in my field to provide a set number of answers, rather than taking time to consider the questions with people. I look forward to the day when we feel like we have time to ask the best questions and consider the best answers.

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