Six Questions To Ask A Product Development Team In Trouble
We’ve all been a part of it. A disorganized project with unrealistic deadlines and an indecisive client. How can we turn this situation into a positive outcome that enables us to move forward? To get the conversation started, get the internal team in a room and start with these six questions: 1. What has been […]
Can QA defy the Law of the Iron Triangle?
The standard project management iron triangle consists of three points: “on time” (fast), “on budget” (cost-effective) and “of high quality” (functions as expected). Conventional wisdom says that you can pick two but cannot have all three. In reality, for a project to succeed, the three points need to be balanced. This high wire act is one of the […]
The Automation Misconception: Should you really automate your testing?
“Let’s automate!” is a newly popular rallying cry from technology companies. “Looking for a QA manager who will transform our manual process into a 95% automated process!” teases a job listing for a role at a technology company. Many companies see automation as a “quick fix” for testing. Not so fast. These statements imply manual and automated testing are […]
The New Breed of QA
During a recent meeting an R/GA Technical Director referred to one of our senior testers as part of “a new breed of QA.” I found it interesting given that this particular tester had been at R/GA for almost ten years. This immediately introduced the possibility that the new breed is actually a rare mutation and […]
Three Tips for Improved Online Account Security
The recent meltdown of Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox and the potential threat of leaked personal information motivated me to update security settings for my key online accounts. Throw in some free credit monitoring thanks to Target’s recent security breach, and I feel like I have a fighting chance to stay solvent this year. Identity […]
High Schoolers Coding in NYC’s AFSE
Over the course of the past 3 months I’ve had the opportunity to visit NYC’s Academy for Software Engineering a few times. AFSE is a “high school for the design and development of software and applications”. The school’s curriculum is largely comprised of the standard high school courses. But AFSE differs in one major way – […]
Getting Real with Connected Devices
In early February, IxDa, the world’s leading UX conference, took place in Amsterdam. R/GA conducted a workshop on physical prototyping which was lead by myself, Ilia Uvarov and Stuart Taylor. This main initiative was for R/GA to build a presence at the conference and spot potential talent. The workshop illustrated how UX and tech can […]
WordPress Tips I Wish Someone Had Told Me
Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to work on several internal and external WordPress-based R/GA websites. My experience and knowledge of the WordPress CMS has grown with each new project, and here are the tips and tricks that I’ve used most often.
Lessons From Google’s Data-Driven Design Experiments
A recent Guardian article (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/05/why-google-engineers-designers) describes Google’s successful use of data to determine the right shade of blue for hyperlinks in the Gmail product, resulting in a $200M in additional revenue per year. According to Dan Cobley: In the world of the hippo (highest paid person’s opinion), you ask the chief designer or the marketing […]
iBeacon Primer Part II: iBeacon vs. Geofencing
In Part I of our iBeacon series my colleague Andy Hawkes introduced the concept of iBeacons. My team and I have also been playing around with the creative possibilities of this new technology and testing its technical limitations. On our floor we’ve configured a Raspberry Pi as an iBeacon and have been working with at least one […]
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