Pursuing a New Opportunity

I hate the process of moving. Its one of the times in life where teleportation, transmogrification and The Force would really come in handy. But as much as I dislike it, I'm actually looking forward to doing it this time because of the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. Last week I accepted an offer to join The Nerdery in Bloomington, Minnesota. And about a month from now, I'll be moving there to start the new job — up there in the Land of [Frozen] Lakes.

Why Minnesota?

For several years now, we've been wanting to move out of Texas. Somewhere closer to family, maybe. Or maybe a place with lots of trees. Or maybe to a place with mountains - or the beach. Actually, we weren't sure where we wanted to go, but we've kept an open mind. We never really targeted Minnesota, but when the opportunity at The Nerdery came along, we took a long hard look at Minnesota and the more we thought about it, the more appealing it became. Yes, I know its cold there. Its cold in a lot of places. I have family in the area (I lived in Minnesota during my elementary school years before we moved to Texas) so its not a completely foreign place — to me, at least. In addition to being close to some family members, we are looking forward to lots of outdoor activities like hiking, camping, tubing, skiing and generally a slower pace of life. And yes, snow.

The Nerdery

Working at a place with outstanding company culture is huge for me. That was one of the "must have" items on my list and The Nerdery definitely embodies that. This is from the The Nerdery Profile Page on LinkedIn:

Based on staff surveys of nearly 200 web pros who blur the line between work and play, The Nerdery ranked #1 on Mpls-St. Paul Business Journal's 2010 Best Places to Work list. A popularity contest? You bet. We’re also #6 on Minneapolis Star Tribune’s 2010 Top Workplace list. Founded by three programmers in 2003, The Nerdery has made the Inc 5000 and Biz Journal’s Fast 50 list of fast-growing privately owned companies for the past three years. The Nerdery was honored in 2010 with The Quality of Life Award and The Jefferson Award for corporate philanthropy/nerdy-deeds-done-dirt-cheap through our Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, at which volunteers have donated a million dollars worth of web development services to 39 nonprofits.

I'll be working as a UX Designer on the User Experience Team. I'm really looking forward to joining a talented band of professionals and working on exciting web projects and expanding my skills on projects like mobile and social media applications.

These are some pretty big changes, but we, as a family, are excited about the opportunities to grow, learn and experience new things. If you have any tips for living in arctic climates or any suggestions for exploring the greater Minneapolis-St.Paul metropolitan area, please do share.

Me and Mr. Z

I'll never forget the first time I saw Jeffrey Zeldman. It was in 2002 and I was at Web Design World in Boston. I had never heard of him before, nor had I ever heard of Web Standards. The moment he started talking I could almost sense that I was about to have my paradigm shifted. It was like I was walking around behind someone who kept dropping money out of their pockets, trying to pick up all the bills and change - faster than I could keep up with. The words he spoke had that much value to me. At that time, I was really at a crossroads in my career. I had been doing web design for more than a year, but I was doing it all wrong. I was using FrontPage to create table-based layouts, CSS was still a mystery and I knew nothing of Web Standards. I thought that Flash-based web sites were great, but had no ability or desire to learn the ActionScript to create that "wow" factor in Flash. I was seriously wondering if I should drop web design and go a different direction in my career.

At that conference, I soaked in every word and returned home with a passion and excitement about HTML, CSS and Web Standards. I was convinced that this method of building web sites was something I could not only do, but love doing.

I know Blue Beanie Day is not a tribute to Jeffrey Zeldman. Its a day to recognize the importance and impact of Web Standards on our industry. But for me personally, its a day to tip my hat beanie to Mr. Z and say "thanks". I wouldn't be where I am today without his influence.

In the Galaxy

My son is learning a bit about writing and analyzing poetry in his literature class. He decided to write a Pantoum poem.

In the Galaxy

In the galaxy, spaceships fly
Traveling from planet to planet
Carrying passengers of all types
Wookies, Uganaughts, Gungans and more

Traveling from planet to planet
Circling around, and coming again
Wookies, Uganaughts, Gungans and more
Landing, flying and taking off

Circling around, and coming again
Cruisers, star fighters, and royal ships
Landing, flying and taking off
For business, vacation or Jedi missions

Cruisers, star fighters, and royal ships
Carrying passengers of all types
For business, vacation or jedi missions
In the galaxy, spaceships fly

— Gavin Mallott, age 11

Pretty dang awesome, huh?

Photos from our trip to San Diego

A couple of weeks ago we took a family vacation to San Diego, CA. Instead of flying out there, we decided to drive, which at first doesn't seem like a very smart or efficient thing to do, but we made the road trip part of the vacation, so it actually turned out to be a blast. In the slideshow below you'll see sites we saw on the road to and from through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California as well as the fun stuff we did in San Diego. LaJolla Cove, Laguna Beach, The Zoo and Legoland highlighted our time in SoCal. Driving through Tonto National Forest in Arizona and seeing the Palo Duro Canyon in the panhandle of Texas on the trip back home was unforgettable.

San Diego is a beautiful place, but there's no place like home.

Joining Ascendio

In just a few short days I'll be writing the end of one chapter of my career and starting a new one. I've been looking forward to the next chapter for some time now. Over the past year or more while contemplating the next step in my career, I made a mental list of characteristics that might comprise the "ideal" place to work for me. I've never written those things down until now. In addition to some basics that go without saying — good pay, location, nice people to work with, etc. — there were some more specific and harder to find aspects that I desired.

1. Smaller is Better

For most of my career, I've worked for large corporations. Despite the advantages (or perceived advantages) of working for a big company, I think my personality, perspectives and long-term goals are better suited to a small team.

2. Hats

I think most people like to have some variety in their day-to-day work routines. I'd like to think that I can contribute to the success of a team in more ways that one. Not only do I enjoy designing what a website looks like, I also like to be involved in (and have definite opinions on) how a site is built and how a user should interact with it and even contribute to the goals and strategy of a site. So, wearing multiple hats besides just the design hat really appeals to me.

3. Ownership & Impact

I've always thought it would be fun and rewarding to have my own company. However, for numerous reasons, I don't think I'm cut out for the reality of it. So in lieu of being a CEO, it would be great to work at a place (a small company lends itself better to this) where I can still have a direct impact on the goals, strategy and direction of the company and be responsible for a major portion of the business.

I am thankful that I have found a place that satisfies most, if not all, of the characteristics on my list and more. I'm excited to announce that on May 24th I'll be joining the super talented team of designers and developers at Ascendio in Irving, Texas. Not familiar with Ascendio? Here's a bit about them from the website:

Ascendio is an idea development studio. We are an energetic, friendly group with a knack for building long-term relationships with our clients. Our skills are in savvy design, tip-top programming, productive thinking and honest conversations. We believe in careful attention to detail, telling the truth and making the most of life.

This is a small group of smart people doing inspiring work for some really cool clients. I am humbled to be counted as one of them and I'm eager to wear all those different hats. I look forward to working with them, learning new things from them and hopefully sharing what I know to make the company even better.

Leaving Rosetta Stone

After 2 tours of duty over the past 4 years, I am leaving Rosetta Stone. Some of you may not be surprised, as I've been looking to make this move for some time now. I started working at Rosetta Stone on the web team in 2006. Since then, I've learned a lot about web development and I've learned a great deal about myself. The company produces an absolutely top-notch product and I'm sure they will continue to be successful. But for me, it is time to move on.

Some things I will miss about working at Rosetta Stone:

Working from home

This is the big one. For most of my tenure here, I've been fortunate enough to work from home every day. Its something for which I will always be thankful. I'll miss listening in on conversations as my wife homechools the kids. I'll miss the daily chats and occasional games with my wife over lunch each day. The opportunity to have the kids nearby and watch them grow and learn every day is something I will never forget. For this reason, I think one day we'll look back on these last 4 years as some of the best years of our lives.

The people

I've had the chance to work with some interesting characters and some genuinely nice people. Shared food, shared laughs and even some shared adventures will be etched in my mind forever.

Unfortunately, that's where the list stops. The rest, as they say, is history.

My last day will be May 19th and then I plan on taking a few relaxing days off before starting up again. I will follow up with a separate post later this week explaining the next step in my career.

Quotes from Rework

Last night I finished reading Rework, the new business book from the guys at 37signals. Every part of this book was excellent (great illustrations to go with great content). I've read quite a few business books - Good to Great, Primal Leadership, First, Break All the Rules, Built to Last, etc. Rework is easily the best business book I've ever read. Why? Because its all common sense. The messages are simple, clear and succinct - filled with ideas that take a minute to understand, but a lifetime to execute.

I'm usually not the type that likes to highlight and underline things in the books that I read, but I was able to make note of some of the ones I want to remember.

I strongly suggest you buy this book. Until your copy arrives in the mail, here are a few of the passages that struck a chord with me.

Its the stuff you leave out that matters. So constantly look for things to remove, simplify and streamline. Be a curator.

When you don’t know what you believe, everything becomes and argument. Everything is debatable. But when you stand for something, decisions are obvious.

Workaholics aren’t heroes. They don’t save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is already home because she figured out a faster way to get things done.

Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand ... They know what to omit.

Interruption is the enemy of productivity. The worst interruptions of all are meetings. Meetings are toxic.

Marketing is something everyone in your company is doing 24/7/365.

You don’t create a culture. It happens. Culture is the by-product of consistent behavior.

Rockstar environments develop out of trust, autonomy, and responsibility. They’re a result of giving people the privacy, workspace, and tools they deserve. Great environments show respect for the people who do the work and how they do it.

When everything needs constant approval, you create a culture of non-thinkers.

When people have something to do at home, they get down to business. They get their work done at the office because they have somewhere else to be. They find ways to be more efficient because they have to.

When you turn into one of those people who adds ASAP to the end of every request, you’re saying everything is high priority. And when everything is high priority, nothing is.

Now, go buy it.

User Experience Margin

How much is User Experience worth? Would you be willing to pay a bit more for a product if you also knew you'd get a better experience? I've had to answer these questions lately and based on personal experience, my answer is definitely yes. A couple of weeks ago we had some new countertops and tile work installed in our kitchen. We worked with a local, family-owned remodeling company. Throughout the planning and selection phase, we had a great experience with them and were confident we chose the right company to do the job.

And then they started the work.

What was supposed to take one day lasted for a full week plus a couple of follow-up repair visits. There were several "snags" throughout the process - at one point the owner even paid us a visit to smooth things over. Most of these "snags" were made worse by a severe lack of communication.

The project is complete now and we are very pleased with the results. So, it started out really well and ended really well. But that time in between made for one of the worst, most stressful weeks we've had in a long time.

I had a long conversation with the project manager there yesterday about our experience. He apologized, but it was an excuse-ridden apology. His excuse for lack of communication was that he was the only one that did all of the planning, scheduling, calling, etc and that that was one way they were able to keep costs down.

To me, that excuse is bunk. I would have happily paid more - how much more, I'm not sure - for our kitchen remodeling project if I could have guaranteed the same great results plus an excellent customer experience. Offering low prices is not an excuse to neglect customer experience. If that's part of your strategy, you better pray that your prices are super low - low enough to offset bad experience.

Convenience, flexibility, communication, service - those are all important aspects of good user/customer experience. How much more are those things worth?

I believe a positive user/customer experience should be assumed. It should come free as part of your overall package - not as a line-item on an invoice.

I welcome your thoughts.

Becoming a Web Designer

Recently, someone emailed me asking for advice about how to start a career as a web designer. After taking some time to organize my thoughts on the subject, I thought I'd share them here. What I love about the web design field is that it doesn't require any special certifications, formal education or any other traditional qualifiers. Everyone who has ever decided to start a career as a web designer has probably taken a different path to get there. The route I followed to get where I am today is unique to my life choices and circumstances. So it would be ridiculous to say that there is a preferred path or that one way will work better than another.

The great thing about it all is this: you get to choose the path! However you get there, here are some tips that might help along the way.

Read

Read everything about design/development that you can get your hands on. This is where it starts. We are fortunate, in this profession, that there is so much information available and that there are so many generous folks out there willing to share what they know for free. Read design magazines. Read tutorials and how-tos. Read some design books. The sources are virtually unlimited — you just have to want the knowledge enough and take the time to go get it.

Listen

I think I've mentioned before how hearing Jeffrey Zeldman speak at Web Design World in Boston in 2002 changed my whole perspective on web design and subsequently kicked my career into gear. If you've never been to a design conference, do yourself a favor and sign up for one. It really can change your life. I would highly recommend one of the An Event Apart conferences.

Practice

Publilius Syrus, a 1st Century Roman author said, "Practice is the best of all instructors." This is probably the most important part of the journey to become a successful web designer. Like any worthwhile endeavor, if you want to get better at it, you have to practice. If you want to become a web designer, then just start doing it.

I started off by looking at the code of other designers to see how they achieved certain effects. I spent a lot of time copying/pasting and deconstructing other designers' websites. I've also spent countless hours pouring over my own HTML or CSS code trying to perfect just the right look. It all takes time — and lots of practice.

So that's pretty much it. There are many ways to get there, but if you want it bad enough, then reading, listening and practicing will be your loyal companions along the way.

Welcome to the Future

So, this is the future, huh? Admittedly, there's a lot to be thankful for and amazed by these days, but ...

Where's my spaceship?

When I was a kid — maybe 10 or 11 years old back in the mid '80s — I would fantasize about the future. I thought that the year 2010 was almost unseeable. Were we lucky enough to make it that far, there were two things I was sure I'd have: a flying car/spaceship and a jet-pack.

Needless to say I have neither of those items today. Its funny how technology has advanced in ways a kid like me would never have thought about. I may not have a jet-pack, but I do have an iphone, a Macbook Pro connected wirelessly to the internet and a DVR connected to my TV. Who woulda thunk it?

Looking Forward

I'm usually not the type to set major goals for the year, as I like to see how things turn out without a lot of over planning.

However, I would like to document a couple things I'd like to do this year.

• Write a book with my son. Actually, he wants to write it, I'm going to illustrate it. Should be fun - more details later.
• Develop my own HTML/CSS framework. Instead of starting over every time I create a new site, I need to have a "site starter" of common elements and basic CSS (grid infused) to jump start the development process. Maybe I'm make it available for download, maybe I won't. We'll see how it turns out.
• Master Javascript/jQuery. Jared Christensen says that "JavaScript is still a black box to me. A sexy, enticing black box which I will one day unwrap." I have felt the same way for a long time. This is the year I unwrap that box.
• Read 25 books. I've tried reading 25 for the past couple of years. Twenty-one in 2008 and only 17 in 2009. Here's the list I've compiled so far for 2010 on Readernaut. Never hurts to try, eh?

So that's what the future holds for me this year. That and a whole lot of other things I can't even imagine at this point. And I'm looking forward to every minute!

Thankful

Every night at the dinner table we all take turns saying what we are thankful for that day. Our hope is that it instills a thankful heart in our kids. Because like Madame Blueberry says, "A Thankful Heart is a Happy Heart!" In our family, we're thankful every day all year round. But when Thanksgiving comes along, it does allow for a bit of extra thankfulness, no? Without further ado, the following are things I'm particularly thankful for this year:

God and His Providence, my wife, my son, my other son, my daughter, my brother and his wife, my mom, my wife's parents, my nieces, family, good friends, twitter pals, our house, working from home, a job that pays me to do what I love, good books, the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, my iMac, my iphone, future opportunities, football, my DVR, Adobe Fireworks, iced tea, swimming pool, dependable vehicles, clean water, my hammock, basketball, free thought, WordPress, Coda, MAMP, Quicksilver, homemade salsa, downtime, learning from mistakes, good health, Market Street, family movie night, socks without holes, a full pantry, ALMI, Chuy's, raking leaves and the sounds of my kids playing in the other room.

See Me Speak @ DFWAUG

At this month's DFW Adobe Users Group meeting, I'll be presenting Designing With Fireworks. Slides? Yes, a few. Exciting live demonstration? Absolutely! Are you interested in learning more about Fireworks? Maybe you're a seasoned Fireworks designer looking for some new tips and tricks. You could be a Photoshop lifer and have been wondering what all the fuss is about Fireworks. Or perhaps you're just starting out in the design world and want to learn more about this popular design tool.

Regardless of your background, experience, or design tool preference, chances are you'll learn something new.

I'll talk a bit about my background and how I settled on Fireworks as my tool of choice. I'll also share some general design fundamentals that I've learned over the years. Last, but not least, I'll demonstrate some handy Fireworks techniques and show how to create some common web artifacts.

I'll also have some free copies of Foundation Fireworks available. Come check it out!

The Details

Date: Saturday, November 21, 2009 Time: 11:00am - 1:00pm Venue: New Horizons Computer Learning Center Map: 5151 Beltline Road in Dallas