Be an employee or be a freelancer but be cautious when it’s full-time work...
I often hear from my UX colleagues that they are thinking of going off on their own. They tell me that they’re ready to make the leap to freelancing and think that they have found their first gig –...
View ArticleShould freelancers respond to RFPs?
For the most part, my user research and evaluation freelance work comes through referrals. That means I spend my business development time on being visible and present in the UX/tech world, and then...
View ArticleHealthy Living: Get fit by treating your body like a work project
On turning 40 Since my teenage years, I’ve always tried to do some kind of exercise. In those days, I’d go running with my father, go biking on the streets of Baltimore County and go swimming at the...
View ArticleBe prepared for the cadence of freelance work
Work flow was good… Four weeks ago I was feeling pretty confident about the remainder of 2017. A client had locked in the last week of November for an international usability study and another client...
View ArticleHow to moderate usability testing with simultaneous translation
In the decades that I’ve done user research, nearly all of my research has been conducted in English. While I’ve done some research in other countries and with products in other languages, either the...
View ArticleMaintain your routines to avoid work-travel stress
A family member recently voiced concern about all the traveling that I have been doing. He told me the stress of all the travel seemed unsustainable in the long term, and he couldn’t imagine that I...
View ArticleAppropriate expectations –> Happy stakeholders –> Successful usability testing
When I do usability testing, particularly with teams that have not been involved in the process before, I often find myself providing a mini lesson about what usability testing is (and is not!), how...
View ArticleWhat’s it like to live and work in the DC area as a UX professional?
I represent the fifth generation of my family to live in Maryland and have spent about 35 years of my life here in the state. For the past 15 of those years, I’ve lived in the DC suburbs of Silver...
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