NJ UI Designer & Developer Group

User Interface Smackdown 2007

Chip Lemmon — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:01:00 GMT

As I had mentioned in my review of the NJUX meeting the User Experience movement seems to still be in its infancy stages. So I am psyched to see things like Josh Holmes' blog about the User Interface Smackdown 2007. These are exactly the types of meetings and conversations that need to happen to bring more momentum and attention to the User Experience.

It was also great to see that the attendees were cross vendor (Microsoft & Adobe). This is a reaffirmation for the NJUX that we need to be cross vendor and cross discipline.

--chaz

NJUX Re-cap

Chip Lemmon — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:01:00 GMT

The NJUX meeting was a great event. Thanks to everyone who turned out! A big lesson learned is that South Orange may not be the most ideal location to get to. We'll need to figure out a new location when the time is right.

There was some really meaningful dialog about just what a "User Experience" group should focus on. The consensus seemed to be that User Experience (especially in the Enterprise) is still in its infancy. So that will bring some challenges to the group. Some of the ideas that came from the meeting follow;

The group must engage the designer & developer communities. Presenters will be challenged to address both communities.

The presentations (at least for the first year) should be at Level 200 (aka introductory).

WE NEED TO BE VENDOR NUTRAL. I will always evangelize Microsoft technologies because that is my background and how I have made a living for countless years. But, when it comes to the User Experience there are vendors like Adobe that cannot be overlooked!

There will be a lot of UX news coming out of the upcoming Mix '07 Conference in May. This will give us plenty to cover as we kick off the group in a more formal meeting location. KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR MIX, IT IS GOING TO ROCK!

The overarching message for the group will focus on designers and developers working closely together. Similar to Agile's paired programming I think we have to realize that the User Experience isn't a singular responsibility. Better User Experiences will come from collaborative work between the developer and designer. A major challenge for us is to figure out how to get the designer community to come out and join the group. If anybody has any recommendations please post them here or e-mail me through this blog.

A really great discussion we had Thursday night is about how to make the User Experience relevant in back office Enterprise applications. The challenge for the design & development community is to show stake holders that a significant ROI may be appreciated by well designed back office applications as well as customer facing ones. And as someone had pointed out just putting a pretty UI on a terrible application will not make the application any better. So as User Experience creators we need to challenge ourselves not to masquerade crappy architectural practices with pretty UIs.

NJUX will take a pause while we watch for the news from Mix 07 and watch Adobe’s Apollo mature (still in Alpha release). Then we will plan and collaborate to put together some great content that will get folks excited about UX technologies.

Who knows, we may even look to host some sort of kick-off event to show off some of the best stuff from Mix. The event will embody the true spirit and purpose of NJUX.

Keep watching this blog for more on NJUX!

--chaz

NJUX Meeting TONIGHT!

Chip Lemmon — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 13:31:00 GMT

NJUX Meeting 3-22-2007

Chip Lemmon — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:33:00 GMT

Just a reminder that the kick off NJUX meeting will be tomorrow at the GasLight Brewery on South Orange Avenue in South Orange New Jersey. I hope to see you there!!!!

--Chaz

It is all about the SWAG!

Chip Lemmon — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:08:00 GMT

Peter Laudati asks a very interesting question... Why do you or don't you attend a user group? It's all about the SWAG! You know the goodies they give out at user group meetings... software, tee-shirts, and pizza...

Actually this is a really great question to ponder as I am trying to start a new user group (NJUX) myself. Why... why go through the trouble of setting up a meeting place, scheduling speakers and coordinating with other user groups.

Well as Paul Kimmel so eloquently states a lot of it has to do with being around like minded people. There are just certain things you can't talk about to people outside of the industry. And being a consultant, sometimes that is a huge void that needs to be filled both socially and professionally. I think a user group provides a great place to get that kind of interaction. Something you can't get from a web-cast. So yes I am tired after a long day of work and I may even need to boot up after a meeting and burn the midnight oil. But for a couple of hours per month I get the social and professional interaction I need to feel a little less isolated.

And then there are the speakers. Yeah sure you can see them on a web cast or read their blogs/white papers, but how amazing is it to talk to somebody that helped invent SQL Server, WPF, Vista... etc. Being able to interact with somebody so overwhelmingly smart that they aren't working on the current technology, they are developing the next two generations of that technology is mind blowing. Live presentations are by far superior to watching a video or reading an article. It is the difference between TV and HDTV!

So to expand upon Peter's question, why am I trying to start the New Jersey User eXperience (NJUX) group? Well for one thing I think people are less likely to go to a user group meeting if they have to travel too far from their job or home to get there. So I am trying to fill a geographical void for myself as well as others. Secondly, User Experience is so critical to most everything we do and yet it has been given so little emphasis until recently. Let's face it; we can build the most brilliant software that does the most amazing things, but if people are not drawn to using it for its simplicity and beauty it will fail. Presentation matters.

I hope you go to a user group near you. If you don't I hope you think about doing it. Your time is a small price to pay for so many benefits.

--chaz

NJUX Meeting

Chip Lemmon — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:13:00 GMT

HEY JERSEY (especially New York City commuters)!

I've talked and talked about it. Well here it is and it will be in an unlikely location!

WHAT: New Jersey User eXperience Group kick off meeting

WHERE: GasLight Brewery,

15 S Orange Avenue
South Orange, NJ 07079

WHEN: Thursday March 22nd @ 6:30 PM

WHY: This will be the organizing meeting for NJUX. We will determine our mission statement & goals and set up a regular meeting schedule, determine speakers(topics) and final location city/town.

I picked the GasLight in South Orange because SO is far enough up the train line that I think we can draw more attendees. I also think that SO is a bit more accessible by car than Berkeley Heights (my original meeting site). But based on group feedback we will make a final decision.

So come on out and make this thing happen! Many of the usual NJ suspects may be there depending on availability.

Oh and against the advice of my good friend Don, in lieu of swag I will purchase the first round for each attendee (offer expires at 7PM sharp!).

http://www.gaslightbrewery.com/

Please post this on your blogs!

--chaz

NJUX - New Jersey User eXperience Group

Chip Lemmon — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 11:22:00 GMT

NJUX - New Jersey User eXperience

NJUX will focus on UI based topics from design to architecture to tools and trends. Inspired by WPF, Vista, CAB, Mobile devices and the like this topic is just perfect for a North/Central New Jersey user group. We will be testing the waters soon with an organizational meeting.

This group will differ from other New Jersey groups because we will focus specifically on the aspects of making the user experience better. There will be a good balance between proper visual design, software architecture and usability.

I am looking for speakers now. If anybody that is passionate about user experience/user interface design is interested in presenting please contact me via my blog.

Keep watching this blog for further announcements on NJUX.

--chaz

NYC Code Camp in T - 3, 2, 1....

Chip Lemmon — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 18:13:00 GMT

Code Camp NYC II – 3/3

Code Camps are "grass roots" mini application platform developer conferences, free of charge to attendees and open to presenters of all stripes and experience.

Get ready for another Code Camp NYC, to be held at Microsoft's offices in Midtown Manhattan (1290 Avenue of the Americas between 51st/52nd Streets) on Saturday, March 3rd, 2007 from 9am - 6pm. This is an all-day event with refreshments served, including a developer's "power lunch" (pizza and soda).

This event is being supported by Microsoft but driven by the community: user group activists, developer "influentials", and enthusiastic volunteers.

For more information, visit the code camp website: http://nyc.codecamp.us

Have you registered?

If not, please do! Code camp is this coming Saturday, March 3rd! Here's the link: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032330921&Culture=en-US

see you there and ask me about NJUX.

--chaz