No January 2010 UX Meetup – ColdStart Instead

Apologies for the delay, our plans for the January UX Meetup have unfortunately fallen through – so we’ve decided not to fight it and instead, return in February (announcement post forthcoming).

But it’s winter in Minnesota – and you need to get out more – so come over to CoCoMSP the new collaboration and co-working space in Lowertown St. Paul on Monday, January 11th 7-9pm for the inaugural ColdStart Happy Hour.

ColdStart is an initiative – by Todd Emmel and me – bring together our local startup tech community more frequently and more informally.

RSVP at http://coldstart.eventbrite.com

December UX Meetup – December 14, 2009, Glueks, 6-8pm

The next Twin Cities UX Meetup will be Monday, December 14. We’re discussing how UX at an agency compares to in-house UX. Kevin Farner from Gomoll Research and Design will facilitate.

Ideas for topics might include:

Types of projects
Types of work —IA, content strategy, content development, SEO….
Project management approaches
Project teams
UX teams
Titles & roles
Timelines
Deliverables
Logging hours

DATE & TIME
December 14, 2009 (2nd Monday of the month)
6-8 p.m.

LOCATION
Gluek’s Restaurant & Bar – Backroom
16 N. 6th Street, Minneapolis
612.343.9790

[Job] Senior Product Manager Syncada (US Bank & VISA)

Syncada is looking for a Sr. Product Manager Job Description [doc]

This particular product manager manages all instances of user interface….

Responsible for managing the entire product lifecycle: building, launching and delivering products to market….

Develop detailed requirements document that specifies solution requirements and acts as the contract with development

5-7 years experience in Product Management and/or software design, preferably in the financial services or supply chain providers or proven success in financial process change management. Direct experience launching web-based products or services…

 Experience in software and product design, user interface design, storyboarding, focus groups, product requirements gathering and documentation. Track record of influencing the product development process through customer insights…

If those bullet point pique your interest – review the full Syncada Sr. Product Manager Job Description [doc] and apply.

[Job] Wanted to Social Media Strategist to Join Medtronic’s Global eMarketing Team

REQUIRED SKILL SETS:

Minimum of 10+ years web/online marketing and/or Agency experience, with minimum 3 years developing and directing online community and communications initiatives; experience on either client and agency sides a plus
Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, Business or a related field; MBA preferred
Proven track record in social media including blogging, blogger relations, podcasting or other means of evangelizing on behalf of a large enterprise

Expertise and in-depth knowledge of social media channels including but not limited to:

  1. Communication channels (e.g., blogs, internet forums, micro-blogging (twitter), social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, MySpace), event sites (e.g., Meetups))

    2. Collaboration Channels (e.g., Wikis, Digg, epinions)

  2. Multimedia / Sharing Channels (e.g., Flickr, YouTube)

    3. Successful track record in the development and integration of social media relations with traditional public relations outreach communications programs

for more info – contact vnauen@genesis10.com

[JOB] Worrell Needs a User Experience Designer

This is easily my 2nd favorite job posting ever on MNteractive.

“We are seeking a User Experience (UX) Designer…We want you to write the description for this position. For lack of a better term, we’ll call this a reverse job description. Your description should be perfectly tailored to you. This is your opportunity to inspire us.“

In addition to the reverse job description, there’s a few things they’re looking for – here’s the checklist:

  1. Write “UX 2009″ in the subject line of your email.
  2. Your reverse job description
  3. A cover letter
  4. A résumé
  5. A few relevant work samples
  6. A link to your website, if applicable

To get you started, I’ll take care of the first one for you

Mounds View: “A Lake That’s Seen Better Days”

A neighboring suburb’s struggles with branding and marketing made the front page of my neighborhood newspaper this week.

From the article “Mounds View continues discussing new tagline” by Kate Garlock, it sounds like a case of equal parts design by committee and crowdsourcing.

Both of which are fine, well-worn strategies and both have a significantly lower upfront price tag than the alternative – hiring a branding firm specialized in municipalities.

Seems to me the question is whether Mounds View is looking for a single all-encompassing solution that will serve the city well for years to come – or a quiver of potentially giggle-inducing, community-owned solutions.

The opportunity exists to pull off the latter. It will take as much commitment, organization, and leadership as going back to square one and bringing in the professionals.

Sevnthsin Looking for Backend Developer

Sevnthsin wants you…
if you’re a backend developer, that is. We’re looking to expand our team and want to meet enthusiastic, experienced backend developers looking to work with our fun, flexible team here at Sevnthsin.

http://jobs.sevnthsin.com

Recap: 10/12 UX Meetup @ Sen Yai Sen Lek Thai

We had a lively and varied discussion last Monday with the group that turned out for our October UX meetup.  Some topics that arose:

  • UnSummit compared to open space technology (imagine a summit with no set schedule or speakers, just one big question or problem to be addressed)
  • Mentorship – how can people find potential mentors, and how would mentorship be structured? This could tie in with a discussion we had a few months back about people transitioning into UX: how can we help provide opportunities for people to establish new working/learning relationships…
  • The wide variation in how IA and other UX terms are defined
  • Working with problematic requests/suggestions from clients: probe to find the intent behind those requests, and then find a better way to address that intent.
  • UX as a permanent state of mind (”You’re not just grumpy, you’re doing your job.”)

Thanks to Garrick Van Buren (Kernest.com) for sponsoring the meetup!

Upcoming meetups: November’s event on 11/9 will be the UX Book Club discussing A Project Guide to UX Design. We’re currently working on a topic for the December meetup.

11/9 UX Book Club discussion @ Wilde Roast, 6-8 PM

Please join us for our next UX Book Club discussion Monday, November 9, 6-8 pm at Wilde Roast in NE Minneapolis.

We’ll be discussing a recent UX title from New Riders, A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making, which came out in March.

When reading the book, please write down your answers to these topics/questions and bring them with you — they will drive our discussion (yes, you can still join us if you haven’t read the book):

  • Two things in the book that really struck a chord
  • One thing you either hated, disagreed with, or don’t understand
  • Do you see the ideas in this book influencing your practice/job/work, and if so, how?

DATE & TIME
November 9, 2009
6-8 p.m.

LOCATION
Wilde Roast Cafe
518 Hennepin Ave. E. • Minneapolis, MN 55414
612.331.4544
Map & info

PS – Don’t forget: next UX Meetup is Monday, October 12 (6-8 PM) at Sen Yai Sen Lek Thai in NE Mpls. Hope to see you there!

Your Twin Cities UX Book Club organizers:
Bill Dorman
Christine Anameier
Stephanie Hammes-Betti
Jennifer Bohmbach
Garrick Van Buren

[Job] Write HTML, CSS, and Javascript (and Git and HAML) @ HeadMix

Headmix is looking for a front-end developer to help build out their employee-oriented social network.

Leave a comment – or email me – if you’re interested in finding out more.