I Am Not A Machine: Humanizing the Project and Product Management Experience

Web design should be human-first and so should web creation. Learn aspects of human-first product and project management, how to avoid pitfalls and create happy engineers and developers. Happy geeks write happy code.

Transcript

1. I AM NOT A MACHINE: Humanizing the Product Management Experience
2. JASON RICO • PhD in Music Composition (organizing musical notes, organizing digital projects - it’s all 1’s and 0’s in the end) • Assisting Digital Creators since 2006 • Web Producer at Obama for America 2012 • May have covert military experience
3. MY TIME AT OBAMA FOR AMERICA • First responsive campaign website in political history • Developed systems that engaged hundreds of thousands of voters • Registered over 1 million voters online • We raised over $690 million online, $125+ million as a result of optimization and testing
5. WHAT IS HUMAN-FIRST DIGITAL PRODUCT CREATION? • Putting people over procedure • Reducing barriers and limits • Encouraging engagement and innovation • Thinking “better” and “happier” over “more” and “faster”
7. COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE
8. WHAT IS PROJECT MANAGEMENT?
9. planning tasks and timelines organizing processes and people controlling resources and restrictions
10. motivating and supporting human beings
11. design front end engineering QA UX/UI marketing clients B2B B2C copywriters focus groups agencies
12. PROJECT DNA
13. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment functional reqs content identity art direction
14. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment functional reqs content identity art direction
15. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment functional reqs content identity art direction
16. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment technical discovery scope of work
17. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment user profiles usability testing
18. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment sitemap wireframes
19. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment interface mockups
20. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment design assets HTML/CSS
21. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment project plan and reports tech architecture
22. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment source code
23. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment testing plan bug reports
24. Marketing Digital Content Tech User Analysis IA Interface Front End Dev Project Mgmt Programming QA Deployment documentation training
25. PROJECT GEOMETRY
26. BUDGET TIME FEATURES
27. BUDGET TIME FEATURES
28. BUDGET TIME FEATURES
29. BUDGET TIME FEATURES
30. BUDGET TIME FEATURES
31. BUDGET TIME FEATURES
32. TIME FEATURES
33. TIME FEATURES
34. TIME FEATURES
35. tell me about a time...
36. case study #1 something that went horribly, horribly wrong
37. ARTISTS FOR OBAMA
39. “My drawings have been described as pre-intentionalist, meaning that they were finished before the ideas for them had occurred to me. I shall not argue the point.”
40. “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”
41. case study #2 something that could have gone better
42. NFC TOOLBOX
43. “The longer a defect stays in process, the more expensive it is to fix.”
44. case study #3 something that went great
45. HORRIFYING!
46. “Simple design, intense content.”
47. “Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But, of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works. To design something really well, you have to ‘get it.’ You have to really grok what it’s all about.”
48. case study #4 something that went awesomesauce
49. THE LIFE OF JULIA
53. “It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.”
54. “The architect should strive continually to simplify; the ensemble of the rooms should then be carefully considered that comfort and utility may go hand in hand with beauty.”
55. “I’ve been amazed at how often those outside the discipline of design assume that what designers do is decoration. Good design is problem solving.”
56. if you give good people the tools to do their job, and keep them happy, they will do good work
57. TIME
59. “Innovation in process may trump innovation in product. But innovation in both trumps either.”
60. always say why
61. “The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.”
62. “‘Forty-two,’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.”
63. “If Ernest Hemingway, James Mitchener, Neil Simon, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Pablo Picasso could not get it right the first time, what makes you think that you will?”
64. get people involved (early and often)
65. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
66. “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
67. “The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit of doing them.”
68. “Beauty and brains, pleasure and usability – they should go hand in hand.”
69. “Organizations are collections of human beings. They will perform best and make their greatest achievements when there is clarity, calmness, conviction and collegiality throughout the ranks.”
70. treat people like people
71. “My definition of success is doing what you love.”
72. “Now that we can do anything, what will we do?”
73. “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
74. changing history through technology
75. changing lives through technology