Design

Design Thinking and Process – Practical Examples (2 of 2)

So, design thinking can have a positive impact on how you do what you do, and it may very well be hidden inside, waiting to get out. Ok, you are intrigued, you might even believe you can release the designer in you. Where to next? How to get started? Practical Expressions of "Good Design" Like most tech folks, you will need something a bit more concrete that just seeing something effective on the screen; some guiding principles and "rules of…

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Design Thinking and Process – Is It In You? (1 of 2)

Continuing a bit on my recent Design meme; I talk about the current relevance of design thinking, and the impact it can have on change management - but if it feels a bit foreign, how can you tell if you have it in you? Do You Think Visually? Interesting how Design always seems to have a strong visual component, even though functional design (like my data warehouse or the structure of my house) is not directly visible. Still, I thought…

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Design and Change Management

Over my career, I have developed a few strongly-held design beliefs, and one came up in conversation recently, during a spirited discussion on minimal quality requirements for a[ny] data mart. I hold that the data copied from source to destination must be provably correct and complete with little effort. When agile-ly rolling staged deliverables into production, I may not have all the attributes in place for full flexibility of drill down, but if you have [say] 1248 records in the…

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It’s Design, not Decorating

A few months ago, I read Dan Pink's book, A Whole New Mind. Excellent stuff, with echoes in his video What Really Motivates Us? (check it out here), and it introduced me to the idea of "right mind thinking". I've had a great respect for and interest in Architecture over the years, and have watched with great fascination (and a bit of jealousy) as my daughter progresses through her Interior Design studies at the University of Cincinnati (she's the quote…

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Frustrating Paradox: Simple and Difficult

I think this is one of those fundamental concepts that, once it is pointed out to me, become self-evident and obvious (ie. why didn't I think of that). I'm curious if other people agree ... When something is simple to describe, it is difficult to create. When something is difficult to describe, it is simple to create. I've seen these principles illustrated in different areas of business and technology; understanding this relationship can relieve frustration and provide hints on where…

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Linkfest: Data Visualization

I'm a long-time fan of effective visualizations, and I've often written about the effective use of visual information when making presentations or communicating complex information. I've subscribed to my share of blogs and feeds on the topic, and have amassed quite a backlog of interesting links ... presented here for your hyperlinking enjoyment ... Best Blogs information aesthetics - If you appreciate the good stuff when you see it, and like to see the best (to stimulate your own thinking),…

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The Innovation Generation and User Interfaces

I don't intend for all my posts about Millennials joining the workforce to be anti-youth. There are some significantly good things this new generation can bring to established organizations - ways of thinking that foster innovation and forward-progress in how organizations use information. For example, let's talk about user interfaces (UI). I'm not an old man, but I remember the advent of IBM's Common User Access standard. DOS-based computers and early GUIs introduced UI variety, and the resulting lack of…

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SQL Hack for Reporting Project Phase and Status

It's been a while since I've posted some code, but I did a nice little SQL hack today that I've been puzzling over for a while. I freely admit that I may have made this more difficult with the original data model, but the die has been cast. Consider a single SQL table that captures project updates as comments note that this table also allows me to change the "phase" (ex. Design, Development, Test, Production) and/or Status (ex. Proposed, Red,…

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