Attended the UPA NJ meet last night. Alice Preston talked about her UX work for non-profit. She was charged with creating a digital library of materials from and about Africa, in a number of subject areas, from botany through cultural heritage to political history. We heard many of her challenges and I know many weren’t mentioned!
My takeaway from the talk was that no matter how practiced we are as designers, managers, researchers, developers, leaders – being a “quick study” is a skill that is often assumed but critical to our success. This is especially true with UX practitioners who need to turn on a dime focusing on any given topic (finance, healthcare, enetrtainment and media, business operations, etc.) at any given juncture. For me, I am constantly asking:
1.) How do I learn best?
2.) How can I refine my learning ability to simplify and yet maximize? (agile learning?)
3.) What are the resources and subject matter experts that can expedite my understanding (more signal and less noise at faster rate)?
I recently observed some of the smartest people I know carrying around a book titled “Pragmatic Thinking and Learning .” I am ready to give it a read.
For more on Alice, the fruits of her labor can be seen at Aluka and the same data re-surfaces at JSTOR.
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