This week in EID was spent trying to find a replacement for
Keith. For those of you who haven’t
heard, he is stepping down as site manager and indispensable partner. It is really sad to see him go. Darn those day jobs!!! They always seem to get in the way of good
volunteer passions.
But we did have four good topics this week on the site. We closed with what I think is the most
important. The article by Ev Williams (founder
of Twitter) on the importance of measuring what is real rather than what is
easy. Page views, time on site, number
of unique users – these just don’t cut it anymore.
Wednesday’s article about user stories is a warning lesson
for all of us. It is too easy to get
sucked into a good story and completely miss the hazards, faults, and
challenges ahead. True for
entrepreneurs, researchers, starting a new exercise program, or whatever you
might have planned.
Tuesday’s piece on best practices is something I spend 20
minutes discussing every time I teach design – whether it is at the university
level or in corporate training or when helping entrepreneurs. They fall into the trap of following them
blindly – not a good idea.
And Monday started out with the usual self-deception fallacy. It explains a lot about life,
especially those things that don’t make much sense – politics, autism-vaccine
links, and more.