[{"content":"A brand new chapter of Balanced Team just got started in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our first meeting took place on March 30, 2016 at the recently renovated ITHAKA/JSTOR offices in downtown Ann Arbor.\nWe had a small but engaged and very diverse group, which was the perfect way to kick off the chapter. There was a mix of people who had been to BT events before and those brand new to the idea, people involved in product development and people who are not. There were developers, product owners, UXers, QA engineers, a scrum master, and a project manager. There were people involved in product development and people who are not. A big benefit to the mix of backgrounds and skills was the many great experiences and perspectives that were brought to the table.\nThe 2.5 hour event started with chatting, snacking, and name tag making. After a presentation of Balanced Team’s history and values from Beth LaPensee, we moved into open space discussions.\nThe following topics were voted on and discussed throughout the evening. These were all really of the same flavor and blended together nicely:\nChallenges with becoming lean within an organization Dealing with pre-established designs/ideas as you transition to lean methods Kicking off cross-team partnerships within organizations What are some strategies one can implement to enhance collaboration between people with different roles? Techniques for engaging stakeholders and customers into the design and development process What are some strategies for striking the “right” balance of skills on a team? Two recurring themes were evident throughout the discussion:\nThe importance of good communication and the entire team having a shared vision of the \u0026ldquo;why\u0026rdquo;. Some suggestions of tactics to try:\nSpend time explaining something to someone who doesn\u0026rsquo;t \u0026ldquo;speak your language\u0026rdquo; - try different techniques like sketching or pairing (see below) Use tools/techniques with your team that get everyone engaged in discussions about goals and vision. Try impact mapping or story mapping. Be open with your team about what your personal development goals are. Pairing as one of the fastest and most effective ways to develop empathy for your colleagues AND to further your own skill development. Things to try:\nDevelopers can pair with a Product Owner, for example. This can be helpful because abstracting the technical concepts for a broader audience can also help the developer think about their work differently, more holistically. Pair to develop empathy with your team members or others at your organization. You will learn what you can do to make things better for them. Pairing can also be good for skills development, whether you want a deep dive into a known area or get an introduction to something new. And there were some leftover topics that we didn’t get to. There are surely some great discussions in here, so we’ll hold on to these for next time.\nBalanced team with remote members… can it work? If so, how? How to overcome parts of the team not being in the same location Great tools for team communication How can we advocate for QA having more time with UX team in hopes of better balance? Roles of “project manager” or someone overseeing a project How to combine lightweight discovery (UX) with TDD? Balanced “team” as an individual? Co-locating with team and with others I have a great idea – how do I test it out? Give developers empathy around what drives the business. Everyone is looking forward to the next BT A2 gathering! Watch the MeetUp group for future events.\nThank you to ITHAKA/JSTOR for generously providing the location, snacks, and supplies!\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2016/04/07/bt-a2-kick-off/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA brand new chapter of Balanced Team just got started in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Our first meeting took place on March 30, 2016 at the recently renovated ITHAKA/JSTOR offices in downtown Ann Arbor.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe had a small but engaged and very diverse group, which was the perfect way to kick off the chapter. There was a mix of people who had been to BT events before and those brand new to the idea, people involved in product development and people who are not. There were developers, product owners, UXers, QA engineers, a scrum master, and a project manager. There were people involved in product development and people who are not.  A big benefit to the mix of backgrounds and skills was the many great experiences and perspectives that were brought to the table.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Ann Arbor Has Kicked Off!"},{"content":" Balanced Team Ann Arbor is getting started! On Wednesday, March 30 at 6PM we\u0026rsquo;ll host an evening of open space discussions on Balanced Team topics. Join us to get the conversation about building and working on multi-disciplinary, collaborative teams started.\nRegister on Meetup\nTo facilitate conversation, we’ll follow the Open Space format. The agenda is in your hands, so please bring your ideas or topics of interest. Possible topics could include: your lean success stories, challenges you are having as a member of a product team, transitioning to lean, collaboration within your organization, experimenting and learning from your users/customers, learning from mistakes, combining the different view points of different team members and stakeholders in an optimal way, etc.\nHosted and Sponsored by ITHAKA/JSTOR\nVenue, drinks and snacks will be provided courtesy of ITHAKA/JSTOR, located at 301 E. Liberty St \u0026ndash; corner of 5th and Liberty St. on the 3rd floor. If you want to attend, register on Meetup.\nAbout Balanced Team Balanced Team is a global movement of people who value multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery focused on customer value as a source for innovation. We’re a self-organizing group that learns from each other as we explore processes and methodologies to do good work with happy teams. We welcome people who wear many hats (design, development, testing, product management, marketing and sales, to name a few).\nIf you’re interested in Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, Agile UX, Lean UX, Devops, Customer Development – or anything else that values multidisciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery – we hope you will join the conversation!\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2016/03/29/balanced-teams-ann-arbor-kick-off/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"balancedteam-aa-fb\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/BalancedTeam-AA-fb.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"BalancedTeam-AA-fb\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/BalancedTeam-AA-fb-1024x538.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"balanced-team-ann-arbor-is-getting-started\"\u003eBalanced Team Ann Arbor is getting started!\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Wednesday, March 30 at 6PM we\u0026rsquo;ll host an evening of open space discussions on Balanced Team topics. Join us to get the conversation about building and working on multi-disciplinary, collaborative teams started.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.meetup.com/Balanced-Team-Ann-Arbor/events/228960988/\"\u003eRegister on Meetup\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo facilitate conversation, we’ll follow the Open Space format. The agenda is in your hands, so please bring your ideas or topics of interest. Possible topics could include: your lean success stories, challenges you are having as a member of a product team, transitioning to lean, collaboration within your organization, experimenting and learning from your users/customers, learning from mistakes, combining the different view points of different team members and stakeholders in an optimal way, etc.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Teams Ann Arbor Kick Off!"},{"content":"On a damp, dark Saturday morning in November, a group of like-minded designers, developers, product managers, agile coaches, business analysts and project managers got up bright and early to meet at the Pivotal offices in London, UK for the Balanced Team London Salon 2015.\nAfter a hearty, cooked breakfast (thanks Pivotal!) we kicked off with a presentation from Johanna Kollmann on the history of Balanced Team. Then participants interviewed each other and introduced each other in the opening circle. As the Salon was an unconference, with the help of post-its and sharpies kindly provided by Unboxed, we then co-created our agenda for the day.\n[embed]https://flic.kr/p/BpP4pP[/embed]\nWe broke into discussion groups to share case studies and offer advice and support and share techniques and tips.After lunch Adrian Howard facilitated a Failure SwapShop. This is a really fun game created by Luke Williams (@alukeonlife), who explains more on his blog:For those not familiar with the failure swapshop it follows a very simple format:\n“Hi my name is ____ and I failed” \u0026gt; EVERYONE CHEERS \u0026laquo;\nExplain your failure Share the lessons learned There are only 2 rules:\nWe’re all friends Share only the lessons learned The aim of the session is to encourage people to discuss their failures in a safe and supportive way, sharing only the lessons learned with those outside the room.\n[embed]https://flic.kr/p/ARia76[/embed]\nIt’s surprising how good it feels to stand up in front of a room of people, share your name and say you’ve failed and hear a deafening cheer in response! Several people volunteered to come to the front of the room and share their own failures and lessons learned. This was a great way to bring the group back together after lunch, and set the scene for the afternoon. A few people commented on how they were keen to try this game at work. I think many organisations could benefit from encouraging their employees and teams to celebrate and learn from “failures” in this mutually supportive way.\n[embed]https://flic.kr/p/AY4EQG[/embed]\nWhat the participants thought Quite a lot of people who participated had never been to a Balanced Team event before. Here’s what some of our “newbies” thought of the event…\nFrancis Rowland, Senior UX Designer at EMBL-EBI @francisrowland“It was a tough start to a Saturday morning, waiting for a train down to London, shivering in the cold drizzle. In the end, I was really happy I went along to the Balanced Team Salon. Apart from the frankly top notch food and refreshments, and the good-sized location, I particularly appreciated the feeling of the whole event: egalitarian, focused, open, and supportive. I think everyone I talked to, from developers to product managers, event organisers, to other UX designers, wanted to find a way to share experience, so that we could all get better and doing what we do and working with other people.There was no preaching, no dogma; there were no role-related factions. Everyone pitched in, the format provided ample opportunity to focus on important things; new relationships were formed, and I think most people came away with a positive feeling, and having learned something. That was certainly my experience.So this “salon” turned out to be what I hoped it would be, and I’d happily do it again.”Francis also captured what he learned in his amazing sketchnotes.\n[embed]https://www.flickr.com/photos/francisrowland/sets/72157662283104075[/embed]\nMarine Barbaroux, Service and Product Designer at Cambridge Consultants @miss_embe“I’ve been following the Balanced Team group for a while, but never participated in any of their events. I love the philosophy behind the group, and I admit I was a little worried that the audience would only be designers… But it wasn’t the case.Quite the contrary, actually: the audience of the event was diverse, only with the same interest in multidisciplinary teams that can actually deliver. The format is very simple: at the start of the day, people had explained what they were hoping to get out of the session, and it didn’t take long for many discussion topics to be generated. Somehow -don’t ask me how- I ended up facilitating a discussion around the role of a designer in an agile environment, and it was nice to see that other people struggled where I do.Despite the gloomy day outside, the atmosphere was good and warm: it felt really good to be mingling with new people who are happy to share their experience and failure. For me the day was a great success:\nI made some contacts to help me with my daily job, passing on the agile love in my team (hint: subscribe to the Balanced team google group!) I learnt how to actually get people to share their failures (and learning) in a fun way. It’s common understanding now that failing isn’t an issue as long as we learn, but it’s still a bit taboo in some teams… the technique explained in this post will be great help! So yes, all in all, it was a good day. I left with new contacts, a warm feeling inside, and the trust that people are happy to give up their Saturday to help their community… isn’t that great?”\nLessons Learned After the event, the organisers Johanna, Michele and Spencer had a retrospective to capture lessons learned. Our top lessons were:\nCompared to previous London events, we had more first-timers than existing Balanced Team members. This meant that fewer folks had prepared stories to tell or case studies to share. Lesson learned: reach out to previous attendees before the event and ask them to prepare/contribute/lead sessions (e.g. sharing a case study/story, lightning talk). Find space for smaller, break-out sessions and discussions. One open space worked for a small group in 2014, but did not work that well for our rather large group this year. Organise an energising, facilitated post-lunch activity involving all participants - like Failure Swapshop. We put effort into inviting a mix of roles, to reflect the balanced team theme, and achieved diversity in attendees. We recommend to approach sending out invites to the event with this in mind. Actively seek participant feedback and re-plan throughout the day. A list of facilitation techniques would have been helpful to do this even better - something to prepare for next time. Finally, if you run a not-for-profit, volunteer event, what do you do with any leftover cash? Due to the kind sponsorship of Cultivate, Pivotal and Unboxed, after covering the evening drinks bills we still had enough money left over from the small event fee to donate 8 places to Crisis at Christmas. This may be a model other Balanced Team Salons could consider.\n[embed]https://flic.kr/p/BqcYHi[/embed]\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2015/12/18/balanced-team-london-salon-2015-post-event/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOn a damp, dark Saturday morning in November, a group of like-minded designers, developers, product managers, agile coaches, business analysts and project managers got up bright and early to meet at the Pivotal offices in London, UK for the Balanced Team London Salon 2015.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter a hearty, cooked breakfast (thanks Pivotal!) we kicked off with a presentation from Johanna Kollmann on the history of Balanced Team. Then participants interviewed each other and introduced each other in the opening circle. As the Salon was an unconference, with the help of post-its and sharpies kindly provided by Unboxed, we then co-created our agenda for the day.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team London Salon 2015 - Post Event"},{"content":"On Saturday November 21st, a group of poly-skilled developers, designers, researchers, academics, entrepreneurs and product managers will be meeting for the Balanced Team Salon: London.\nCome join us! Get your ticket on Eventbrite\nIf you’re interested in Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, Agile UX, Lean UX, Devops, Customer Development – and anything else that values multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery of value – you’ll find this of interest.\nRough schedule for the day: 10-11am Breakfast, make new friends, meet old ones, generate conversation topics. 11am-3pm Break out group discussions, fishbowls, etc. 3-4pm Share learnings, closing circle, tearful goodbyes. 4pm Drinks nearby at a venue tbc.\nDo come: If you want to spend a day actively learning with your peers. Don’t come: If you want to sit down and listen passively to presentations.\nThank you to our sponsors Pivotal Labs, Cultivate and Unboxed Consulting for making this event possible.\nVenue: Pivotal Labs Bentima House 168-172 Old Street London EC1V 9BP\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2015/10/09/balanced-team-salon-london-2015/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOn Saturday November 21st, a group of poly-skilled developers, designers, researchers, academics, entrepreneurs and product managers will be meeting for the Balanced Team Salon: London.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCome join us!\u003c/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"https://balanced-team-uk-2015.eventbrite.com\"\u003eGet your ticket on Eventbrite\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you’re interested in Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, Agile UX, Lean UX, Devops, Customer Development – and anything else that values multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery of value – you’ll find this of interest.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRough schedule for the day:\u003c/strong\u003e\n10-11am Breakfast, make new friends, meet old ones, generate conversation topics.\n11am-3pm Break out group discussions, fishbowls, etc.\n3-4pm Share learnings, closing circle, tearful goodbyes.\n4pm Drinks nearby at a venue tbc.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Salon: London 2015"},{"content":"\nBalanced Team is hosting a spring Salon in Chicago on May 2nd, 2015 from 10am–3pm. It will be an open un-conference format focusing on sharing our experiences and good conversation. Those new to Balanced Team are encouraged to attend. Also, it will be a time to get the conversation started ahead of the Balanced Team Summit in Grand Rapids.\nThose attending will help set the topics for the day in the collaborative spaces of Pivotal Labs’ Chicago office, inside the Merchandise Mart. We will have Balanced Team experts coming in from all corners to share their experiences.\nSpace is limited to best encourage good conversation, so RSVP today. Pivotal Labs will be sponsoring food and drink throughout the Salon.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2015/04/24/balanced-team-salon-chicago/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/balanced-team-salon-chicago-tickets-16435751776\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"CCE9s_SUEAE_ndy\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CCE9s_SUEAE_ndy.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBalanced Team is hosting a spring Salon in Chicago on May 2nd, 2015 from 10am–3pm. It will be an open un-conference format focusing on sharing our experiences and good conversation. Those new to Balanced Team are encouraged to attend. Also, it will be a time to get the conversation started ahead of the Balanced Team Summit in Grand Rapids.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose attending will help set the topics for the day in the collaborative spaces of Pivotal Labs’ Chicago office, inside the Merchandise Mart. We will have Balanced Team experts coming in from all corners to share their experiences.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Salon: Chicago"},{"content":"\nBalanced Team Los Angeles is back and will be hosting an evening of conversation and consumption on May 20th, 2015 from 6:30PM to 9PM at Rhubarb Studios in Downtown Los Angeles.\nIf you’re interested in Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, Agile UX, Lean UX, DevOps, Customer Development—and anything else that values multidisciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery of value—you’ll find this of interest.\nTo facilitate conversation, we’ll follow the Lean Coffee format. The agenda is in your hands, so please bring your ideas or topics of interest. Balanced Team experts will be on-hand for those interested in learning more.\nA HUGE thank you to Pivotal Labs for providing the food and drink!\nFor early arrivers (6:30-7:00), there will be a drone flying demo and a chance to ride a Onewheel.\nSpace is limited and registration is open, so register today.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2015/04/23/btla-salon-may-2015/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015-05-BTLA-social-card.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"2015-05-BTLA-social-card\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015-05-BTLA-social-card.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBalanced Team Los Angeles is back and will be hosting an evening of conversation and consumption on May 20th, 2015 from 6:30PM to 9PM at \u003ca href=\"http://www.rhubarbstudios.co\"\u003eRhubarb Studios\u003c/a\u003e in Downtown Los Angeles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you’re interested in Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, Agile UX, Lean UX, DevOps, Customer Development—and anything else that values multidisciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery of value—you’ll find this of interest.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo facilitate conversation, we’ll follow the \u003ca href=\"http://agilecoffee.com/leancoffee/\"\u003eLean Coffee\u003c/a\u003e format. The agenda is in your hands, so please bring your ideas or topics of interest. Balanced Team experts will be on-hand for those interested in learning more.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Los Angeles Salon"},{"content":"\nIn cooperation with LeanUX NYC, Balanced Team is hosting an evening of conversation and consumption on April 15th, 2015 from 6PM to 9PM. CompStak will host at 36 Cooper Square in Manhattan.\nTo facilitate conversation, we\u0026rsquo;ll follow the Lean Coffee format. The agenda is in your hands, so please bring your ideas or topics from the conference! Balanced Team experts from around the country will be on-hand for those interested in learning more.\nAnd to facilitate consumption, beer, cocktails and hors d\u0026rsquo;oeuvres will be provided courtesy of Catalyst Group, CompStak and Pivotal Labs.\nSpace is limited and registration is open, so RSVP today.\nGetting from LeanUX NYC to 36 Cooper Square A Balanced Team tour guide will lead a group to 36 Cooper Square after the first day of the conference. Just keep an eye peeled and an ear open: we’ll rally somewhere at the conference venue and head over together.\nTo get there on your own…\nShare a taxi or ride-share service. You can get from Brooklyn to Manhattan via the Williamsburg bridge. That’s 5 miles or 15 minutes without traffic ($15+ by taxi). Take the subway. There are several routes that will work, depending on how far you want to walk, so check these Google Maps directions or buddy up with a local. When you arrive, just look for the Village Voice building, and head to the 6th floor. For more information Contact the event committee.\nLearn more about Balanced Team and LeanUX NYC 2015.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2015/03/04/btny-leanux-2015/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/BalancedLeanHero.png\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"BalancedLeanHero\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/BalancedLeanHero-1024x479.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn cooperation with LeanUX NYC, Balanced Team is hosting an evening of conversation and consumption on April 15th, 2015 from 6PM to 9PM. CompStak will host at \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/36+Cooper+Sq,+New+York,+NY+10003\" title=\"Google Maps: 36 Cooper Square, NYC\"\u003e36 Cooper Square\u003c/a\u003e in Manhattan.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo facilitate conversation, we\u0026rsquo;ll follow the \u003ca href=\"http://agilecoffee.com/leancoffee/\" title=\"Lean Coffee\"\u003eLean Coffee\u003c/a\u003e format. The agenda is in your hands, so please bring your ideas or topics from the conference! Balanced Team experts from around the country will be on-hand for those interested in learning more.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team / LeanUX NYC Social, April 15th 2015"},{"content":"Rick Harlow and I had the pleasure of interviewing with West Michigan-based magazine RapidGrowth about the upcoming Balanced Team Summit. Here\u0026rsquo;s a nice little excerpt :\n“To me, if I had to explain the value proposition,” says Harlow, “it would be: Everything from startups to large companies, everyone from experienced people to people just trying to learn about it. And hopefully it becomes, similar to that story map: We’ve structured an event to allow for a purposeful conversation around, what does it mean to work among a diverse group of people with different skills and talents to accomplish things?”\nPlease check it out here, rebroadcast to your social circles, and then purchase a ticket for the event! Enjoy!\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2015/02/26/balanced-team-summit-2015-interview/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/features/022615balancedteamsummitgrandrapids.aspx\"\u003eRick Harlow and I had the pleasure of interviewing\u003c/a\u003e with West Michigan-based magazine \u003ca href=\"http://www.rapidgrowthmedia.com/\"\u003eRapidGrowth\u003c/a\u003e about the upcoming Balanced Team Summit. Here\u0026rsquo;s a nice little excerpt :\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“To me, if I had to explain the value proposition,” says Harlow, “it would be: Everything from startups to large companies, everyone from experienced people to people just trying to learn about it. And hopefully it becomes, similar to that story map: We’ve structured an event to allow for a purposeful conversation around, what does it mean to work among a diverse group of people with different skills and talents to accomplish things?”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Summit 2015 interview"},{"content":"We\u0026rsquo;re excited to announce that tickets are now available for the upcoming summit in Grand Rapids in June. Early bird ticket sales will run through February 15; standard ticket sales will begin after that. There are a limited number of early bird tickets available, so buy now and save some cash while you can! We\u0026rsquo;d greatly appreciate your early support.\nVisit the event website for more information on ticket sales, and of course the event itself.\nYour planning committee: Matt Fletcher, Lane Halley, Rick Harlow, Brittany Hunter and Gail Swanson.\nPS\nOur call for proposals runs through February 6. We\u0026rsquo;re pleased with what\u0026rsquo;s come in so far, but we would love to hear some more ideas for great talks! Visit our CFP page for more information.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2015/02/02/balanced-team-summit-2015-tickets-available-now/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;re excited to announce that tickets are now available for the \u003ca href=\"/btgr2015/\"\u003eupcoming summit in Grand Rapids in June\u003c/a\u003e. Early bird ticket sales will run through February 15; standard ticket sales will begin after that. There are a limited number of early bird tickets available, so buy now and save some cash while you can! We\u0026rsquo;d greatly appreciate your early support.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/btgr2015/\"\u003eVisit the event website\u003c/a\u003e for more information on ticket sales, and of course the event itself.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Summit 2015: Tickets Available Now"},{"content":"Update 3/11/2015: A Balanced Team / LeanUX NYC Social has been scheduled for April 15. The NYC Salon will be pushed back to a later date. Please save the date for a Balanced Team Salon on Sunday April 19, 2015 in New York City! It will be hosted by CompStak at 36 Cooper Square in Manhattan. The planning committee includes Jonathan Berger, Ray Delapena of Catalyst, and Jeff Domke and Rick Winslow of CompStak.\nThe session will run for a half-day starting late AM or afternoon, depending on the Lean UX NYC conference schedule and visiting attendees’ plans.\nThe event will include brunch/snacks, beverages, socializing, small group break-out sessions and a recap, similar to prior BT Salons. Topics are entirely open for consideration, and we’ll solicit ideas soon.\nLooking forward to making new friends visiting for the week, and seeing NYC BT’ers, too! More info to come\u0026hellip;\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2015/01/26/balanced-team-salon-nyc-april-19-2015/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eUpdate 3/11/2015: A \u003ca href=\"/2015/03/04/btny-leanux-2015/\" title=\"Balanced Team / LeanUX NYC Social\"\u003eBalanced Team / LeanUX NYC Social\u003c/a\u003e has been scheduled for April 15. The NYC Salon will be pushed back to a later date.\u003c/em\u003e\nPlease save the date for a Balanced Team Salon on Sunday April 19, 2015 in New York City! It will be hosted by \u003ca href=\"http://www.compstak.com/gateway/about\"\u003eCompStak\u003c/a\u003e at \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/36+Cooper+Sq,+New+York,+NY+10003\"\u003e36 Cooper Square\u003c/a\u003e in Manhattan. The planning committee includes Jonathan Berger, Ray Delapena of Catalyst, and Jeff Domke and Rick Winslow of CompStak.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Salon, NYC, April 19, 2015"},{"content":"Happy New Year! We look forward to gathering in Grand Rapids, MI for a weekend of conversation, collaboration and community at the Balanced Team Summit. We\u0026rsquo;re going to continue many of the elements that we\u0026rsquo;ve enjoyed at past events: a great location, a mix of invited speakers, community contributions, open space sessions and lots of social time. We have an exciting weekend planned, and look forward to your participation.\nSubmit a session proposal\nOur theme this year is \u0026quot; Balanced Teams Everywhere\u0026quot;\nBalance is action guided by incremental adjustments, rather than an achieved state. At the 2015 Balanced Team Summit, we will explore and share the latest techniques and innovations of Balanced Teams in different sized organizations in the software industry and beyond. Throughout it all, we\u0026rsquo;ll be considering the question, \u0026ldquo;What does it mean to be a balanced team?\u0026rdquo;\nAt its core, Balanced Team is a community and we’re eager to hear from your Balanced Teams. What Balanced Team techniques have worked well for you? What hasn’t worked well? What improvements have you made over the years that are worth sharing? Do you have a nagging question you want help from this group to answer? Are there big issues we need to address in the upcoming year to help build even better Balanced Teams?\nPlease let us know what you want to contribute. If you have more than one idea, it\u0026rsquo;s OK to submit more than once. We\u0026rsquo;re accepting submissions through Friday February 6th, 2015.\nSubmit a session proposal\nThanks for reading this, we very much look forward to seeing you soon in Grand Rapids!!\nFor more information, please visit the conference site\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2015/01/15/community-submissions/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHappy New Year! We look forward to gathering in Grand Rapids, MI for a weekend of conversation, collaboration and community at the \u003ca href=\"/btgr2015\" title=\"Balanced Team Summit 2015\"\u003eBalanced Team Summit\u003c/a\u003e. We\u0026rsquo;re going to continue many of the elements that we\u0026rsquo;ve enjoyed at past events: a great location, a mix of invited speakers, community contributions, open space sessions and lots of social time. We have an exciting weekend planned, and look forward to your participation.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Summit 2015: Call for Proposals"},{"content":"Update 1/5/2015: the conference site is live at www.balancedteam.org/btgr2015\n---\nHello friends! We are pleased to announce the theme for the Balanced Team Summit on June 13 and 14, 2015 in Grand Rapids, Michigan! Balanced Teams EverywhereBalance is action guided by incremental adjustments, rather than an achieved state. At the 2015 Balanced Team Summit, we will explore and share the latest techniques and innovations of Balanced Teams in different sized organizations in the software industry and beyond. Throughout it all, we\u0026rsquo;ll be considering the question, \u0026ldquo;What does it mean to be a balanced team?\u0026rdquo;\nWe\u0026rsquo;re working on launching our conference website and will make a call for submissions soon.\nIf you want to participate in the conversation about this event and help us plan, please join our Google group. If you would like to get announcements about Balanced Team events sent directly to your inbox, please sign up for our events announcement list.\nYour planning committee: Matt Fletcher, Lane Halley, Rick Harlow, Brittany Hunter and Gail Swanson.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2014/11/23/btgr2015-theme-announced/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eUpdate 1/5/2015: the conference site is live at \u003ca href=\"/btgr2015/\" title=\"Balanced Team Summit 2015\"\u003ewww.balancedteam.org/btgr2015\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello friends! We are pleased to announce the theme for the \u003cstrong\u003eBalanced Team Summit on\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eJune 13 and 14, 2015\u003c/strong\u003e in \u003cstrong\u003eGrand Rapids, Michigan!\u003c/strong\u003e Balanced Teams EverywhereBalance is action guided by incremental adjustments, rather than an achieved state. At the 2015 Balanced Team Summit, we will explore and share the latest techniques and innovations of Balanced Teams in different sized organizations in the software industry and beyond. Throughout it all, we\u0026rsquo;ll be considering the question, \u0026ldquo;What does it mean to be a balanced team?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Summit 2015 Theme Announced"},{"content":"Agile 2014 was once again was full of UX related content — over 28 hours worth spread over five days. If, like us, you couldn’t attend this year here are links to all of the UX related slide decks we could find:\nThe Girl With the Chisel Tip Marker (Lynne Cazaly) Intensifying User Stories (Bill Wake) Requirements, Product Ownership, and Other Misunderstood Concepts in Agile Development (Jeff Patton) Value Teams: The Next Evolution of the Product Owner (Ahmed Sidky) How to recognize the Zombie Persona Apocalypse (Michael Rawling) UX Runway: the trials and tribulations of a UX and Agile environment (Natalie Warnert) Creating Successful MVPs in Agile Teams (Melissa Perri) Go From a Nebulous Vision to Iteration One in 3 Steps (Mary Brodie) See the Value (Jeffrey Morgan, Ardita Karaj) Lean Startup Snowflakes (D. Andre Dhondt) How Agile UX and guerrilla testing helped change government policy (Kevin Murray, Imran Younis) The Anatomy of an Experience Framework: How to Create Better Products With Your Customers (Martina Schell) Build Products that Matter with Innovation Accounting (David Bland) You also might be interested in:\nAntonella Cachia’s review of some of her favourite Agile 2014 sessions This video of Ahmed Sidky talking about Value Teams earlier this year Jen Siomacco’s review of some of the UX related sessions Natalie Warnert interviewed about the ‘UX Runway’ at Agile 2014 Mary Brodie writing about needing a vision for agile projects earlier this year Andre Dhondt’s write up of his Lean Startup Snowflakes game Davis Hussman talking about Lessons in Gravity, one of his Agile 2014 sessions David Bland on How to Build Products that Matter at Agile 2014 If we missed anything please let us know at crew@quietstars.com!\n(excerpted with permission from \u0026quot; The Agile \u0026amp; Lean UX News #15\u0026quot;)\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2014/09/06/agile-2014-conference-redux/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAgile 2014 was once again was full of UX related content — over 28 hours worth spread over five days. If, like us, you couldn’t attend this year here are links to all of the UX related slide decks we could find:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=4ca178e848\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eThe Girl With the Chisel Tip Marker\u003c/a\u003e (Lynne Cazaly)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=bdfbebfe58\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eIntensifying User Stories\u003c/a\u003e (Bill Wake)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=e559112c97\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eRequirements, Product Ownership, and Other Misunderstood Concepts in Agile Development\u003c/a\u003e (Jeff Patton)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=f15891b455\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eValue Teams: The Next Evolution of the Product Owner\u003c/a\u003e (Ahmed Sidky)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=6047ed8553\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eHow to recognize the Zombie Persona Apocalypse\u003c/a\u003e (Michael Rawling)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=38cc5e70a9\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eUX Runway: the trials and tribulations of a UX and Agile environment\u003c/a\u003e (Natalie Warnert)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=3b1bde292c\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eCreating Successful MVPs in Agile Teams\u003c/a\u003e (Melissa Perri)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=7c3ce0cc97\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eGo From a Nebulous Vision to Iteration One in 3 Steps\u003c/a\u003e (Mary Brodie)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=7baad59988\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eSee the Value\u003c/a\u003e (Jeffrey Morgan, Ardita Karaj)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=9ec46d35a1\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eLean Startup Snowflakes\u003c/a\u003e (D. Andre Dhondt)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=2063bc92e2\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eHow Agile UX and guerrilla testing helped change government policy\u003c/a\u003e (Kevin Murray, Imran Younis)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=1b1a46098e\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eThe Anatomy of an Experience Framework: How to Create Better Products With Your Customers\u003c/a\u003e (Martina Schell)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://quietstars.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b6e74f32ed9cb7b56ccfedd60\u0026amp;id=4587197de6\u0026amp;e=6f1ce60bb7\"\u003eBuild Products that Matter with Innovation Accounting\u003c/a\u003e (David Bland)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou also might be interested in:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Agile 2014 Conference Redux"},{"content":"It is time for another Balanced Team meetup for the folks in Los Angeles and SoCal. It is set on Wednesday August 20, 2014 at Fandango in Santa Monica from 6:30pm to 9:30pm.\nRSVP on Meetup\nInstead of sitting down and listening to a few presentations, we have designed an activity for every attendee to participate in discussions and generate ideas together. Come prepared because it will be filled with plenty of conversations from people in the community sharing ideas, socializing, and offering insights from their own experience.\nIf you’re interested in Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, Agile UX, Lean UX, DevOps, Customer Development—and anything else that values multidisciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery of value—you’ll find this of interest.\nTo ensure the quality of the activity, this event is capped at 30 attendees. It is free and first come, first serve. Please RSVP at our meetup page and feel free to invite new folks to come along. We know that our diversity always makes the conversation more fun!\nMany, many thanks to our wonderful sponsor, Fandango, for providing food, drinks, and materials!\nRSVP on Meetup\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2014/08/07/btsalonla-aug2014/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt is time for another Balanced Team meetup for the folks in Los Angeles and SoCal. It is set on Wednesday August 20, 2014 at Fandango in Santa Monica from 6:30pm to 9:30pm.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.meetup.com/balancedteam/events/199531072/\" title=\"RSVP on Meetup\"\u003eRSVP on Meetup\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInstead of sitting down and listening to a few presentations, we have designed an activity for every attendee to participate in discussions and generate ideas together. Come prepared because it will be filled with plenty of conversations from people in the community sharing ideas, socializing, and offering insights from their own experience.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Salon in Los Angeles"},{"content":"Update 1/5/2015: the conference site is live at www.balancedteam.org/bt2015\nUpdate 11/24: Balanced Team Summit 2015 Theme announcement\n---\nWe\u0026rsquo;re pleased to announce that we will be holding a Balanced Team Summit on June 13 and 14, 2015 in Grand Rapids, Michigan! The planning committee is made up of Rick Harlow of Visualhero, Gail Swanson of Manifest Digital, Lane Halley, and Matt Fletcher and myself, Brittany Hunter, from Atomic Object.\nThe event is a year from now, so we’ve got plenty of time to plan a great conference. Currently, we\u0026rsquo;re working to secure a great venue and choose a theme. We’ve got some great ideas, but everything is under consideration at this point. Is there a particular theme or question you’ve been wondering about and would like to further explore with fellow Balanced Teamers? Let us know by filling out our quick google form!\nWe are all super excited to host the conference next year. See you then!\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2014/06/15/mark-your-calendars-balanced-team-summit-june-2015-in-grand-rapids-mi/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eUpdate 1/5/2015: the conference site is live at \u003ca href=\"/btgr2015\"\u003ewww.balancedteam.org/bt2015\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUpdate 11/24: \u003ca href=\"/?p=1114\"\u003eBalanced Team Summit 2015 Theme announcement\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;re pleased to announce that we will be holding a \u003cstrong\u003eBalanced Team Summit on\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eJune 13 and 14, 2015\u003c/strong\u003e in \u003cstrong\u003eGrand Rapids, Michigan!\u003c/strong\u003e The planning committee is made up of Rick Harlow of Visualhero, Gail Swanson of Manifest Digital, Lane Halley, and Matt Fletcher and myself, Brittany Hunter, from Atomic Object.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe event is a year from now, so we’ve got plenty of time to plan a great conference. Currently, we\u0026rsquo;re working to secure a great venue and choose a theme. We’ve got some great ideas, but everything is under consideration at this point. \u003cstrong\u003eIs there a particular theme or question you’ve been wondering about and would like to further explore with fellow Balanced Teamers? \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16nZyPM_uN_mUA31GuhH0jDvHaqtQvnRfC4SHD0ev7O0/viewform?usp=send_form\"\u003eLet us know by filling out our quick google form!\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mark Your Calendars! Balanced Team Summit June 2015 in Grand Rapids, MI"},{"content":"On Saturday May 31st, a group of poly-skilled developers, designers, researchers, academics, entrepreneurs and product managers will be meeting. Come join us.\nTickets are available on Eventbrite now!\nIf you’re interested in Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, Agile UX, Lean UX, Devops, Customer Development – and anything else that values multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery of value – you’ll find this of interest.\nDon’t know what Balanced Team is about? Read about the history of Balanced Team, check out our blog posts, and see some of the things that happened at the last Balanced Team London.\nRough schedule for the day:\n10-11am: Breakfast, make new friends, meet old ones, generate conversation topics. 11am-3pm: Break out group discussions, fishbowls, etc. 3-4pm: Share learnings, closing circle, tearful goodbyes. Do come: If you want to spend a day actively learning with your peers. Don’t come: If you want to sit down and listen passively to presentations.\nRemember - tickets are available on Eventbrite now!\nThank you to our sponsors Neo \u0026amp; Pivotal Labs for making this event possible.\nVenue: Pivotal Labs Bentima House 168-172 Old Street London EC1V 9BP\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2014/05/12/balanced-team-salon-london/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOn Saturday May 31st, a group of poly-skilled developers, designers, researchers, academics, entrepreneurs and product managers will be meeting. Come join us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.eventbrite.com/e/balanced-team-london-salon-2014-tickets-11605589631\"\u003eTickets are available on Eventbrite now!\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you’re interested in Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, Agile UX, Lean UX, Devops, Customer Development – and anything else that values multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery of value – you’ll find this of interest.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDon’t know what Balanced Team is about? Read about the \u003ca href=\"/balanced-team-history/\"\u003ehistory of Balanced Team\u003c/a\u003e, check out our \u003ca href=\"/blog-posts/\"\u003eblog posts\u003c/a\u003e, and see some of the things that happened at the \u003ca href=\"https://storify.com/adrianh/balanced-team-london-2013/\"\u003elast Balanced Team London\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Salon, London, May 31st 2014"},{"content":"http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/34222182 http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/34222142 http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/34222226\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2014/05/02/apr-24-presentations/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed\"\u003ehttp://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed\u003c/a\u003e_code/34222182\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed\"\u003ehttp://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed\u003c/a\u003e_code/34222142\n\u003ca href=\"http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed\"\u003ehttp://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed\u003c/a\u003e_code/34222226\u003c/p\u003e","title":"April San Francisco Salon Presentations"},{"content":"There has been a great deal of recent momentum with the Balanced Team folks. A clutch of long time members gathered recently for the Lean UX NYC conference followed up by a Balanced Team Salon hosted at Pivotal Labs. Several of us shared a desire to carry some of that energy back with us to the west coast. Initially this felt like a good opportunity to round up some of the BT friends in San Francisco for a night of cocktails and conversation. After a couple conversations among several folks we decided to change course, put some structure around it and turn it into a Salon.\n[caption id=\u0026ldquo;attachment_1028\u0026rdquo; align=\u0026ldquo;aligncenter\u0026rdquo; width=\u0026ldquo;690\u0026rdquo;] Image courtesy of Jordan Presnick (@JordanPresnick)[/caption]\nSalons have proved themselves to be a lightweight version of a larger un-conference event. At this Salon in San Francisco we had several lightening talks recounting some highlights from the New York experience by Courtney Hemphill and Alexa Roman.\nWe then opened it up to our favorite tool for engagement - the fishbowl. We seeded the endeavor with a broad question open to lots of interpretation\u0026hellip; What is Balanced Team? As there were several new faces, there was a good amount of fodder for the bowl that followed.\n[caption id=\u0026ldquo;attachment_1029\u0026rdquo; align=\u0026ldquo;aligncenter\u0026rdquo; width=\u0026ldquo;710\u0026rdquo;] Idea Generation [/caption]\nThe question that received the most dot clusters was the topic on everyone\u0026rsquo;s tongues: How does Balanced Team fit into organizations: top down or bottom up? For those of us that have confronted this problem, it was easy to surface the issues and throw around some stories of experiences and the learning that was captured from them. The one truth that we can all agree on is that it is invariably hard but always worthwhile. As to be expected, the secondary and perhaps more important component of the event was the time available for old friends to reconnect and talk about their work and passions.\nA latent issue that at times would surface during the conversation was the lack of true balance in the attendees at large. We are all practitioners on the design and development side of the product creation process. The missing voices that have the potential to truly balance our work still felt either underrepresented or fully absent. The knowledge, needs, and ideas that come from those working day to day in the fields of ethnography, marketing, sales, business strategy, etc are critical components to the successful execution of ideas. I very much hope to see future Balanced Team events reaching further and further out into our extended networks to bring those voices to the conversation and ignite the future fishbowls with some lively discourse.\nHere are some additional photos courtesy of Alexa Roman.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2014/04/30/salons-and-such-april-sf-salon-at-carbon-five/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere has been a great deal of recent momentum with the Balanced Team folks. A clutch of long time members gathered recently for the Lean UX NYC conference followed up by a Balanced Team Salon hosted at Pivotal Labs. Several of us shared a desire to carry some of that energy back with us to the west coast. Initially this felt like a good opportunity to round up some of the BT friends in San Francisco for a night of cocktails and conversation. After a couple conversations among several folks we decided to change course, put some structure around it and turn it into a Salon.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Salons and Such: April SF Salon at Carbon Five"},{"content":"Balanced Team Salon SF We\u0026rsquo;re pleased to announce a Balanced Team Salon April 24, 2014 at Carbon Five in San Francisco CA.\nRSVP on EVENTBRITE\nSalons are becoming popular format in the BT community as they involve plenty of networking, short talks from people in the community sharing what they\u0026rsquo;ve learned and then a fishbowl - a collaborative, inclusive conversation that allows many people to get involved and share.\nWith quite a few people in our SF community coming back from an amazing day-long BT NYC Salon we thought we might bring some of that energy and discussion back home. Our talks will share some of the learning and intrigues from the Salon and Lean UX 2014 conference. And then we\u0026rsquo;ll pull out some of the more intriguing themes and topics that were discussed as starters for our fishbowl.\nPlease feel free to invite new folks to come along. We know that our diversity always makes the conversation more fun!\nRSVP on EVENTBRITE\nAGENDA\n6 PM - Food and libation 6:30 PM - Short Balanced Team intro 6:45 - 7:30 PM - 3 10-minute talks 7:30 PM - Fishbowl ideation introduced 7:50 PM Fishbowl voting 8 PM Fishbowl Networking until close\nRSVP on EVENTBRITE\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2014/04/21/btsfsalonapr24/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"balanced-team-salon-sf\"\u003eBalanced Team Salon SF\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;re pleased to announce a Balanced Team Salon April 24, 2014 at Carbon Five in San Francisco CA.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.eventbrite.com/e/balanced-team-salon-sf-tickets-11323925165\"\u003eRSVP on EVENTBRITE\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSalons are becoming popular format in the BT community as they involve plenty of networking, short talks from people in the community sharing what they\u0026rsquo;ve learned and then a fishbowl - a collaborative, inclusive conversation that allows many people to get involved and share.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith quite a few people in our SF community coming back from an amazing day-long BT NYC Salon we thought we might bring some of that energy and discussion back home. Our talks will share some of the learning and intrigues from the Salon and Lean UX 2014 conference. And then we\u0026rsquo;ll pull out some of the more intriguing themes and topics that were discussed as starters for our fishbowl.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Announcing a Balanced Team Salon in SF 4/24"},{"content":"BUY TICKETS ON EVENTBRITE\ndeLUX is happening again this year at SXSW! Please join us March 7 for some beers \u0026amp; bites at sunset on the beautiful patio at Adaptive Path, followed by a short program from some of the leading practicioners in the Lean / Balanced Team community.\nProgram Starts @ 6:30pm. Short talks from:\nJeff Gothelf, Neo Principal and author of LeanUX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience Jeremiah Gardner, Handcrafted Brands Principal and author of The Lean Brand Alissa Briggs + Raman Hansi, Intuit Innovation Catalysts and SXSW 2014 Speakers Chris Nodder, Interface Tamer and producer of Questionable Methods. BUY TICKETS ON EVENTBRITE\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2014/02/27/btdelux3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/delux-sxsw-third-edition-tickets-10741485071\" title=\"TICKETS ON EVENTBRITE\"\u003eBUY TICKETS ON EVENTBRITE\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"delux-is-happening-again-this-year-at-sxsw\"\u003edeLUX is happening again this year at SXSW!\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease join us March 7 for some beers \u0026amp; bites at sunset on the beautiful patio at Adaptive Path, followed by a short program from some of the leading practicioners in the Lean / Balanced Team community.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProgram Starts @ 6:30pm. Short talks from:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJeff Gothelf, Neo Principal and author of LeanUX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJeremiah Gardner, Handcrafted Brands Principal and author of The Lean Brand\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAlissa Briggs + Raman Hansi, Intuit Innovation Catalysts and SXSW 2014 Speakers\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChris Nodder, Interface Tamer and producer of Questionable Methods.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/delux-sxsw-third-edition-tickets-10741485071\" title=\"TICKETS ON EVENTBRITE\"\u003eBUY TICKETS ON EVENTBRITE\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team deLUX at SxSW March 7"},{"content":"We\u0026rsquo;re very excited to announce that the next Balanced Team event in NY will be a Sunday Salon on 4/13 at Pivotal Labs in Chelsea. On the heels of The LeanUX Conference, Balanced Team will hold a one-day synthesizing symposium to share ideas, socialize, and continue the conversation.\nThe plan: gather everyone for brunch (Bagels! Mimosas!). Generate topics of interest. Split into small groups based on topic. Discuss in groups, and create a poster. Present a summary of the poster. Go home, chill out, enjoy what\u0026rsquo;s left of the weekend. (Or maybe head to the bar w/ your Balanced Team friends!) Plus a helping of the Balanced Team fixtures (Welcoming new community members! Fishbowls! Closing circle!) that\u0026rsquo;re starting to become community rituals.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re announcing the salon to the BT community first. In a few days, we\u0026rsquo;ll announce to the LeanUX conference Tickets are $10, and available via Eventbrite. Scholarships are available if the cost is a hardship; just email me off-list. Event details will be managed through Lanyrd.\nPlease join us! Buy tickets on EVENTBRITE View more event information on LANYRD Schedule 09:00 SET UP10:00 DOORS (45m)brunch, socializing10:45 WELCOME (30m)Balanced Team history, introduce CONVERSATION ACTIVITY11:15 GENERATE (30m)start to generate topics, (put topic and NAME OF PROPOSER on sticky)11:45 DECIDE (15m)dot vote, assign topics and leaders to conversation areas12:00 CONVERSATION ONE (30m):People start first break out sessions, facilitator makes poster12:30 STAND-UP (15m):one speaker from group summarizes poster in a sentence. Next round of topics is circulated12:45 BREAK (30m):snack, form 2rd groups13:15 CONVERSATION TWO (30m):facilitator makes poster13:45 STAND-UP (15m):each group gives a 1-sentence description14:00 BREAK (15m):bring posters to central area, people can review/comment on posters14:15 REASSEMBLE (15m):explain FISHBOWL14:30 FISHBOWL (60m):moderated group discussion15:30 CLOSING CIRCLE (30m):each person says one thing they will take forward16:00 ANNOUNCEMENTS:Adios! What\u0026rsquo;s the next event? What\u0026rsquo;s the next bar? Off to the bar\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2014/02/25/btnyc2014/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;re very excited to announce that the next Balanced Team event in NY will be a Sunday Salon on 4/13 at Pivotal Labs in Chelsea. On the heels of \u003ca href=\"http://leanuxnyc.co/nyc/\"\u003eThe LeanUX Conference\u003c/a\u003e, Balanced Team will hold a one-day synthesizing symposium to share ideas, socialize, and continue the conversation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe plan: gather everyone for brunch (Bagels! Mimosas!). Generate topics of interest. Split into small groups based on topic. Discuss in groups, and create a poster. Present a summary of the poster. Go home, chill out, enjoy what\u0026rsquo;s left of the weekend. (Or maybe head to the bar w/ your Balanced Team friends!) Plus a helping of the Balanced Team fixtures (Welcoming new community members! Fishbowls! Closing circle!) that\u0026rsquo;re starting to become community rituals.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Sunday Salon NYC April 13"},{"content":"Design can move the needle. It can drive sales, retain customers and impact referrals.\nTo prove that design is driving business, you need specific, targeted data. We often test conversions by A/B testing two different layouts or copy variations. But, there is another layer to these metrics - the emotional resonance of design. Aesthetics can play a profitable role in customer interactions. Designers take great care in establishing and evolving a brand. Yet, we don\u0026rsquo;t have a strong rubric for measuring visual choices.\nAt the last Balanced Team, Andrew Korf presented how he was working through this challenge at NativeX and offered the topic up for an open space dialogue. A group of us gathered to develop a framework for metrics-based design. More specifically, we aimed to validate aesthetic design choices with data.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ve created a resource for this information and hope to build on it with your contributions. Please feel free to add any ideas, blog posts or links in the comments here or tweet us @BalancedTeam with #DesignMetrics.\nhttp://designmetrics.github.io/\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2014/02/09/design-metrics/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDesign can move the needle.  It can drive sales, retain customers and impact referrals.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo prove that design is driving business, you need specific, targeted data.  We often test conversions by A/B testing two different layouts or copy variations.  But, there is another layer to these metrics - the emotional resonance of design.  Aesthetics can play a profitable role in customer interactions.  Designers take great care in establishing and evolving a brand.  Yet, we don\u0026rsquo;t have a strong rubric for measuring visual choices.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Design Metrics"},{"content":"At the Balanced Team meeting in San Francisco, our program consisted mostly of prepared presentations. Because dialog and participation are so important to us, we reserved some time Sunday afternoon to solicit conversation topics from the participants.\nOver lunch, the group was asked to think about one or more \u0026ldquo;conversation topics you\u0026rsquo;d like to lead.\u0026rdquo; We collected these topics on sticky notes and put them on the wall. Each speaker briefly introduced the topic they wrote and then the group placed a pen mark on up to three of the topics they would like to participate in. (also called \u0026ldquo;dot voting\u0026rdquo;). The topics with the most dots were assigned rooms. People assembled in the rooms that interested them. The conversation hosts were encouraged to share back the outcome of their conversation with the group afterwards through a blog post and/or coverage on the event.\nIf you want to learn more about Open Space Technology, I encourage you to read this Wikipedia article.\nSelected topics These were the topics the group selected for conversation\nExperiment Mapping workshop Lean is for Discovery, Agile is for Delivery Experience Wheel workshop Let\u0026rsquo;s Create a framework for metrics driven design Why is the Balanced Team conference not balanced? Does the split indicate that balanced team is a design insurgency? 60% design,20% dev, 20% pm. What about researchers and social scientists? There are only a handful here and yet they bring tremendous value to a \u0026ldquo;balanced team.\u0026rdquo; How do we really know? Can people share why they were drawn here this weekend? Maybe they don\u0026rsquo;t fit neatly into those categories\\ Workload prioritization / management tools Proposed Topics These are the proposed conversations which were not selected. I include them here as a historical record and perhaps they will provide fodder for future presentations or blog posts?\nWhat do you do when there really is a \u0026ldquo;lone genius\u0026rdquo; with a good vision? how can collaboration be facilitated? What are the roles \u0026amp; handoffs of Product, UX and Development? Human interactions collaborations and building relationships between team members What\u0026rsquo;s this \u0026ldquo;Lean\u0026rdquo; thing? Starting a balanced team: how to get organizational support for starting a balanced team process? Why is design \u0026rsquo;never done?' Horizontal vs vertical change How is it possible to build trust in community? Worst experiences in integrating customer \u0026amp; product development What tools do you use? Prototyping, task management, remote communication How can we use our design skills to help self-organizing teams design their process(es?) How to collaborate with other UX peeps (i.e. user researcher, strategist, IA, UX designer, Ninja?) What do you do / where do you go for UX inspirations? Educating clients or non-UX people about UX while at work How to deal with concensus \u0026amp; ownership moving forward (making progress) in an unbalanced team (and not) Is lean-agile-balanced just serving intersets of capital Documentation when you\u0026rsquo;re moving so fast. How do you keep track of decisions/data over time? Common language across teams, business/dev./design \u0026amp; stakeholders Next event BTNY2014 Ways to get Lean / Agile to wider community Mock-ups are lies! Work in the medium Process share How do you reconcile business needs and user needs? Cognitive illusions that screw up our work Mind-time \u0026amp; Build-measure learn \u0026amp; collaboration When are high-fidelity mockups appropriate / useful / most efective Systemizing UX techniques Lean is from Product, Agile is from Engineers. What does Design contribute? Staying balanced when scattered: tools \u0026amp; techniques for remotely distributed teams Discovery: How does a balanced team functino as a whole in the ideation / customer discovery phase? What is \u0026ldquo;good design\u0026rdquo; Journal paper review and conversation How to be Lean/Agile w/o sprints/iterations How much design should be done in the browser? UXing vs. PMing: User reserarch to drive features? Product strategy, marketing What does \u0026ldquo;design thinking\u0026rdquo; mean to you? How do you continuously get customers invoved in B2B (bribes, fame?) \u0026ldquo;Design Enough\u0026rdquo; with the spectrum of design product - what is enough? Pitching design thinking to close new accounts The roles of Sales / BD in a balanced team ","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2013/12/23/btsf2013-open-space/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAt the \u003ca href=\"/2013/09/03/balanced-team-sf-2013-tickets-and-call-for-submissions/\" title=\"Balanced Team SF 2013 microsite\"\u003eBalanced Team meeting in San Francisco\u003c/a\u003e, our program consisted mostly of \u003ca href=\"http://lanyrd.com/2013/balancedteam/slides/\" title=\"Slides from Balanced Team SF 2013\"\u003eprepared presentations\u003c/a\u003e. Because dialog and participation are so important to us, we reserved some time Sunday afternoon to solicit conversation topics from the participants.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver lunch, the group was asked to think about one or more \u0026ldquo;conversation topics you\u0026rsquo;d like to lead.\u0026rdquo; We collected these topics on sticky notes and put them on the wall. Each speaker briefly introduced the topic they wrote and then the group placed a pen mark on up to three of the topics they would like to participate in. (also called \u0026ldquo;dot voting\u0026rdquo;). The topics with the most dots were assigned rooms. People assembled in the rooms that interested them. The conversation hosts were encouraged to share back the outcome of their conversation with the group afterwards through a blog post and/or coverage on the event.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Open Space Conversations at Balanced Team SF"},{"content":" A great event for me, much like a great movie, is always characterized by its persistent effects on my daily thinking. I attended my first Balanced Team event in San Francisco 3 years ago and the caliber of people and quality of ideas generated made me sign up for the next event, held in Chicago the following year. Moses Hohman did an excellent job organizing that event and I came away with a renewed and heightened respect for the Balanced Team group. Continued learning and experimenting with our craft is what drives most of us and although Balanced Team is a self-organized and relatively loose network of connections, the learnings gleaned from congregating a group of diverse thinkers together have been outstanding. Recently Lane, Veronica and I sat down to gather up the reflections that we captured from each of you as participants and also from our personal experience organizing the event. Receiving such positive feedback from everyone ended up making the process quite a fun experience. We wanted to extend a huge thanks to all the folks that showed up to make the conference what it was. Thank you in particular to those of you that took the time to put together a presentation and/or facilitate an open space. One thing that make these conferences stand out for me personally and for many that attend is that it has a blend of structured and unstructured content. We tend to experiment with the ratio but realize that a component of each is critical to the knowledge sharing that is at the core of what the organization is.\nReflections Here are some thoughts that I pulled together from the reflections as well as some of the overall highlights from the weekend:\nBloom and Intelleto Witnessing two long time BT alum in their new roles and exciting new endeavors was a total treat. Thank you to Kate Rutter for her excellent sketch notes and to Becky Gessler for her delicious coffee.\nStructured vs Unstructured We chose to have more structured content (ie talks) for this event but many responded that they wished for more unstructured time to informally interact, chat over coffee, have time for questions and do more \u0026lsquo;unconference\u0026rsquo; style work sessions.\nIdeal size Although a larger event was a bit more work to organize, it seems as though people still felt that it was intimate enough and yet broad enough to get new voices heard. Perhaps somewhere around 75 there is a magic number for human interactions?\nTalk length There were lots of comments on the talk lengths. Some felt the lightening talks were too short and some felt that 40 minutes was too long. Universally people responded that they liked the fishbowl. Having time after talks for questions and group discussion reaped the most reward from the wealth of brain power at the event.\nOpen sessions More, more, more! Everyone loved these. Lots of +1s\nQuotes \u0026ldquo;I loved the experience. Usually conferences are for specific fields - engineers go to engineering conferences, designers go to design conferences - but at balanced team there was a mix of disciplines. So when I told people at balanced team SF that my work is in research, everyone asked me questions!\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;More balanced approach to all disciplines - barely any Product Managers or Developers represented\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;It was one of the most insightful and productive conference I\u0026rsquo;ve been to. I love the more intimate feel, and made some great contacts and shared some interesting thoughts on my personal experience, as well as heard great stories from various fellow PMs.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I loved the size and the group of humans was inspired. The mix of skills was also intriguing. The organization was really nicely done!\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Hemming and hawing over \u0026ldquo;are there enough business people?\u0026rdquo;. We\u0026rsquo;re fine.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;it was just the sort of interaction and conversation I feel we need more of throughout the product development world! It was something I had not even realized that I needed, until having experienced. I think there\u0026rsquo;s many more people like that… I was very happy to be captured into Balanced Team\u0026rsquo;s orbit.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;great people all around - not sure how you screen for that but the quality of the people was exceptional\u0026rdquo;\nLOVED IT! Incredibly valuable! Everyone who came contributed and that was key - no matter who I was talking to, I knew we had common values and that may be the biggest challenge as BT grows. Really wonderful, fulfilling, exciting event.\nCheck out what others had to say:\nAlexa Roman - Shared Values, Common Culture\nKate Rutter - Balanced Team Pie Carbon Five Blog\nChris Nodder - Photo Slideshow\nTwitter List - https://twitter.com/calexity/lists/balanced-team\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2013/11/27/balanced-team-sf-fall-2013-the-takeaways/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/10649372685_85f4a29540_c.png\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"10649372685_85f4a29540_c\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/10649372685_85f4a29540_c.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e A great event for me, much like a great movie, is always characterized by its persistent effects on my daily thinking. I attended my first Balanced Team event in San Francisco 3 years ago and the caliber of people and quality of ideas generated made me sign up for the next event, held in Chicago the following year. \u003ca href=\"http://moseshohman.com\" title=\"Moses Hohman\"\u003eMoses Hohman\u003c/a\u003e did an excellent job organizing that event and I came away with a renewed and heightened respect for the Balanced Team group. Continued learning and experimenting with our craft is what drives most of us and although Balanced Team is a self-organized and relatively loose network of connections, the learnings gleaned from congregating a group of diverse thinkers together have been outstanding. \u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/10649613343_ed3795d7cc_c.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"10649613343_ed3795d7cc_c\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/10649613343_ed3795d7cc_c.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e Recently Lane, Veronica and I sat down to gather up the reflections that we captured from each of you as participants and also from our personal experience organizing the event. Receiving such positive feedback from everyone ended up making the process quite a fun experience. We wanted to extend a huge thanks to all the folks that showed up to make the conference what it was. Thank you in particular to those of you that took the time to put together a presentation and/or facilitate an open space. One thing that make these conferences stand out for me personally and for many that attend is that it has a blend of structured and unstructured content. We tend to experiment with the ratio but realize that a component of each is critical to the knowledge sharing that is at the core of what the organization is.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team SF - Fall 2013 - The Takeaways"},{"content":"Ticket sales for Balanced Team San Francisco 2013 are now open. The event will be held at Carbon Five in San Francisco, California November 2-3, 2013 with an opening reception November 1.\nBuy tickets on Eventbrite Submit a session proposal using this form For more information, see the event site.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2013/09/03/balanced-team-sf-2013-tickets-and-call-for-submissions/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTicket sales for Balanced Team San Francisco 2013 are now open. The event will be held at \u003ca href=\"www.carbonfive.com\"\u003eCarbon Five\u003c/a\u003e in San Francisco, California November 2-3, 2013 with an opening reception November 1.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBuy tickets on \u003ca href=\"https://btsf2013.eventbrite.com/\" title=\"Tickets on Eventbrite\"\u003eEventbrite\u003c/a\u003e\nSubmit a session proposal using \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16yGKqL4baAbTNOpYVmMZ-SE0GXbyODdH1upF5_U3E8c/viewform\" title=\"Balanced Team SF 2013 session proposal form\"\u003ethis form\u003c/a\u003e\nFor more information, \u003ca href=\"/balancedteamsf2013\" title=\"Balanced Team SF 2013 Event Site\"\u003esee the event site\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team SF 2013 tickets and sessions"},{"content":"Announcing Balanced Team San Francisco 2013. The event will be held at Carbon Five in San Francisco, California November 1-3, 2013. Save the date! Watch this space for more information, join our Meetup and Google Group to get involved.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2013/06/16/btsf-savedate/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAnnouncing Balanced Team San Francisco 2013. The event will be held at \u003ca href=\"www.carbonfive.com\"\u003eCarbon Five\u003c/a\u003e in San Francisco, California November 1-3, 2013. Save the date! Watch this space for more information, join our \u003ca href=\"http://www.meetup.com/Balanced-Team/\"\u003eMeetup\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"https://groups.google.com/forum/balancedteam\"\u003eGoogle Group\u003c/a\u003e to get involved.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team San Francisco"},{"content":"On Saturday June 8th a group of poly-skilled developers, designers, researchers, academics, entrepreneurs and other miscellaneous product development folk got together in London to look at how to build teams that balance customer and business value using collaborative, iterative methods.\nSpeaker list for Balanced Team London 2013 on Lanyrd\nWe\u0026rsquo;ll be giving more details of the outputs from the event soon. Some of the areas we covered included:\nWhat is a balanced team? Collaboration hacks \u0026ldquo;Data with soul\u0026rdquo; not \u0026ldquo;Data vs. soul\u0026rdquo; Fostering relationships in distributed teams Managing stakeholders In the meantime you can see some photos and tweets from the event over on storify.\n(If you attended the event yourself please feel to add to the above storify link)\nAnd finally - a massive thank you to our sponsors - Mozilla, Method, \u0026amp; Neo - that made the event possible.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2013/06/15/balanced-team-london-2013-initial-report/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOn Saturday June 8th a group of poly-skilled developers, designers, researchers, academics, entrepreneurs and other miscellaneous product development folk got together in London to look at how to build teams that balance customer and business value using collaborative, iterative methods.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://lanyrd.com/2013/balancedteamlondon/speakers/\"\u003eSpeaker list for Balanced Team London 2013 on Lanyrd\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;ll be giving more details of the outputs from the event soon. Some of the areas we covered included:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWhat is a balanced team?\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCollaboration hacks\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u0026ldquo;Data with soul\u0026rdquo; not \u0026ldquo;Data vs. soul\u0026rdquo;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFostering relationships in distributed teams\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eManaging stakeholders\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the meantime you can see \u003ca href=\"http://storify.com/adrianh/balanced-team-london-2013/\"\u003esome photos and tweets from the event over on storify\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team London 2013 - Initial Report"},{"content":"You\u0026rsquo;re invited to attend a Balanced Team event in London June 8, 2013 at MozSpace London\nFor more information and to RSVP, please visit our Meetup group.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2013/05/02/balanced-team-london-2013/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYou\u0026rsquo;re invited to attend a Balanced Team event in London June 8, 2013 at MozSpace London\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.meetup.com/Balanced-Team/events/114812362/\"\u003eFor more information and to RSVP, please visit our Meetup group\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team London 2013"},{"content":"April 14 2013, a group of Balanced Team members met at the offices of Neo, NYC for a social gathering and mini-unconference on topics of interest: Agile+UX+Lean Startup. We enjoyed bagels and coffee and collected topics of interest which we then discussed in fishbowl conversation format. Below, please find a photo and a list of topics provided by the group.\nPlease write a topic (or two) of interest for today Embedding marketing\nUnicorns - what are they - do you need \u0026rsquo;em?\nProduct owner teams - report from the field\nLive style guides first movement\nTiming of design thinking vs. lean\nMaking vs. thinking: pace \u0026amp; vanity progress\nIf our currency is shared understanding, let\u0026rsquo;s talk about quality \u0026amp; values\nLane\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;learn to code\u0026rdquo; trip report\nProduct manager vs project manager?\nProduct manager/owner think they are the customer (no research)\nCare \u0026amp; feeding of the engine of construction\nHow to effectively bring designers into Agile/Lean development?\nConvincing management to build NEW products that solve a problem (aka not Facebook for pets)\nJosh, Giff, Jeff should buy a makerbot\nConvincing management that user research is good when they are scared you won\u0026rsquo;t come off as experts (B2B)\nHow do we assess what is the \u0026ldquo;minimum desirable things\u0026rdquo; that will convince users and/or sponsors?\nYou can see a set of photos from the event on Meetup.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2013/05/02/balanced-team-brunch-nyc/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eApril 14 2013, a group of Balanced Team members met at the offices of \u003ca href=\"http://www.neo.com/\"\u003eNeo\u003c/a\u003e, NYC for a social gathering and mini-unconference on topics of interest: Agile+UX+Lean Startup. We enjoyed bagels and coffee and collected topics of interest which we then discussed in \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishbowl_%28conversation%29\" title=\"Fishbowl Conversation \"\u003efishbowl conversation\u003c/a\u003e format. Below, please find a photo and a list of topics provided by the group.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/BTNeo_550.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Fishbowl Topics\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/BTNeo_550.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"please-write-a-topic-or-two-of-interest-for-today\"\u003ePlease write a topic (or two) of interest for today\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmbedding marketing\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Brunch NYC"},{"content":"You\u0026rsquo;re invited to a Balanced Team event at South by Southwest Interactive, Austin TX. Sunday, March 10, 2013. For more information and to RSVP, visit bit.ly/delux2013 ","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2013/02/28/delux-sxswi-2013/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYou\u0026rsquo;re invited to a Balanced Team event at South by Southwest Interactive, Austin TX. Sunday, March 10, 2013. For more information and to RSVP, visit \u003ca href=\"http://www.bit.ly/delux2013\" title=\"bit.ly/delux2013\"\u003ebit.ly/delux2013\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/image.png\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/image.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"deLUX SxSWi 2013"},{"content":"Bored with missing the fun US Balanced Team events? Want a one or two day UK Balanced Team conference?\nThen you should fill in this 3 question survey now.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t know what Balanced Team is about? Go read the history of Balanced Team and check out the Balanced Team 2011 and Balanced Team 2012 conferences.\nBasically - if you\u0026rsquo;re into Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, Agile UX, Lean UX, Devops, Customer Development - and anything else that values multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery focused on customer value - you\u0026rsquo;ll probably find this of interest.\nDiscussion on further details will happen on the Balanced Team mailing list. You should join the mailing list too.\nThanks - and hope to see you at Balanced Team UK 2013.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2012/11/12/balanced-team-uk-2013-survey/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBored with missing the fun US Balanced Team events? Want a one or two day UK Balanced Team conference?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RQ2MTHR\"\u003eThen you should fill in this 3 question survey now.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDon\u0026rsquo;t know what Balanced Team is about? Go read the \u003ca href=\"/balanced-team-history/\"\u003ehistory of Balanced Team\u003c/a\u003e and check out the \u003ca href=\"/balconf-2011-resources/\"\u003eBalanced Team 2011\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"/2012/07/17/balanced-team-2012-video/\"\u003eBalanced Team 2012\u003c/a\u003e conferences.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBasically - if you\u0026rsquo;re into Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, Agile UX, Lean UX, Devops, Customer Development - and anything else that values multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery focused on customer value - you\u0026rsquo;ll probably find this of interest.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team UK 2013"},{"content":"Balanced Team 2012 Many thanks to our 2012 event sponsors: IDEO, Carbon Five, Mutually Human, Proof, Atomic Object, Sapient Nitro, Groupon, { New Context }, UIE and Lean Dog. The event was much richer for your support and participation.\nConference Partner Diamond Sponsors Platinum Sponsors Gold Sponsors ","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2012/08/05/2012-conference-sponsors/","summary":"\u003ch1 id=\"balanced-team-2012\"\u003eBalanced Team 2012\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMany thanks to our 2012 event sponsors: IDEO, Carbon Five, Mutually Human, Proof, Atomic Object, Sapient Nitro, Groupon, { New Context }, UIE and Lean Dog. The event was much richer for your support and participation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"conference-partner\"\u003eConference Partner\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IDEO_square_logo2.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"IDEO Logo\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IDEO_square_logo2-150x150.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"diamond-sponsors\"\u003eDiamond Sponsors\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/carbonfive1.png\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"CarbonFive Logo\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/carbonfive1-150x150.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/mutuallyhuman-500minusCS-21.png\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Mutually Human Logo\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/mutuallyhuman-500minusCS-21-300x97.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"platinum-sponsors\"\u003ePlatinum Sponsors\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/proof_logo.png\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Proof Logo\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/proof_logo-300x120.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Atomic-Object-Logo.png\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Atomic Object emblem in full-color\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Atomic-Object-Logo-282x300.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Groupon_4C2.png\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Groupon Logo\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Groupon_4C2.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"gold-sponsors\"\u003eGold Sponsors\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/new-context-2.png\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Nwe Context Logo\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/new-context-2-300x40.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/UIE-Logo-with-horizontal-name-and-URL2.png\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"UIE Logo\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/UIE-Logo-with-horizontal-name-and-URL2-300x199.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/LeanDogLogo3.jpeg\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Lean Dog Logo\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/LeanDogLogo3-300x80.jpeg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"2012 Conference Sponsors"},{"content":"Here\u0026rsquo;s a short video of highlights from the closing circle at Balanced Team 2012 in Chicago. Many thanks to Balanced Team member Anticio Duke (@onlyaduke) for filming and producing this video!\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2012/07/17/balanced-team-2012-video/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHere\u0026rsquo;s a short video of highlights from the closing circle at Balanced Team 2012 in Chicago. Many thanks to Balanced Team member Anticio Duke (@onlyaduke) for filming and producing this video!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/-VYvjQewuBk?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e","title":"Balanced Team 2012 Video"},{"content":"At the recent Balanced Team conference in Chicago, a popular theme was \u0026ldquo;broken comb people.\u0026rdquo; In response to the idea of the \u0026ldquo;T-shaped designer\u0026rdquo; who has deep expertise in one area and familiarity with many areas, Jared Spool proposed that modern teams require people with wider range of functional skills.\nAt the un-conference portion of the event, I facilitated an activity to collect learning resources the participants personally used and found helpful to broaden their skillset. Here\u0026rsquo;s the list for your reference and reading enjoyment!\nWays To Learn Pairing and working near pairs for getting context Find a front-end mentor so you\u0026rsquo;re not confused by what you read Code Academy, for an intro to JavaScript W3 Tutorials for getting unstuck with specific problems F orrst, a community of developers and designers nerdi.net, a web developer toolbox Rails Bridge, women coding together, power+energy Skillshare, esp. financial modeling for entrepreneurs with Taylor Davidson Stack overflow, for getting answers to code/dev questions Rails Tutorial, for learning rails Treehouse, Web training website with gamification elements (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby) Smashing Magazine(and books), general Web and design and UX and fontend dev A Book Apart, series for deep dives into current thinking Big Nerd Ranch, iOS programming UIE UI conference, full day workshops on UX critical skills UIE virtual seminars UI/UX Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love, Marty Cagan, good description of team roles Rosenfeld Media books, esp Web Form Design book by Luke Wroblewski Google search \u0026quot; UX Design Patterns\u0026quot; The Noun Project for icons and vectors Twitter hashtag #ux for finding resources on topics Yahoo design pattern library The Non-Designer\u0026rsquo;s Design Book, Robin Williams Follow Mike Lane ( @mlane) on Twitter. He posts lots of great design, UX and code resources Typography and Graphic Design Kuler, browse color combinations Dribble, show and tell for designers 300 Mobile Icons, Bill Reid, great for quick icons (could not find a link, sorry!) What the Font, figure out what a font is from a sample, explore fonts by characteristics FFFFound, inspiration, has a great mobile app Pintrest for design and typography inspiration Evernote, keep track of your audio, pictures and notes anywhere Behance, online portfolio site, use for design inspiration Gimmie Bar, good for bookmarking things you like Lost Type, great, free typefaces Front End Development CSS Tricks, how to take advantage of CSS Scout, tool for Compass, SASS W3C markup validation service Burlington Web App meetups and demos (could not find link, sorry!) Vandelay Design, curated resources, mostly Web design Susy, CSS framework for responsive Web Designing with Web Standards, Jeffrey Zeldman, explains the philosophy behind modern web thinking Twitter Bootstrap, for basic web templating Bootswatch, bootstrap themes CSS3 for Web Designers, Dan Cederholm JavaScript, the Good Parts, short, sweet, JavaScript resources CSS Mastery, Andy Budd Hack WordPress templates to experiment with PHP, HTML, CSS Use Firebug to edit HTML/CSS of any page Use Sass, Haml for saner coding ","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2012/07/05/resources-for-broken-comb-people/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAt the recent Balanced Team conference in Chicago, a popular theme was \u0026ldquo;broken comb people.\u0026rdquo; In response to the idea of the \u0026ldquo;T-shaped designer\u0026rdquo; who has deep expertise in one area and familiarity with many areas, Jared Spool proposed that modern teams require people with \u003ca href=\"http://www.ixda.org/node/19573\" title=\"Help! Is there a Cardiothorasic Surgeon in the room?\"\u003ewider range of functional skills\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the un-conference portion of the event, I facilitated an activity to collect learning resources the participants personally used and found helpful to broaden their skillset. Here\u0026rsquo;s the list for your reference and reading enjoyment!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Resources for Broken Comb People"},{"content":"At the end of the Balanced Team conference in Chicago June 22-24, we formed a closing circle and asked each person to say one thing they would take away from the event. I\u0026rsquo;ve paraphrased peoples\u0026rsquo; comments and organized them into themes for easier reading.\nCULTURE\nQualities of a company that can produce good UX: Vision, feedback loops, culture (per Jared Spool) Design the organization for balance Process leads to culture, culture is established by leadership Culture is what you make it. Culture your culture Leadership matters Designing the product means you have to design the business, which covers the end to end user experience VISION\nFocus on output over outcome (referencing something Jeff Patton said) Experience defines features, and helps determine right MVP INTERACT with USERS/CUSTOMERS\nIt’s not enough to build process to know your users. It’s vital that people get to see it first-hand Kidnap the CEO and take him/her to see users Buyer goals and user goals are connected POLY-SKILLED PEOPLE\nMore skills, smaller teams Broken comb people (+3) [per Jared Spool\u0026rsquo;s presentation] TEAMWORK\nI’m going to hire a designer so we can have a more balanced team Involve everyone in design thinking and focus on the product Experience is important to having a good product and interpersonal relationships. Focus on good experience leads to better work. How UX principles apply to the product and organization. Everyone is involved in the UX of the product The power of integrated thinking Bring developers on board early, help them see the big picture Designer-as-facilitator (+1) HOW do we KNOW it’s GOOD?\nI will test my hypothesis and get validation How do we check for results as we try to make “better products?” SERVICE COMPANIES and FREELANCE considerations\nPeople said there’s a transition in power as they go from consultant to in-house. Does this have to be true? As a service org, how can we manage the expectations of our clients and influence their decisions? Likes the idea of charging by feature (as discussed by 8thLight) The BALANCED TEAM COMMUNITY\nI met like-minded people (+1) I liked learning about balanced team I’m not alone Nice to be with the other kool-aid drinkers We are fellow travelers who can help each other with day-to-day tactics I’m not crazy, other people think like I do There are people out there who can help me Your passion feeds mine Great to meet people who are doing it and have advice for other people in the group Appreciated the trust, respect and openness of the group FUTURE of BALANCED TEAM group\nWe’re going someplace together. Where next? PERSONAL REFLECTIONS\nThere are different solutions for different situations. It’s OK to move/change jobs/careers Lots to think about, thanks ","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2012/06/24/balanced-team-2012-closing-circle/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAt the end of the Balanced Team conference in Chicago June 22-24, we formed a closing circle and asked each person to say one thing they would take away from the event. I\u0026rsquo;ve paraphrased peoples\u0026rsquo; comments and organized them into themes for easier reading.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCULTURE\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eQualities of a company that can produce good UX: Vision, feedback loops, culture (per Jared Spool)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesign the organization for balance\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProcess leads to culture, culture is established by leadership\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCulture is what you make it. Culture your culture\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLeadership matters\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesigning the product means you have to design the business, which covers the end to end user experience\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVISION\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team 2012 Closing Circle"},{"content":"What is Balanced Team? Balanced Team is a group of people who are interested in furthering processes and methodologies to create great things. We welcome people who wear many hats (design, development, testing, product management, marketing and sales) and we value multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery focused on customer value as a source for innovation.\nWe are a self-organizing, international organization with virtual and face-to-face touchpoints:\nwww.balancedteam.org groups.google.com/group/balancedteam In-person retreats and social events Balanced Team Origins Balanced Team grew from the contributions of many people over time. Here is a brief review of some key events and activities that led us to where we are now.\nAugust 2009 “Agile Evolution” [Jeff Patton](Jeff Patton \u0026ldquo;Jeff Patton LinkedIn\u0026rdquo;) and David Hussman organized an “Agile Evolution” meeting before Agile 2009 in Chicago. Jeff invited a number of Agile and UX thought-leaders, including Alan Cooper, Desiree Sy, Jared Spool and Lane Goldstone, who later become active participants in Balanced Team.\nGenesis of the first Agile UX retreat\nJeff Patton introduced Lane Goldstone to Anders Ramsay. They started to hang out together and spend a lot of time talking about how to blend agile and UX. Lane and Anders wanted to see the two communities communicate better, and include other disciplines as well. They decided the best way to advance this mission was to bring together like-minded people in a retreat format and see what happened. Lane reached out to Alan Cooper to host the first event and we were off and running!\nEvent History January 2010 “Agile UX Retreat” in San Francisco CA The first Agile UX retreat was a two day event at Cooper. Highlights included:\nConfidentiality agreements made it possible to discuss things openly Event self-organized as it evolved Lots of open conversation between agile developers and designers Key insight: No more \u0026ldquo;Us and Them\u0026rdquo; thinking A strong feeling we were onto something and desire to continue meeting and talking Blog posts: Anders Ramsay | Johanna Kollman\nBetween the major events, group members held smaller events in London and Florida to share what we were learning and recruit new members.\nAgile UX Retreat in London, UK Two day workshop? Need details from Anders or Johanna Agile UX event in Boca Raton, FL Evening event at Agile ‘10? Need details from Desiree July 2010 “Agile UX Retreat” in Grand Rapids, MI After the first San Francisco event at Cooper, people realized that adding a third day at the start of the event to get to know each other would be beneficial. The next Agile UX Retreat started with a reception at Atomic Object and continued at The Factory for two days of workshops. Highlights included:\nContinued work of first event Realized that onboarding new people was important and challenging worked on “Humanifesto,” and Problem statement(s) Brainstormed new names, “Balance” was chosen Commitment to continue holding events Blog post: Carl Erickson\nShortly after this event, we created our blog, www.balancedteam.org with a masthead designed by Paul Hart.\nDecember 2010 “Agile UX Retreat” in New York, NY Pivotal NYC hosted our next three-day event. By this point, we had a number of participants who had attended several events and we started to gel as a working group. After our round of lightning talks to catch up with what we were all learning/doing, we worked on next steps. Some people wanted to put on a public event that was educational in nature (100+ people, invited speakers), the other wanted to continue the smaller, invitational events to share practices (\u0026lt;50 people, participatory). In the end, our inability to find a good venue we could afford pushed us towards the smaller format for the next event in SF. Highlights included:\n“Lean UX” concept brought to group by Janice Fraser, LUXr Lightning talks showed how people were starting to bring balanced team practices to their work Decision to hold next event in SF Blog post: Alan Cooper\nBetween the major events, group members continued to sponsor smaller events to share what we were learning and recruit new members.\nFebruary 2011 “DeLUX” in Boulder, CO Evening event during IxDA ’11, at Pivotal Boulder Social time + lightning talks Someone at Hot Studio designed an attractive poster for the event (who?) March 2011 “DeLUX” in Austin, TX Evening event during SxSW ’11 Need information about location from Johanna or Ian September 2011 “Balanced Team Conference” in San Francisco, CA Three-day event at Hot Studio, San Francisco. Our theme was “Getting Practical.\u0026quot; Highlights included: Lightning talks Breakout conversations/workshops Our first success story, SideReel (Zach) Collected and published resources for larger community Resources: /balconf-2011-resources/ Blog post: Josh Seiden Between these two events, Lane Goldstone designed a logo and produced a batch of buttons and promotional postcards.\nMarch 2012 \u0026ldquo;DeLUX\u0026rdquo; in Austin Evening event during SxSW ’12 at Adaptive Path, Austin Social event + lightning talks Resources: http://www.meetup.com/Balanced-Team/events/53055952\nJune 2012 “Balanced Team Conference” in Chicago, IL Three-day event at Ideo, Chicago. Our theme was \u0026ldquo;Welcoming the Business Perspective.\u0026rdquo; Highlights included:\nOrganized talks Unconference sessions Resources: http://lanyrd.com/2012/balancedteam\nNovember 2013, Balanced Team Summit, San Francisco CA Event site: /balancedteamsf2013 Resources: http://lanyrd.com/2013/balancedteam/ April 2014, Balanced Team Salon, San Francisco CA Photos on Flickr\nApril 2014, Balanced Team NYC Salon, New York NY Photos on Flickr\nMay 2014, Balanced Team London Balanced Team members gathered in London for a Salon May 31, 2014. Thank you to our event sponsors, @pivotallabs and @neoinnovate\nRead more\u0026hellip; Photos on Flickr\nAugust 2014, Balanced Team Salon, Los Angeles CA Instead of sitting down and listening to a few presentations, we designed an activity for every attendee to participate in discussions and generate ideas together. The event was filled with conversations from people in the community sharing ideas, socializing, and offering insights from their own experience.\nRead more\u0026hellip; Photos on flickr\nApril 2015, Balanced Team Salon NYC In cooperation with LeanUX NYC, Balanced Team hosted an evening of conversation and consumption on April 15th, 2015 at CompStak in Manhattan.\nRead more\u0026hellip;\nPhotos on Flickr\nMay 2015 Balanced Team Los Angeles Blog post\nMay 2015 Balanced Team Chicago Balanced Team hosted a spring Salon in Chicago on May 2nd, 2015 from 10am–3pm. It was an open un-conference format focusing on sharing our experiences and good conversation. Those new to Balanced Team were encouraged to attend. Also, it was a time to get the conversation started ahead of the Balanced Team Summit in Grand Rapids.\nThose attending helped set the topics for the day in the collaborative spaces of Pivotal Labs’ Chicago office, inside the Merchandise Mart. Balanced Team experts attended from all corners to share their experiences.\nRead more\u0026hellip;\nPhotos on Flickr\nJune 2015 Balanced Team Summit in Grand Rapids, MI The Balanced Team Summit was a three-day event in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our theme was \u0026ldquo;Balanced Teams Everywhere.\u0026rdquo;\nBalance is action guided by incremental adjustments, rather than an achieved state. At the 2015 Balanced Team Summit, we explored and shared the latest techniques and innovations of Balanced Teams in different sized organizations in the software industry and beyond. Throughout it all, we considered the question, \u0026ldquo;What does it mean to be a balanced team?\u0026rdquo;\nHighlights included:\nOpening and social mixers at Atomic Object Day One: Invited speakers Day Two: Community contributions Closing party at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts Event site: /btgr2015/\nResources: http://lanyrd.com/2012/balancedteam Photos on Flickr\nNovember 2015 Balanced Team London On a damp, dark Saturday morning in November, a group of like-minded designers, developers, product managers, agile coaches, business analysts and project managers got up bright and early to meet at the Pivotal offices in London, UK for the Balanced Team London Salon 2015.\nRead more\u0026hellip;\nMay 2015 Balanced Team Los Angeles CA Balanced Team hosted a Salon at Rhubarb Studios in downtown LA May 20, 2015. Thanks Pivotal for providing food and drinks.\nPhotos on Flickr\nMarch 2016 Balanced Team Ann Arbor A brand new chapter of Balanced Team just got started in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our first meeting took place on March 30, 2016 at the recently renovated ITHAKA/JSTOR offices in downtown Ann Arbor.\nRead more\u0026hellip;\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/balanced-team-history/","summary":"\u003ch1 id=\"what-is-balanced-team\"\u003eWhat is Balanced Team?\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBalanced Team is a group of people who are interested in furthering processes and methodologies to create great things. We welcome people who wear many hats (design, development, testing, product management, marketing and sales) and we value multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery focused on customer value as a source for innovation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are a self-organizing, international organization with virtual and face-to-face touchpoints:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"www.balancedteam.org\" title=\"Balanced Team Blog\"\u003ewww.balancedteam.org\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"groups.google.com/group/balancedteam\" title=\"Balanced Team Google Group\"\u003egroups.google.com/group/balancedteam\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn-person retreats and social events\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch1 id=\"balanced-team-origins\"\u003eBalanced Team Origins\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBalanced Team grew from the contributions of many people over time. Here is a brief review of some key events and activities that led us to where we are now.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team History"},{"content":"We\u0026rsquo;re excited to announce our next Balanced Team conference in Chicago!\nThe conference runs Friday evening, June 22 through Sunday afternoon, June 24 at IDEO\u0026rsquo;s offices at 626 W Jackson Blvd (thanks, IDEO!). See Lanyard.com for the conference schedule. We suggest that you book accommodations early, Chicago is full of summer conferences.\nThe theme of the conference is \u0026ldquo;Welcoming the Business Perspective to the Balanced Team.\u0026rdquo; At our last conference in 2011, Dale Larson gave an important talk, asking the group why there were no business people in the room. Who was selling and marketing all the great things we were designing and building, and why weren\u0026rsquo;t they a part of the conversation?\nTogether we will explore how the goals and activities of business, design and development can and should work together. We will move past the us vs. them thinking that holds us back. We will share ways for people with these skills to cross-pollinate within organizations.\nThe rough schedule is as follows:\nFriday afternoon optional event: Visit Chicago\u0026rsquo;s brand new not-for-profit startup community and co-working space, 1871, in Chicago\u0026rsquo;s Merchandise Mart Friday evening: Welcoming reception with food and networking (location TBD). Please try to make it to this, especially if you are new to Balanced Team, because we will help get you up to speed. Saturday morning: Several prepared talks Saturday afternoon: Fishbowl, then planning Sunday openspaces/unconference workshops Sunday morning: workshops Sunday afternoon: share outcomes of the workshops and close If you are interested in giving one of the prepared talks on Saturday, please contact me at moses@humanpractice.com. We look forward to seeing everyone in Chicago in June!\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2012/03/03/balanced-team-chicago-2012/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;re excited to announce our next \u003ca href=\"/2012/02/20/delux-at-sxsw/\" title=\"Register on Eventwax\"\u003eBalanced Team conference in Chicago\u003c/a\u003e!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe conference runs Friday evening, June 22 through Sunday afternoon, June 24 at IDEO\u0026rsquo;s offices at 626 W Jackson Blvd (thanks, IDEO!). See \u003ca href=\"http://lanyrd.com/2012/balancedteam/\"\u003eLanyard.com\u003c/a\u003e for the conference schedule. \u003cstrong\u003eWe suggest that you book accommodations early\u003c/strong\u003e, Chicago is full of summer conferences.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe theme of the conference is \u0026ldquo;Welcoming the Business Perspective to the Balanced Team.\u0026rdquo; At our last conference in 2011, Dale Larson gave an important talk, asking the group why there were no business people in the room. Who was selling and marketing all the great things we were designing and building, and why weren\u0026rsquo;t they a part of the conversation?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Chicago 2012"},{"content":"Balanced Team is sponsoring an evening event March 11, 2011 in Austin TX during SxSW interactive. Please join us for spirited conversation, engaging lightning talks, tasty drinks and snacks on the roof deck and a round of fabulous door prizes.\nThanks to our fantastic sponsors, Adaptive Path, UIE, {new context}, Rosenfeld Media and LUXr!\nTo register for the event via Meetup, please use the link below. RSVP\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2012/02/20/delux-at-sxsw/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBalanced Team is sponsoring an evening event March 11, 2011 in Austin TX during SxSW interactive. Please join us for spirited conversation, engaging lightning talks, tasty drinks and snacks on the roof deck and a round of fabulous door prizes.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks to our fantastic sponsors, Adaptive Path, UIE, {new context}, Rosenfeld Media and LUXr!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo register for the event via Meetup, please use the link below.\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.meetup.com/Balanced-Team-DeLUX/events/53055952/\"\u003eRSVP\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"DeLUX at SxSW"},{"content":"I started a roundup of blog posts created by participants in last weekend\u0026rsquo;s event. Let me know if you see more!\nJosh Seiden, LUXr \u0026quot; Balanced Team, September 2011\u0026quot;\nShawn Crowley, Atomic Object \u0026quot; Balanced Team Conference 2011\u0026quot;\nBo Campbell \u0026quot; Diplomacy, the greatest UX asset\u0026quot;\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2011/10/01/blog-post-roundup-balconf/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI started a roundup of blog posts created by participants in last weekend\u0026rsquo;s event. Let me know if you see more!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJosh Seiden, LUXr \u0026quot; \u003ca href=\"http://joshuaseiden.com/blog/2011/09/balanced-team-september-2011/\" title=\"Josh Seiden blog post\"\u003eBalanced Team, September 2011\u003c/a\u003e\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShawn Crowley, Atomic Object \u0026quot; \u003ca href=\"http://spin.atomicobject.com/2011/09/26/balanced-team-conference-2011/\" title=\"Shawn Crowley blog post\"\u003eBalanced Team Conference 2011\u003c/a\u003e\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBo Campbell \u0026quot; \u003ca href=\"http://uitility.com/blog/\" title=\"Diplomacy, the Greatest UX Asset\"\u003eDiplomacy, the greatest UX asset\u003c/a\u003e\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blog post roundup (#balconf)"},{"content":"Balanced Team Conference 2011 A collection of all coverage and resources.\nGeneral Presentations are up on Slideshare. Check out the #balconf search, and the Balanced Team channel. The Lanyrd page for the event has an overview of the schedule, speakers, and links to the coverage. Chris Nodder took great photos that you can find here on Flickr. If you took photos, please tag them with #balconf and add them to the photo group. People were tweeting funny and smart things - check out the Twitter search for #balconf.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re working hard to get the videos for all sessions up. In the meantime, you can watch the videos from the uStream Livecast. Below is the coverage and associated resources for each conference session.\nWhat do we mean by \u0026lsquo;Balanced Teams\u0026rsquo;? \u0026ldquo;My process journey - How I learned process isn’t what you think it is\u0026rdquo; by Jeff Patton (AgileProductDesign)\nSlideShare | Notes \u0026ldquo;Lean UX Landscape\u0026rdquo; by Janice Fraser (LUXr)\nSlideShare | Notes \u0026ldquo;Balanced Team at TheLadders.com\u0026rdquo; by Greg Jones (TheLadders)\nSlideShare | Notes Fishbowl: Jeff Patton, Janice Fraser (LUXr), Greg Jones (The Ladders) Notes\nCreating \u0026amp; sustaining Balanced Teams \u0026ldquo;Lean UX Principles in Practice - SideReel\u0026rsquo;s iOS App Case Study\u0026rdquo; by Zach Larson (Side Reel/Rovi)\nSlideShare | Notes \u0026ldquo;The client and us!? Applying a balanced team mindset in agencies\u0026rdquo; by Johanna Kollmann (EMC Consulting) SlideShare | Notes \u0026ldquo;Building a startup\u0026rsquo;s balanced team culture from day one\u0026rdquo; by Moses Hohman (Human Practice)\nSlideShare | Notes Fishbowl: Zach Larson, Johanna Kollmann, Moses Hohman Notes\nCross-functional success \u0026ldquo;Cross-functional Pairing: What it is and why you should be doing it\u0026rdquo; by Anders Ramsay (Independent), Jef Bekes (ThoughtWorks), Michael Long (ThoughtWorks)\nSlideShare | Notes \u0026ldquo;Including Marketing \u0026amp; Advertising on Balanced Teams\u0026rdquo; _by Dale Larson (Startup Happiness)_Notes Fishbowl: Anders Ramsay, Jef Bekes, Michael Long, Dale Larson Notes\nBalanced requirements \u0026ldquo;Transforming UX integration from reaction to strategy\u0026rdquo; by Desirée Sy (Autodesk)\nSlideShare | Notes \u0026ldquo;Test-driven design\u0026rdquo; by Joshua Seiden (LUXr)\nSlideShare | Notes \u0026ldquo;Hybrid Interviewing\u0026rdquo; by Lane Goldstone (LUXr)\nHybrid User Interviews\nSlideShare | Notes Fishbowl: Desirée Sy, Joshua Seiden, Lane Goldstone Notes\nBalanced planning \u0026ldquo;Story Maps \u0026amp; Backlog Co-ordination\u0026rdquo; by Shawn Crowley (Atomic Object)\nSlideShare | Notes\nFishbowl: Shawn CrowleyNotes\nBalanced skills \u0026ldquo;Nordstrom Innovation Lab case study\u0026rdquo; by Jeremy Lightsmith (Nordstrom Innovation Lab) Notes \u0026ldquo;UX Coaching: Helping developers become better generalists\u0026rdquo; by Chris Nodder (Independent) SlideShare | Notes Fishbowl: Jeremy Lightsmith, Chris Nodder Notes\nMulti-track sessions \u0026ldquo;Design Charrette\u0026rdquo; by Michael Long (ThoughtWorks) and Anders Ramsay (Independent) \u0026ldquo;The UXI Matrix: An Information Radiator for Agile UX\u0026rdquo; by Jon Innes (UX Innovation) SlideShare \u0026ldquo;UX in an Agile Environment\u0026rdquo; by Jonathan Berger (Pivotal Labs) \u0026ldquo;Quick, Easy, Valuable User Testing of Design Concept\u0026rdquo; by Steve McKiernan (Health Net Inc.) SlideShare\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/balconf-2011-resources/","summary":"\u003ch1 id=\"balanced-team-conference-2011\"\u003eBalanced Team Conference 2011\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA collection of all coverage and resources.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGeneral\u003c/strong\u003e\nPresentations are up on Slideshare. Check out the \u003ca href=\"http://www.slideshare.net/tag/balconf\" title=\"Balconf decks on Slideshare\"\u003e#balconf search\u003c/a\u003e, and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.slideshare.net/balancedteam\" title=\"Balanced Team on Slideshare\"\u003eBalanced Team channel\u003c/a\u003e.\nThe \u003ca href=\"http://lanyrd.com/2011/balancedteam/\" title=\"Balanced Team on Lanyrd\"\u003eLanyrd page for the event\u003c/a\u003e has an overview of the schedule, speakers, and links to the \u003ca href=\"http://lanyrd.com/2011/balancedteam/coverage/\" title=\"Balanced Team on Lanyrd: coverage\"\u003ecoverage\u003c/a\u003e.\n\u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/uxgrump\" title=\"Chris on Twitter\"\u003eChris Nodder\u003c/a\u003e took great photos that you can find \u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/balancedteam/\" title=\"Balanced Team on Flickr\"\u003ehere on Flickr\u003c/a\u003e. If you took photos, please tag them with #balconf and add them to the photo group.\nPeople were tweeting funny and smart things - check out the \u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/balconf\" title=\"#balconf tweets\"\u003eTwitter search for #balconf\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"2011 Conference Resources"},{"content":"If you\u0026rsquo;re interested in following along with the event, please check out these links:\nWe\u0026rsquo;re on the Lanyard social conference directory. We\u0026rsquo;re streaming (and archiving) video from the event at UStream. Our twitter hashcode is #balconf Update: Please see the resources page for a full list\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2011/09/24/balanced-team-conference-links/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIf you\u0026rsquo;re interested in following along with the event, please check out these links:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;re on the \u003ca href=\"http://lanyrd.com/2011/balancedteam/\"\u003eLanyard\u003c/a\u003e social conference directory.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;re streaming (and archiving) video from the event at \u003ca href=\"http://www.ustream.tv/channel/balancedteam\"\u003eUStream\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOur twitter hashcode \u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#%21/search/%23balconf\"\u003eis #balconf\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUpdate: Please see the \u003ca href=\"/balconf-2011-resources/\"\u003eresources page\u003c/a\u003e for a full list\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Conference Links"},{"content":"We we asked the registered participants of the Balanced Team Conference to propose topics for the event. These are some of the proposals that attracted the most interest from the community. The list below contains a rich and interesting mix of facilitated conversations, stories, best practices and hands-on techniques from some of the leading practitioners in this space.\nTo see the full event schedule, please check here.\nOpening Panel: Balanced Team Perspective s - Jeff Patton (AgileProductDesign), Janice Fraser (LUXr), Gregory Jones (TheLadders)\nEach speaker will present a 10-minute overview of the work they are doing that relates to Balanced Team. We\u0026rsquo;ll then shift into fishbowl so individuals can respond and share their own stories. We need one or more visual recorder to take notes during this talk to collect themes and set context for future sessions.\nCross-functional Pairing: What it is and why you should be doing it - Anders Ramsay, Jef Bekes and Mike Long\nAnders Ramsay will provide an overview of cross-functional pairing, with Jef Bekes and Mike Long presenting a case study from work done at ThoughtWorks Studios. Topics discussed will include group sketching, use of a prototyping framework, and designing in the browser vs designing with PhotoShop/Wireframes.\nHybrid Interviewing For Effective Customer Conversations - Lane Halley\nTraditional UX process often includes a round of research to understand customer context, needs and motivations, followed by design work, followed by a round of usability testing of some sort of artifact (model, prototype, or product). Several startup teams Lane advises are successfully using a hybrid approach which combines research and response to an artifact in a single feedback session. In this talk, Lane will provide a brief overview of how some familiar UX techniques can be adapted for Lean Startup Customer Development and share some best practices for how Balanced Teams can plan, conduct and debrief customer feedback activities.\nManaging Balanced Team Projects: Story Map and Backlog Coordination - Shawn Crowley\nStory maps easily represent releases of features that help users accomplish goals. Story maps help show what features should be delivered to create a compelling software experience. Agile projects commonly use task backlogs to manage scope and burn charts to track velocity and predict delivery dates. Simple backlogs and burn charts do not effectively show intermediate accomplishments of value. Expectations outside of the core product team can be more effectively managed by discussing functionality and delivery dates represented in a story map. Coordinating an integrated task backlog (both design centric and code centric tasks) with a story map allows for better scope management and team skills management aimed at hitting intermediate milestones. Disclaimer - This talk outlines thoughts on process and cites actual project examples utilizing several software and paper tools. A \u0026ldquo;silver bullet\u0026rdquo; software tool will not be revealed.\nBalanced Teams - The Marketing and Advertising Team Member\u0026rsquo;s Perspective - Dale Larson\nTo date, Balanced Teams seem to have focused mainly on the product development side of the house: bridging gaps between programmers, designers and product managers and including all three as product owners. The larger divide in most companies, however, is between product development and marketing, sales and advertising. How can they be included and contribute their best talents from the start and made to feel that same sense of ownership for the overall user experience? How can they more effectively draw on the rest of the process and the team as they work to help not only the product but the business to be more successful? Regardless of the titles of people who bring them, what are the skills and roles we want to draw on, and what\u0026rsquo;s the Venn diagram for how they most commonly intersect? (Perhaps we could make the list and draw that diagram together as a group.)\nUX in an Agile Environment - Jonathan Berger\nJon will lead a discussion about various strategies of integrating UX practice and Agile Development, talk about pacing and mock-up techniques, and share his experience with three years of Pivotal-Tracker-oriented Test-Driven Development at Pivotal Labs.\nBalanced Team in an Agency Context: Can it Work? - Johanna Kollmann\nJohanna will provide an introduction, based on her experience and stories that others told her, about working in a \u0026lsquo;balanced\u0026rsquo; agile team in an agency context. She will discuss a) how it might work and b) why she\u0026rsquo;s skeptical. Following this introduction, she would like others who work in an agency context could share their stories. This could work well as a fishbowl or small-group discussion (if we have multiple sessions at the same time). A note-taker capturing the discussion would be helpful.\nIntroducing UX to Organizations: It\u0026rsquo;s About Organizational Culture and Decision Making - Alison Austin\nLarge organizations are (typically) their own worst enemies; crippling potentially great products with dysfunctional processes and decision-making. In this context, embedding UX practice is not simply a matter of focusing on deliverables. Instead, I\u0026rsquo;d like to consider how far into an organization\u0026rsquo;s culture \u0026lsquo;agile\u0026rsquo; thinking needs to permeate, as well as how agile/ux principles can be applied across organization departments to facilitate the breaking down of departmental silos.\nTransforming UX Integration From Reaction to Strategy - Desirée Sy\nDesirée recently taught UX practitioners new to agile a 1-day tutorial, and then was in a workshop with experienced agile UX practitioners\u0026ndash;back to back. She saw patterns\u0026hellip;To get to the next level of successful UX integration into balanced teams, UX activities need to do more than just path clearing (usability testing, rapid prototyping, fixing problems). They need to extend to path finding activities (user research, setting design goals, backlog planning, and defining \u0026lsquo;done\u0026rsquo;).\nThe Nordstrom Innovation Lab - Jeremy Lightsmith\nThe Innovation Lab at Nordstrom starts an experiment every 1-2 weeks. Each one has a learning goal, hypothesis, and expected outcome. Because we start projects so often, we\u0026rsquo;ve gotten really good at doing it, and we want to share our process with you. Our goal is to quickly learn which ideas in retail technology are worth further investment (and what that might look like) and which ideas we should drop. Our makeup is also quite \u0026ldquo;balanced\u0026rdquo;. We have 2 devs + 1 designer + 1 UX specialist. We start together and then alternate between pairing, solo work, talking to internal / real customers, and bringing back new information to the team. We\u0026rsquo;ve pulled ideas from Agile, Lean, Lean Startup, IxD, Design Thinking, and anywhere else we could find them, but we\u0026rsquo;re also quite young (6 months). So we\u0026rsquo;d love to hear what ideas you might have for us that would help us innovate.\nBuilding a Startup\u0026rsquo;s Balanced Team Culture From Day One - Moses Hohman\nWearing many hats is typical in early startups, so you would think there would be no problem being a balanced team. But even at an early stage there are many opportunities for imbalance, and these can have long-term effects on company culture. Moses will present what some of these opportunities are, principles for counterbalancing them, and solicit your discussion.\nPrinciples of a Successful Team - SideReel Case Study - Zach Larson\nZach will discuss the 9 LeanUX principles and how his team used them as they built and exited a company. Few of the principles were intentionally picked but most became apparent once codified. He\u0026rsquo;ll specifically talk about a few key practices (Information Radiators and Vicious Prioritization) that helped make the SideReel team a phenomenal success.\nQuick, Easy, Valuable User Testing of Design Concepts - Steve McKiernan\nUser testing doesn\u0026rsquo;t need to be complicated to be effective. When done right, it can help you catch problems early, get ideas for future enhancements, and increase customer loyalty. Steve will share his experiences moderating external user testing sessions at Health Net, Inc. and offer tips on keeping testing simple but successful.\nWrite better stories with comparisons - Austin Govella\n\u0026ldquo;Any team\u0026rsquo;s biggest hurdle is communicating with a common language, so that when one person says jump, everyone else already knows how high. Adding interface and service comparisons to your user stories helps everyone on the team develop a clearer, more consistent image of what a user story entails, including defining what done means. And you can communicate complex interaction design without having to create a single sketch, wireframe, or prototype. Austin will go over two examples: one where we evaluate done for a story, and another where the comparison clearly communicated a complex rich, dynamic interaction.\nDesign Charrette - Mike Long\nRapidly generate design solutions while leveraging the various aptitudes and interests in your team. Charrettes are a form of \u0026ldquo;inquiry by design:\u0026rdquo; asking, examining, investigating, questioning and therefore learning through design.\nThe Balanced Team Conference is happening Friday Sep. 23 – Sunday Sep. 25, at the Hot Studio offices in San Francisco. I think you\u0026rsquo;ll agree this is going to be a special event you won\u0026rsquo;t want to miss. To apply, please register here.\nThanks to our generous sponsors!\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2011/08/18/balanced-team-conference-topics-and-speakers/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe we asked the registered participants of the Balanced Team Conference to propose topics for the event. These are some of the proposals that attracted the most interest from the community. The list below contains a rich and interesting mix of facilitated conversations, stories, best practices and hands-on techniques from some of the leading practitioners in this space.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo see the full event schedule, please check \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UKe_rb2uL5JlBjeid_fcYyzFXSf0YGvVEa3_k4ZG-eo/edit?hl=en_US\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOpening Panel: Balanced Team Perspective\u003c/strong\u003e s  - Jeff Patton (AgileProductDesign), Janice Fraser (LUXr), Gregory Jones (TheLadders)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Balanced Team Conference Topics and Speakers"},{"content":"We\u0026rsquo;re pleased to announce the first Balanced Team Conference. This event builds on our previous Agile UX retreat events, and represents the continuing growth and energy surrounding the balanced team thinking and movement, of cross-disciplinary whole-team work for healthy and successful teams.\nConference Theme: Getting Practical During previous retreats, our focus has been on gaining a big-picture understanding of how Agile and UX methods can be unified. Now, we’d like to shift gears to exploring the nuts and bolts of what makes Agile, Lean, and other forward-thinking design teams happy, healthy, and successful.\nProgram The event will be a combination of pre-selected sessions and open spaces unconference sessions. We will be encouraging everyone who attends to come prepared to either give a talk, do a workshop, or participate in a panel, to share practical techniques that have helped their teams be successful, as well as techniques that have failed and the lessons that were learned.\nFor an update on the program topics and speakers, please click here. Sponsors This is a volunteer run event, and we depend on sponsorships to help us pay for food and supplies. We\u0026rsquo;re grateful to the following generous individuals and organizations who make this event possible.\nHot Studio | Jeff Patton | LUXr | DesignMap | Carbon Five\nInnovation Games Online | Lynda.com\nWhen and Where The conference will take place Fri Sep. 23 - Sun Sep. 25, at the wonderful Hot Studio offices in San Francisco.\nRegistration\nThis event is now SOLD OUT. Information about the conference proceedings will be posted on this blog. You can also join the Balanced Team Google Group to join the conversation and learn about future events.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2011/07/22/announcing-the-2011-balanced-team-conference/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;re pleased to announce the first Balanced Team Conference. This event builds on our previous Agile UX retreat events, and represents the continuing growth and energy surrounding the balanced team thinking and movement, of cross-disciplinary whole-team work for healthy and successful teams.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConference Theme: Getting Practical\u003c/strong\u003e\nDuring previous retreats, our focus has been on gaining a big-picture understanding of how Agile and UX methods can be unified.  Now, we’d like to shift gears to exploring the nuts and bolts of what makes Agile, Lean, and other forward-thinking design teams happy, healthy, and successful.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Announcing the 2011 Balanced Team Conference"},{"content":"Here are some books recommended by members of the Balanced Team Group. They cross a variety of disciplines and methodologies. Think something should be added? Let us know in the comments!\nUser-Centered Agile Method by Hugh Beyer\nFour Steps to the Epiphany by Steven Gary Blank\nThe Entrepreneur\u0026rsquo;s Guide to Customer Development by Brant Cooper \u0026amp; Patrick Vlaskovits\nThe Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam\nUnfolding the Napkin, The Hands-On Method for Solving Complex Problems with Simple Pictures by Dan Roam\n101 Things I Learned In Architecture School by Matthew Frederick\nAgile Software Development with Scrum by Ken Schwaber \u0026amp; Mike Beedle The book that formalized Scrum.\nExtreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change by Kent Beck The book that formalized XP. Both the first and second editions should be read - they\u0026rsquo;re interestingly different.\nImplementing Lean Software Development and Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit by Mary \u0026amp; Tom Poppendieck Early books that really looked into applying lean concepts in a software context.\nKanban by David Andersan\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/book-list/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHere are some books recommended by members of the Balanced Team Group. They cross a variety of disciplines and methodologies. Think something should be added? Let us know in the comments!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/User-Centered-Synthesis-Lectures-Human-Centered-Informatics/dp/1608453723\"\u003eUser-Centered Agile Method\u003c/a\u003e\nby Hugh Beyer\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steven-Blank/dp/0976470705\"\u003eFour Steps to the Epiphany\u003c/a\u003e\nby Steven Gary Blank\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Entrepreneurs-Guide-Customer-Development-Epiphany/dp/0982743602\"\u003eThe Entrepreneur\u0026rsquo;s Guide to Customer Development\u003c/a\u003e\nby Brant Cooper \u0026amp; Patrick Vlaskovits\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Back-Napkin-Solving-Problems-Pictures/dp/B0020MMBCG\"\u003eThe Back of the Napkin\u003c/a\u003e\nby Dan Roam\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Unfolding-Napkin-Hands-Problems-Pictures/dp/B003YDXD7W\"\u003eUnfolding the Napkin, The Hands-On Method for Solving Complex Problems with Simple Pictures\u003c/a\u003e\nby Dan Roam\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Book List"},{"content":"(Reprinted from Ian\u0026rsquo;s blog at Pivotal Labs.)\nI believe it was in a conversation with Janice Fraser that I first started talking about DRY Documentation. It was certainly she (among others) who goaded me into actually writing this blog post. So I\u0026rsquo;m taking a moment on my WiFi-free (and generally amenity-free) United Airlines flight to SXSW to put pixel to screen.\nDRYness is an age-old concept in the Agile space (to the extent that that\u0026rsquo;s possible in a space that\u0026rsquo;s only 10 years old itself) and it\u0026rsquo;s elegant in its simplicity. DRY simply stands for Don\u0026rsquo;t Repeat Yourself. The idea is that you should only do any one thing in code in only one place. If, for example, you are doing an interest rate calculation, don\u0026rsquo;t copy and paste the code from one place where you need it to another: instead, move that responsibility to an object that reasonably should be responsible for such things, and do that interest rate calculation only in that one place. The reasons for this being important are manifold, but perhaps the canonical reason is so that it\u0026rsquo;s easy to change: When the interest rate calculation changes, you don\u0026rsquo;t have to go digging through your code to find all the places you do it, and make sure you change them all consistently. Instead, you change the code in only one place.\nHopefully this is old hat for most coders now, and hopefully you, gentle reader, will forgive me my oversimplifcations and conflations. The point is one of simplicity.\nSo now, let\u0026rsquo;s shift focus to design documentation. The idea I\u0026rsquo;m trying to express when I talk about DRY documentation is one again of simplicity, though the drivers are perhaps a little different.\nThe mental model for truly DRY documentation is one in which every pixel on the page tells you something you didn\u0026rsquo;t know before. Of course, like DRY code, it\u0026rsquo;s worth being pragmatic. There are times when greater clarity can be gained by a certain amount of contextual restatement. But as a theoretical goal state, it\u0026rsquo;s still quite useful to picture a body of documentation in which every last line tells you something you needed to know about what you\u0026rsquo;re trying to build, and something you didn\u0026rsquo;t know from looking at any other line in the documentation.\nWhat would we notice about a set of documentation that adhered to these principles? Well, first, and most obviously, it would probably be a lot shorter than the documentation we\u0026rsquo;re used to seeing. And that in itself is a benefit. Why? For a number of reasons. First, shorter documentation is in general easier to digest, and it\u0026rsquo;s generally easier to find the relevant bit of documentation in a shorter corpus, all else being equal. (And of course, document structure and readability play just as big a role in a short document as they do in a longer one.)\nShorter documents are also easier to revise and maintain. And it\u0026rsquo;s easier to find changes between versions, all else being equal. I talk sometimes about the 500 page PRD we got when we were developing one product, complete with two sets of revisions, also 500 pages each. Guess how easy it was for the developer to find the 2% of information that changed in each revision, and understand its implications to for the site? Guess how easy it was for the designer to be sure she\u0026rsquo;d changed everything consistently? In a DRY design doc, changes are more obvious, and more meaningful. Things jump out when they\u0026rsquo;re inconsistent. And they tend to be more consistent, because the designs implied are applied more consistently across the product in question.\nThis brings me to another favorite topic: Principled design. DRY documentation is a lot easier to develop (and it\u0026rsquo;s a lot easier to tell when your documentation is DRY) when your design is motivated by specific principles. For instance, when you decide, in the banking app you\u0026rsquo;re designing, that all checking account features will use Cerulean Blue for their accent color, and all savings account features will use Prussian Blue, a lot of nice things happen. First, design questions become much easier to answer. The new Maximizer Account we\u0026rsquo;ve just added is a kind of savings account. Great! We know it\u0026rsquo;s going to be Prussian Blue. (Or we can make a better informed decision that there should be a new point in the color family.) Second, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to document this fact. A one page style bible can capture this information, and when some new feature is implemented, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t take any intervention from the VxD to make sure the new bits have the right color choices. Third, when some new feature comes along, developers roughing it out can come up with a reasonable early approximation of what it should look like, because they have principles to apply, instead of PSDs to pore over, looking for a non-existent visual treatment for the new thing they\u0026rsquo;re just embarking on. This lets said VxD (and the IA) spend time tuning something that\u0026rsquo;s close, rather than restating the design principles they\u0026rsquo;ve got in their heads, in the form of some new PSD file.\nA fourth virtue is that suddenly all these color choices (or typography choices, or IxD choices,) have consistency, a consistency that our dear End User can actually pick up on. They don\u0026rsquo;t end up feeling lost in a jumble of pretty colors, but start to associate the Prussian Blue with savings accounts, the Cerulean Blue with checking accounts, and, assuming the designer goes in this direction, that blue in general means cash accounts; green, stock and security accounts; reds and oranges, loans and credit accounts, or similar.\nThey may not be able to articulate why they know this, but they will perceive a solidity and purpose in the VxD, one that makes them feel safe and comfortable, and one that helps them use the application more effectively.\nWhen coupled with a good domain model and a good information architecture, it suddenly gets a lot easier for the whole team to keep the design princples top of mind, and answer basic questions without having to consult a 500 page document, or even a 20-30 page set of wireframes and interaction designs. Hopefully they can answer most questions from a one or two page style bible, and by consulting the wireframe describing their grid system, and the one for the kind of module they\u0026rsquo;re working on.\nAgain, the point is not to pursue this ideal to an absurdist end, but rather to continually ask oneself: Could this documentation be simpler? Did I cover this already? Could an existing design concept apply to the new area I\u0026rsquo;m covering? Restatement in the service of clarity is always to be lauded. Unfortunately, in practice, most restatement in the form of long design documents is just waste: Waste in that the documentation must be produced; that it must be maintained; that it must be read; that it must be understood; and waste in that it tends to obscure the princples of the design in favor of the surface of the design.\nAnd of course, another agile principle comes into play: Refactoring. Often a second use of a given design treatment exposes new boundary cases and new pressures on the design, and the initial design needs to be modified slightly to accommodate both the new and the old use case. This is usually a simplfying force, and one not to be resisted. Let the documentation live, and reflect the deeper underlying principles of the design you\u0026rsquo;re trying to express. Applied well, this rigor will help you to simplify and clarify your designs, and expose their essence.\nWhen practiced well, DRY documentation will set you free, give you control and clarity, and communicate your design vision efficiently and clearly. It will also free your development team to do things more or less right the first time, and give them more time to work on the bits that need more love and attention.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2011/04/01/dry-design-documentation/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e(Reprinted from \u003ca href=\"http://pivotallabs.com/users/ian/blog/articles/1577-dry-design-documentation\"\u003eIan\u0026rsquo;s blog at Pivotal Labs\u003c/a\u003e.)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI believe it was in a conversation with Janice Fraser that I first started talking about DRY Documentation. It was certainly she (among others) who goaded me into actually writing this blog post. So I\u0026rsquo;m taking a moment on my WiFi-free (and generally amenity-free) United Airlines flight to SXSW to put pixel to screen.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDRYness is an age-old concept in the Agile space (to the extent that that\u0026rsquo;s possible in a space that\u0026rsquo;s only 10 years old itself) and it\u0026rsquo;s elegant in its simplicity. DRY simply stands for Don\u0026rsquo;t Repeat Yourself. The idea is that you should only do any one thing in code in only one place. If, for example, you are doing an interest rate calculation, don\u0026rsquo;t copy and paste the code from one place where you need it to another: instead, move that responsibility to an object that reasonably should be responsible for such things, and do that interest rate calculation only in that one place. The reasons for this being important are manifold, but perhaps the canonical reason is so that it\u0026rsquo;s easy to change: When the interest rate calculation changes, you don\u0026rsquo;t have to go digging through your code to find all the places you do it, and make sure you change them all consistently. Instead, you change the code in only one place.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"DRY Design Documentation"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;ve enjoyed reading Steve Blank\u0026rsquo;s blog, and think the recent article \u0026quot; College and Business Will Never Be the Same\u0026quot; nicely articulates one of the reasons it\u0026rsquo;s so hard to bring different disciplines together to focus on collaborative solutions. Working in silos is baked in from the start.\nIn most academic programs, design, engineering and business are taught in silos, and the disciplines remain separate as students move into the world of work. Steve makes a proposal for more cross-disciplinary studies and industry engagement during education and mentions Philadelphia University’s new degree program, Design, Engineering and Commerce.\nCheck it out and let us know what you think!\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2011/03/07/silos-in-education-lead-to-silos-in-industry/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ve enjoyed reading Steve Blank\u0026rsquo;s \u003ca href=\"http://steveblank.com/\"\u003eblog\u003c/a\u003e, and think the recent article \u0026quot; \u003ca href=\"http://steveblank.com/2011/02/15/college-and-business-will-never-be-the-same/\"\u003eCollege and Business Will Never Be the Same\u003c/a\u003e\u0026quot; nicely articulates one of the reasons it\u0026rsquo;s so hard to bring different disciplines together to focus on collaborative solutions. Working in silos is baked in from the start.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn most academic programs, design, engineering and business are taught in silos, and the disciplines remain separate as students move into the world of work. Steve makes a proposal for more cross-disciplinary studies and industry engagement during education and mentions Philadelphia University’s new degree program, Design, Engineering and Commerce.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Silos in education lead to silos in industry"},{"content":"I wanted to share my presentation from the deLUX event a few weeks ago in Boulder. In the time that has past since the event I\u0026rsquo;ve update the presentation the help illustrate the term spoilage. It\u0026rsquo;s a term I\u0026rsquo;m introducing, and it\u0026rsquo;s intended to be provocative. The lost opportunity from design debt is a real tragedy. I\u0026rsquo;m hopeful that what we talk about in the group can help designers avoid having their efforts wasted working on the wrong priorities.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2011/03/06/keeping-design-fresh/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI wanted to share my presentation from the deLUX event a few weeks ago in Boulder. In the time that has past since the event I\u0026rsquo;ve update the presentation the help illustrate the term spoilage. It\u0026rsquo;s a term I\u0026rsquo;m introducing, and it\u0026rsquo;s intended to be provocative. The lost opportunity from design debt is a real tragedy. I\u0026rsquo;m hopeful that what we talk about in the group can help designers avoid having their efforts wasted working on the wrong priorities.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Keeping Design Fresh"},{"content":"At the end of the December retreat in NYC, the Balanced Team group felt that it was time to reach out and share our thinking with a wider community. Last week\u0026rsquo;s Interaction 11 conference in Boulder, CO, provided an ideal opportunity to throw a party with activities and talks sprinkled on top.\nWith help from Hot Studio, Cooper, LUXR, SideReel and Atomic Object, about 70 people (thank you!) gathered at Pivotal Labs for BBQ, drinks, and an open discussion about how designers, engineers and product owners can collaborate better.\nGreat turnout!\nThe fishbowl format, an unmoderated, democratic panel discussion, was new to many of the attendees. The concept is simple:\nPick a topic or question that everybody has an opinion on. Put four chairs in a central position. Only three people sit down and discuss, the fourth chair remains empty. Make sure that the discussion happens within the panel. If someone from the audience has a question or comment, she gets up and takes the empty chair. The person on the panel who has finished her point or has stayed on the longest leaves. Repeat. A good way to end a fishbowl is to discreetly remove the chairs. For the deLUX fishbowl, we asked people what Lean UX means to them. What are the benefits for you in your work? What are the challenges? Attendees shared stories from in-house, freelance and consulting contexts, providing a hook for the conversations of the night.\nTim McCoy, Will Sansbury and Lea Refice\nThe audience, ready to jump in\nIn his short lightning talk, Hot Studio\u0026rsquo;s Chris Jones explored the concept of debt, comparing a waterfall, agile and lean approach. How do you know that this idea, concept or design will work? You need to find out as early as possible if something is worth doing: Think-Make-Check. A rapid cycle of design, code, release can be applied to design work, with early feedback, prototyping, and \u0026lsquo;just putting things in front of other people\u0026rsquo;. Get out of the house!\nChris Jones\nCooper\u0026rsquo;s Tim McCoy presented views on \u0026ldquo;Lean UX, Product Stewardship, and Integrated Teams.\u0026rdquo; Product Stewardship builds on the notion of a multi-skilled product owner team. The responsibilities of a product owner are demanding. To avoid a bottleneck situation, a product manager is joined by a UX strategist, who assumes the role of a product steward. While the product manager represents the business goals, the product steward focuses on users and customers. This can create tension - healthy tension, aiding prioritisation and decision-making. Tim has shared a longer post and his slides here.\nTim McCoy\nPowered by excellent food and a selection of different local beers, conversations continued until late. On Sunday, a small group got together for breakfast, over which we focused on one attendee sharing his story. I witnessed the magic of peer mentoring and am now keen to set up something similar in London.\nThe success of deLUX made it clear that there\u0026rsquo;s certainly a demand for opportunities to discuss collaboration and balanced teams. Finding someone in the same situation as you who has advice. The realisation that one\u0026rsquo;s team has come up with interesting practices that are worth sharing. Discussing one\u0026rsquo;s approach with developers who are surprised that there are designers who are passionate advocates of \u0026rsquo;less ego\u0026rsquo;.\nLet\u0026rsquo;s create more opportunities and get together again! We\u0026rsquo;ve already started planning a similar event for SXSW Interactive. We\u0026rsquo;re looking for hosts, sponsors, and attendees, so ping us if you can help, and keep an eye on the blog for updates.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2011/02/15/delux-at-interaction11-bbq-drinks-and-conversations/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAt the end of the December retreat in NYC, the Balanced Team group felt that it was time to reach out and share our thinking with a wider community. Last week\u0026rsquo;s \u003ca href=\"http://www.ixda.org/interaction/index.html\"\u003eInteraction 11\u003c/a\u003e conference in Boulder, CO, provided an ideal opportunity to throw a party with activities and talks sprinkled on top.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith help from Hot Studio, Cooper, LUXR, SideReel and Atomic Object, about 70 people (thank you!) gathered at \u003cstrong\u003ePivotal Labs\u003c/strong\u003e for BBQ, drinks, and an open discussion about how designers, engineers and product owners can collaborate better.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"deLUX at Interaction11: BBQ, drinks and conversations"},{"content":"One of the best ways I\u0026rsquo;ve found to create high-functioning teams is to interview well. (The other is to create a company \u0026amp; culture that great people voraciously want to join, so that when you find someone terrific, they say \u0026ldquo;yes.\u0026rdquo;)\nThere are four things I want to know about a candidate before I make them an offer:\nSkills: do they have the skills, knowledge, and experience to do the work you need? Behavior: will they behave in a way that benefits the team and helps it grow? Culture: will they be a good fit for the company\u0026rsquo;s culture? Desire: do they want to be on this team at this company, doing this work? Most teams develop a reliable way of judging an interviewee\u0026rsquo;s skills; they might be asked specific questions about tools and languages, and then sit down to solve a real-life problem with other team members. And it\u0026rsquo;s reasonably easy to gauge someone\u0026rsquo;s desire by asking straightforward questions sydney warehouse. But once you establish that the person has the skills \u0026amp; desire to play the role that you need, how do you determine whether they will be a good fit for behavior \u0026amp; culture? I\u0026rsquo;m often surprised that people haven\u0026rsquo;t heard of Behavioral Interviewing, and are mostly interviewing for technical skills, and then just hanging out with the people to see if they\u0026rsquo;re \u0026ldquo;nice\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;cool.\u0026rdquo;\nAs the former VP of Engineering at Critical Path, I was personally responsible for hiring the first 50 technical people, which included developers, QA, designers, and technical managers. We ended up with a stellar team, and I think part of the credit goes to how we conducted interviews. For the last 5 years, I\u0026rsquo;ve worked as an executive coach for entrepreneurs, and I often end up helping clients refine their hiring practices. (BSP: You can learn more about my executive coaching practice, or check out my blog at StartupHappiness.com)\nWhy is it worth it to put this much effort into interviewing? First, firing someone who doesn\u0026rsquo;t work out is a huge hassle. Having someone who is the wrong fit, or not performing well, frustrates other team members, and takes up the team\u0026rsquo;s valuable time and emotional energy. Second, a company starts with the cultural DNA of the company founders, and every new hire that\u0026rsquo;s made can either amplify those values and beliefs, or not. Why not amplify the great parts of your culture with every new hire, if at all possible?\nBasic Format of a Behavioral Interview Question\nA Behavioral Interview question almost always starts with \u0026ldquo;Tell me about a time when you\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; The goal is to have the interviewee describe a real-life experience that shows how they have behaved in a social situation, especially one where they were had to overcome some sort of difficulty that they might be likely to encounter in your organization.\nOne of my favorite behavioral interviewing questions is \u0026ldquo;Tell me about a time when you had an idea that you thought was really great, but other people on your team didn\u0026rsquo;t agree, and it didn\u0026rsquo;t end up being implemented.\u0026rdquo; What I want to learn from this question is how they handle a disagreement in the workplace, and how they roll with not getting their way.\nOnce I have a sense of the situation, I\u0026rsquo;ll ask them \u0026ldquo;Tell me about what you did, and what results you got.\u0026rdquo; I want to know if they strategized about who to talk to tian xiao cheng, what methods they used to influence others, if they gathered data first to support their position, and how things unfolded. I\u0026rsquo;m also listening for whether they talk about others as having valid points of view, or if they disdainfully talk about how stupid or inferior everyone else was. Did they go to anyone else for help, or fly solo? Do they still have respect for the manager in charge, even though things didn\u0026rsquo;t go their way? (Hint: this tells me if they will still respect ME if I choose to disagree with them someday.)\nThe second thing I\u0026rsquo;ll ask is \u0026ldquo;What did you learn from this, and is there anything you would do differently today in that situation?\u0026rdquo; Here I\u0026rsquo;m looking to see if they gained any insight after the fact, and some indication that they are growing and maturing as a team member. I can tell from their answer whether they\u0026rsquo;re likely to use social experiences at work as opportunities to learn.\nHow to Develop Behavioral Interview Questions\nThe best questions are taken from scenarios that actually occur within your organization. Think for a moment about what kinds of things might frustrate your current team (if you don\u0026rsquo;t know, I\u0026rsquo;m sure they will be happy to tell you). Those are the things you want to make sure a new hire can roll with. Don\u0026rsquo;t be afraid to get really specific.\nWhen we were creating huge-scale telco-grade email infrastructure to host millions of email accounts at CPTH, one of my questions was \u0026ldquo;Tell me about a time when you got paged in the middle of the night to help a team fix an urgent problem on a production server.\u0026rdquo; By a candidate\u0026rsquo;s answer, I could tell (a) if they had any actual experience doing this, (b) how they performed when woken in the middle of the night, (c) how they communicated with other members of the team under pressure, (d) how they troubleshoot a problem, (e) what they learned about the system, themselves, and others, and (f) if they put any safeguards in place to prevent that particular thing from happening again. That is a lot of learning from one interview question!\nIt\u0026rsquo;s well worth creating some standard questions like this when interviewing for a position, so that you can compare different candidate\u0026rsquo;s answers. Ideally these questions would be drawn from the job description (ex: \u0026ldquo;resolve production problems as part of on-call rotation\u0026rdquo; leads to the question above), and from the team\u0026rsquo;s own experience. A few candidates reacted very negatively to this question, and at that point their interview was essentially over: I needed people who could survive this uncomfortable situation with flying colors, get the system back on its feet, and do it a relatively cheerful attitude.\nThis is where \u0026ldquo;Culture\u0026rdquo; comes in; we were developing cutting-edge systems at huge scale. Everything was new, and we were moving quickly enough that we could never do enough testing to insure that the system wouldn\u0026rsquo;t fail. We were just trying to prevent it from failing the same way twice (this sounds cavalier in retrospect, but it\u0026rsquo;s true; Web 1.0 was the wild west, and we were building the kind of infrastructure for the first time that became the basis of cloud computing today). So someone who was super-disdainful of the fact that the system wasn\u0026rsquo;t 100% tested wouldn\u0026rsquo;t survive in our culture, whereas they would probably be welcome at eTrade, who was developing high-volume stock-trading systems.\nBehavioral Interviewing keeps out the Assholes\nOne of the things that behavioral interviewing can really help with is identifying assholes: people who are likely to appear friendly on the surface, but harbor nasty traits like arrogance, backstabbing, not sharing credit for success, always blaming others for failure, and so on. It\u0026rsquo;s often easy for those kind of people to act nice during an interview, but when you ask them to talk about multiple difficult situations in a row, it\u0026rsquo;s much harder for them to maintain the veneer of kindness, and some of their more difficult habits start showing through.\nGenerally no one answers behavioral questions \u0026ldquo;perfectly\u0026rdquo;. Work situations are fraught with difficulty and frustration, but what I was looking for is an orientation toward curiosity, problem-solving, kindness, teaching, and learning: those were all things that our culture valued, and that I felt made technical teams very strong. So it\u0026rsquo;s fine if someone did struggle with not getting their way, or said that they didn\u0026rsquo;t love waking up in the middle of the night, as long as in the end they were able to pitch in and make it work anyway, and extra points if they did some introspection and learned something about themselves from the experience.\nOne important thing that I\u0026rsquo;m guarding against is someone who is still very angry or sad about a difficult situation after the fact, or who can\u0026rsquo;t stop themselves from complaining about former colleagues during an interview. If they don\u0026rsquo;t have enough self-control to speak kindly about others during an interview, they certainly won\u0026rsquo;t speak kindly about their colleagues once you hire them. Engineering culture often has a certain amount of inherent snarkiness, but I developed the ability to tell the difference between funny-snarky and mean-snarky. Funny snarky pokes fun at a difficult situation; it diffuses tension through humor. Mean-snarky is often about a particular person, and is meant to undermine their authority or credibility.\nBehavioral Reference Checks\nI particularly like asking behavioral interview questions of an interviewee, and then asking the same question when I check references. Then I am more likely to have the corroboration of their boss or peers: \u0026ldquo;PersonX told me about the time when they had to fix such-and-such production problem in the middle of the night with your team. Tell me about that\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; Because I have already talked about this with the candidate, the manager often feels more free to tell it like it really was.\u0026quot;\nWhile I\u0026rsquo;m on the subject of reference checks, my all-time favorite reference check question of a manager is: \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re really leaning toward hiring PersonX. As his/her new manager, I want to create the best possible working relationship. Everyone has things that they like, and things that they don\u0026rsquo;t\u0026hellip; Can you tell me what might frustrate PersonX, so that I can avoid that?\u0026rdquo; By establishing that I am close to hiring, but looking for ways to work better with the person, I\u0026rsquo;m more likely to get an honest answer, and in fact, I can use that information to help get that relationship off to a good start. Occasionally I learn something here that is a showstopper, or at least that I want to check out with the candidate before I move forward with the hire. I ask candidates the same thing about themselves, earlier, so I can corroborate the two answers. I want a candidate with enough self-knowledge and honesty to tell me what will upset them; someone who has no real answer to this doesn\u0026rsquo;t know themselves very well.\nBehavioral Interviewing for Designers\nMost of my hiring experience is choosing developers; what behavioral interviewing questions would you use to find great AUX designers? I\u0026rsquo;d love to hear responses in the comments!\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2011/01/25/behavioral-interviewing-for-awesome-teams/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOne of the best ways I\u0026rsquo;ve found to create high-functioning teams is to interview well. (The other is to create a company \u0026amp; culture that great people voraciously want to join, so that when you find someone terrific, they say \u0026ldquo;yes.\u0026rdquo;)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are four things I want to know about a candidate before I make them an offer:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSkills: do they have the skills, knowledge, and experience to do the work you need?\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBehavior: will they behave in a way that benefits the team and helps it grow?\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCulture: will they be a good fit for the company\u0026rsquo;s culture?\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDesire: do they want to be on this team at this company, doing this work?\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost teams develop a reliable way of judging an interviewee\u0026rsquo;s skills; they might be asked specific questions about tools and languages, and then sit down to solve a real-life problem with other team members. And it\u0026rsquo;s reasonably easy to gauge someone\u0026rsquo;s desire by asking straightforward questions \u003ca href=\"https://www.east-inflatables.com/blog/how-to-install-inflatable-movie-screen.html\"\u003esydney warehouse\u003c/a\u003e. But once you establish that the person has the skills \u0026amp; desire to play the role that you need, how do you determine whether they will be a good fit for behavior \u0026amp; culture? I\u0026rsquo;m often surprised that people haven\u0026rsquo;t heard of Behavioral Interviewing, and are mostly interviewing for technical skills, and then just hanging out with the people to see if they\u0026rsquo;re \u0026ldquo;nice\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;cool.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Behavioral Interviewing for Awesome Teams"},{"content":"Salesforce.com has been practicing Agile for several years now and we’ve had a lot of success making user experience a critical part our process. When we take a step back and look at the teams that are most successful, from a design perspective, there are a few attributes that stand out:\nThey start with a story that clearly defines the problem they want to solve They acknowledge that great ideas can come from anyone, regardless of role The entire team participates in the design process, typically kicking off with a design studio [PDF] Note that the design studio influences all three points. As a result, we’re big fans.\nThis year, one of the goals of the Salesforce UX team was to increase our influence at an organizational level. Like many organizations, our execs were asking how the company can be more innovative and they were looking to the UX team for help.\nRather than working in isolation and hoping that we stumble upon some brilliant idea, we decided to get everyone involved. We knew there were probably dozens of great ideas locked in people’s heads, they just needed a venue to share them.\nThe design studio had been such a success at the individual team level, we thought maybe we could scale it up to accommodate an organization. We would involve our entire products and technology team of several hundred people rather than the typical 6-10 participants. We also wanted to tweak the structure a bit to focus on surfacing innovative ideas that we knew were already out there.\nThe Setup Running a design studio at a large scale requires a lot of prep. Here are some of the items we felt were critical to the success of the event:\nExecutive sponsorship If you’re going to rally an entire organization to participate in an event, you need an executive sponsor. Our executive sponsor was highly supportive. He personally sent the event invitation and committed to attending in person. More importantly, he provided a broad executive audience to review the best ideas and consider them for funding. We felt strongly that these ideas needed a chance to become real projects. Branding It’s hard to build momentum without a brand. We chose the name Cloudburst which felt a little silly at first but really helped people identify the event. The brand allowed us to produce promotional material such as posters, t-shirts and the like in order to increase awareness. Plus, if we were successful, we wanted a recognizable brand that could live on for the next event. Scope The primary purpose of this event was to surface innovative ideas. This meant that our scope needed to be fairly broad. A typical design studio explores one or two use cases. For this event, nearly any idea was fair game as long as it aligned with our company goals. Rules In order to keep everyone motivated we decided to structure the event as a friendly competition. Participants were asked to form teams of no more than three to maximize collaboration. Teams would work with pen and paper only and ideas would be judged on the following criteria: Creativity, Simplicity and Fun. The Event In the weeks leading up to the event, we set expectations and built excitement. Participants were welcome to bring ideas that they may have already had brewing. This event would provide them the opportunity to give their idea executive exposure. If they didn’t have an idea, no problem! They could help develop someone else’s.\nHere’s how the day was structured:\nThink What problem are you solving? Who are you solving it for? How will their lives be improved as a result of delivering this product? We provided each team with personas to help guide their work. The UX team canvassed the floor, reminding teams to tell a story from the perspective of their persona and asking probing questions to help flesh out their concepts.\nSketch Computers were not allowed. Just minds, pens and paper. This forced the teams to communicate verbally and visually, which is exactly what we wanted. Teams spent the bulk of their time collaboratively sketching.\nPitch At the end of the day, teams would have only two minutes to pitch their idea using a single sketch board for illustrative purposes. These constraints forced teams to really nail down their narrative. They had to take all of their sketches and consolidate them into one rapid-fire pitch that would help them sell their ideas to peers and executives.\nVote After all the pitches were heard, participants dot-voted on each other’s ideas. Three finalists were chosen from the group and moved on to the next round: pitching to executives.\nThe Outcome After finalists were chosen, they were given a few weeks to refine their ideas and pitch to the entire executive staff. One winning team was chosen and their idea is now planned for development.\nThe executive pitches were a huge hit. Execs were wowed by the ideas generated and the level of energy and enthusiasm from both participants and executives was amazing. The execs were so impressed with the outcome that they immediately asked, “how can we apply this process to other aspects of our business?” We have since conducted similar events in the Marketing organization and with our customers and we’re planning more events in 2011.\nLessons Learned Of course, it wasn\u0026rsquo;t all rosy. Here are a few challenges we ran into:\nLogistics are a challenge with such a large group. Planning and running these sessions is a huge undertaking, so make sure you are ready to commit the time and resources to make it successful. Some participants were uncomfortable with the dot-voting and felt that the group lost sight of the original judging criteria. We are considering electing a panel of judges for future events as well as providing more categories for winners such as best presentation or most creative idea. The vast majority of ideas will not get funded. Make sure you have an outlet for the ideas that people are really passionate about. At Salesforce we have a program called PTOn which is very similar to Google’s 20% time. Employees can use this time to pursue ideas they are passionate about. The concept may be too popular! We were flooded with requests to host more of these events. The problem, as mentioned earlier, is that they are very resource intensive. There is also the risk of participant fatigue. We think that 2 to 3 events of this size per year, within an organization, is the maximum. Generating Change Josh Seiden recently posted the following tweet:\nGood designers generate great ideas; great designers generate change.\nThe Cloudburst event wasn\u0026rsquo;t perfect but, if nothing else, it generated the seeds of change. It was far more successful than we expected. We had nearly 100 participants who created dozens of terrific ideas. We unleashed pent-up innovation that engendered passion across the organization. By applying some of our Agile UX methods at a larger scale, we provided a tangible example of how a collaborative design process can help the organization innovate and solve challenging business problems. We look forward to generating more change. :-)\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2011/01/07/supersizing-the-design-studio/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSalesforce.com has been practicing Agile for several years now and we’ve had a lot of success making user experience a critical part our process. When we take a step back and look at the teams that are most successful, from a design perspective, there are a few attributes that stand out:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey \u003cstrong\u003estart with a story\u003c/strong\u003e that clearly defines the problem they want to solve\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThey acknowledge that \u003cstrong\u003egreat ideas can come from anyone\u003c/strong\u003e, regardless of role\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003eentire team participates\u003c/strong\u003e in the design process, typically kicking off with a \u003ca href=\"http://www.agileproductdesign.com/downloads/quickrefs/patton_design_studio.pdf\"\u003edesign studio\u003c/a\u003e [PDF]\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNote that the design studio influences all three points. As a result, we’re big fans.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Super-sizing the Design Studio"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;if you want to succeed, double your failure rate.\u0026rdquo; (Thomas Watson, IBM Founder)\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2010/12/23/quote-of-the-day/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;if you want to succeed, double your failure rate.\u0026rdquo;\n(Thomas Watson, IBM Founder)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Quote of the Day"},{"content":"For me, most of agile thinking derives from two fundamental realizations.\nFirst, we must be realistic about our inability to predict the future, and therefore shorten and strengthen feedback cycles. We strengthen feedback by putting working software in the hands of real people, and by test-driving the process of writing code at multiple scales. We shorten cycles by delivering smaller changes more often. We stop trying to be blindly and perfectly proactive, and instead reconceive large projects as a series of rapid, highly effective reactions.\nSecond, we must stop thinking about building software as an activity centered around technology (machines, tools, processes), and instead appreciate that humanity and human communication lie at the heart of software making. Software is made by people for people, and those people better communicate and work well together if they have any hope of succeeding other than by dumb luck.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve gotten tremendous value out of the principles and practices I\u0026rsquo;ve learned from other members of the agile community. At the places I\u0026rsquo;ve worked (generally small teams on long-term projects), we\u0026rsquo;ve applied them to great effect on the quality, malleability and maintainability of our code, our ability to release early and often, and the quality and \u0026ldquo;at-home-ness\u0026rdquo; of my team members (making our practices suit the people we are, etc.). It also bears pointing out that profound thinking continues to come out of the agile community (it never ceases to amaze me how deep the practice of TDD is), so it\u0026rsquo;s well worth continuing to pay attention.\nAt least as I\u0026rsquo;ve practiced agile, however, communication with those who use the software has always been wanting. The \u0026ldquo;on-site customer\u0026rdquo; has never really fully worked for me, either because it wasn\u0026rsquo;t feasible (in a product company) or because simply asking someone what they want isn\u0026rsquo;t the best way to make software design choices. I think these issues are not uncommon. And this failure goes to the heart of what agile is: We\u0026rsquo;re failing to communicate effectively with the people who use our software, and therefore failing to get all the right feedback.\nThere are people out there who\u0026rsquo;ve seen this for years (Jeff Patton and I\u0026rsquo;m sure many others), but I didn\u0026rsquo;t really get the message until I attended the first Agile UX/Balanced Team retreat early this year. I learned that the agile and UX communities, largely separately and in parallel, have been developing transformative ideas that, with a little increased awareness and mutual appreciation, go so much better together than they do apart.\nFrom this agilist\u0026rsquo;s perspective, UX helps me understand how to connect with the people who might and do use my software, and to turn what we learn into a rich shared context across my team. It has also helped me realize that because my teams have always outsourced (or worse ignored) design activities, my teams have been out of balance (\u0026ldquo;on-site designer\u0026rdquo;, anyone?). I suspect similar ahas await UXers coming to agile.\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2010/12/20/agile-redux/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFor me, most of agile thinking derives from two fundamental realizations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, we must be realistic about our inability to predict the future, and therefore shorten and strengthen feedback cycles. We strengthen feedback by putting working software in the hands of real people, and by test-driving the process of writing code at multiple scales. We shorten cycles by delivering smaller changes more often. We stop trying to be blindly and perfectly proactive, and instead reconceive large projects as a series of rapid, highly effective reactions.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Agile redUX"},{"content":"Over the summer, I had a chance to participate in several short projects with balanced teams. These projects were in different product domains (entertainment, e-commerce, social media), on different platforms (iPad, iPhone, Web), with different sized teams (3-7), but all of them had the following aspects in common:\nThe project was run within an agile framework (focus on the customer, continuous delivery, team sat together, lightweight documentation, team ownership of decisions, shared rituals like stand-ups, retrospectives, etc.) The team contained people with a mix of skills (front and back end development, user experience and information architecture, product management and marketing, graphic design, copywriting) The people on the team generally performed in their area of expertise/strength, but were supportive of other specialties and interested in learning new skills. All the projects were early stage “green fields” projects where we were simultaneously trying to discover how it would be used, how it would look and behave and how we could build it. My background is interaction design and product management, so I brought my toolkit of methods for problem definition, user research, modeling, storytelling, sketching and prototyping into the mix. Here are a few techniques that I found successful when working with balanced teams on projects like these.\nIncorporate other team members’ ideas about the user experience\nWhen I envision products, I think from the user\u0026rsquo;s perspective. What is a particular person’s objective, and what does the product show and do as they interact with it? The other people on my team have different, equally valid, perspectives of the system we’re building, for example data relationships or information architecture.\nI found the most effective way to align our understanding was to ask other people to talk about (and sketch!) what was happening in the system and think about what the user would see along the way. I\u0026rsquo;d use that as a starting point for further conversation. When talking to developers, sometimes it was easier to start with a flow diagram and then build up from there. Once we built the model together, we could have productive conversations about the user interface because we all felt joint ownership and agreed on the experience we wanted to deliver.\nBuild shared physical artifacts\nIn my prior work as an agency interaction designer, I usually started by interviewing my client (one or more project stakeholders) to understand the business objectives. Then I did ethnographic interviews/contextual inquiry with users (or potential users) to understand their needs. Based on this understanding, I’d work solo, or with other designers to create scenarios, storyboards and/or prototypes, which would be validated with the stakeholders and sometimes the users.\nWhen working with balanced teams, spending time away from the group advanced my understanding, but didn’t help the group develop a shared understanding of the product we were building. I found the most effective documents/artifacts I produced were the simple lightweight ones that encouraged conversation and participation. For example, quickly building a crude paper prototype the group could use to walk through a scenario to understand screen flows.\nCreate a shared vision of the product\u0026rsquo;s look and behavior\nBefore a product gains critical mass and has a visible framework, or many screens, it’s hard to work together in support of a shared goal. When just using story cards and conversation, I noticed teams spending a lot of time arguing about how things would work and what they would look like. I’ve seen teams spend a lot of time in debate about what stories should get built first and what could wait. There’s also tension around how long it will take to reach a minimum viable product (MVP) that people will use, love and depend on.\nMy observation is that these problems come from a lack of a shared vision about the product’s behavior and appearance. Most people find it difficult to imagine something they have not seen, especially if it involves complex interactions and state changes. It’s even harder to make sure that everyone in a team is holding the same complex interaction in their heads without making it real through detailed pictures or working software. There are people (and many of them are interaction designers) with a talent for imagining and communicating complex interactions. However, balanced teams don\u0026rsquo;t need a “rockstar designer” to hold the product vision and keep the team on track. I found my role with balanced teams was to help the group envision, critique and agree on what we were building at a higher level than user stories.\nLead with conversation, trail with documentation\nWe were moving fast enough on these projects that my attempts to create a user interface specification or build a clickable prototype too early made me a bottleneck in the process. I realized that I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to create a well-crafted deliverable that I had to explain to other people, I wanted to make things with the team that advanced our understanding as a group. I had better success when I started with conversation and group sketching and then built a lightweight paper prototype. We then validated the prototype as a group, and put it on the wall for annotations and additional detail created by the team. We continued to revise and extend the model over the next few days as we start to build out the product screens.\nAt this point, I was ready to translate the team\u0026rsquo;s decisions into documentation. I created a clickable prototype in Balsamiq to work start thinking about some positioning/screen layout issues and help further validate the product with people outside the team while we were building it.\nUse personas and scenarios as back-story, not as deliverables\nIn my practice before I started working with balanced teams, I would often use personas and scenarios to help me understand the problem domain and frame the context of use while working through design concepts. I’ve found personas to be a very helpful method when working with other designers because they are useful shorthand for lots of information about people we’ve met. I find scenarios, by themselves, are a good tool for working with other people who are comfortable envisioning complex interactions, but they are less useful for people who need to see pictures to “get it.”\nWhen working with balanced teams, I still often create personas and scenarios, but I do it in a more spontaneous way, when we reach a situation where they solve a problem we’re having. If we’re having trouble figuring out what features matter, or what goes together, or how to present something, I’ll work with the team to create provisional personas that document our understanding of users, and then work towards validating those assumptions when we get a chance to talk to or show our product to actual people. I’ll create scenarios as a part of my own process for creating interaction designs, and then use it as part of the story I tell with through a sketch, paper prototype or more polished concept. “So, let me show you how Raj uses our product to do this…”\nSo, that was my summer vacation. From the buzz I\u0026rsquo;m seeing on #auxretreat and #agileux, it really feels like something cool is happening. We’re mixing things up and working in new ways for happier teams and better results. I’d be interested in hearing your stories. Are you working in a balanced team? What’s working for you?\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2010/12/17/what-i-learned-from-balanced-teams/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOver the summer, I had a chance to participate in several short projects with balanced teams.  These projects were in different product domains (entertainment,  e-commerce, social media), on different platforms (iPad, iPhone, Web), with different sized teams (3-7), but all of them had the following aspects in common:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe project was run within an agile framework (focus on the customer, continuous delivery, team sat together, lightweight documentation, team ownership of decisions, shared rituals like stand-ups, retrospectives, etc.)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe team contained people with a mix of skills (front and back end development, user experience and information architecture, product management and marketing, graphic design, copywriting)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe people on the team generally performed in their area of expertise/strength, but were supportive of other specialties and interested in learning new skills.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAll the projects were early stage “green fields” projects where we were simultaneously trying to discover how it would be used, how it would look and behave and how we could build it.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy background is interaction design and product management, so I brought my toolkit of methods for problem definition, user research, modeling, storytelling, sketching and prototyping into the mix. Here are a few techniques that I found successful when working with balanced teams on projects like these.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What I learned from balanced teams"},{"content":"As I was thinking about last week\u0026rsquo;s NYC edition of our Agile UX Retreats, and what made this particular retreat so significant, my thoughts went back to the IA Retreats at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, CA. Those retreats led to the creation of the Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture, which later would be renamed the IA Institute. It was a small group of people with vision and drive creating something larger than themselves.\nFor me, more so than with any of the earlier retreats that we have held, I had that same sense of the beginnings of a movement. Certainly, the event had its fair share of presentations of projects, techniques and case studies. Lane Halley gave a fantastic talk about the power of replacing traditional static design documents with paper prototypes that allow users to actually experience the product. Alan Cooper used role playing, with some skilled help from Josh Seiden, to powerfully convey the complexity and importance of how to discuss and communicate UX to executives. Desiree Sy offered insights into how to integrate UX into an Agile project framework with the UX Planning Board. And Jeff Patton shared insights into lessons learned about story mapping, and offered a Scooby-speak version of describing a project failure as a Ruster-Ruck, which became a mantra for the rest of the retreat.\nWe also got a fresh boost of energy and new thinking from several of our first-time attendees, including Jeff Gothelf, Janice Fraser (the left arm of the Adaptive Path Voltron), Marcy Swenson, and Jeremy Lightsmith. In fact, I had to keep reminding myself that they had not been part of this journey all along.\nBut all those very interesting talks and activities were really just the icing on what I felt was the real substance, the true take-away from this event. The emergent theme of the retreat, at first imperceptibly bubbling up in the form of between-talks \u0026ldquo;hallway\u0026rdquo; conversations, were about we can transform what we are doing into something greater than ourselves.\nThat sense of momentum reached a pinnacle when we began not just talking and musing about the idea of turning our retreats into a full-blown conference, but actually starting to make concrete plans for turning idea into reality. There was a palpable energy in the room, a sense of common resolve. Thanks to Lane\u0026rsquo;s brilliant facilitation skills, we forged what I believe will be an enduring vision for such a conference. We are still ironing out the details, and I hope we can soon make an announcement and begin to promote this event.\nOn a separate note, and somewhat ironically, the spark that would eventually us to organize the first AUX retreat in San Francisco, was one of the retreats in Asilomar, the 2004 \u0026ldquo;Future of IA\u0026rdquo; retreat, where Christina Wodtke made fire-and-brimstone proclamations about how IAs should stop creating wireframes. (If you\u0026rsquo;ve met Christina, you know she has a way of getting ideas to stick in your mind.) It forced me to begin questioning some very fundamental ideas I had about what it meant to be a user experience designer and set me off on a path of discovery, in search of a better, leaner, faster way of working. Not surprisingly, it would not be long before I discovered Agile. I thought I had reached my destination. Of course, what I would quickly discover was that this was just the beginning of new journey. But with this amazing group people that have participated in these retreats, and in future events to come, I am honored and excited to be part of it. (Sob!)\n","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/2010/12/13/the-emergence-of-an-agile-ux-movement/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs I was thinking about last week\u0026rsquo;s NYC edition of our \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome\u0026amp;ie=UTF-8\u0026amp;q=agile+ux+retreats\"\u003eAgile UX Retreats\u003c/a\u003e, and what  made this particular retreat so significant, my thoughts went back to the IA Retreats at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, CA.  Those retreats led to the creation of the \u003ca href=\"http://iainstitute.org/news/000051.php\"\u003eAsilomar Institute for Information Architecture\u003c/a\u003e, which later would be renamed the IA Institute.  It was a small group of people with vision and drive creating something larger than themselves.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Emergence of an Agile UX Movement"},{"content":"\nBalanced Team is a global movement of people who value multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery focused on customer value as a source for innovation. We\u0026rsquo;re a self-organizing group that learns from each other as we explore processes and methodologies to do good work with happy teams. We welcome people who wear many hats (design, development, testing, product management, marketing and sales, to name a few).\nIf you’re interested in Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, Agile UX, Lean UX, Devops, Customer Development – and anything else that values multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery of value – We hope you will join the conversation!\nOur values: Create trust Share experiments Celebrate failure Welcome diverse voices Event Calendar We hold larger events (like the Balanced Team Summit 2015) once a year or so. We have local communities in the United States and Europe.\nBalanced Team California Balanced Team New York Balanced Team London ","permalink":"http://balancedteam.quietstars.com/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/BTGR2015-group-labeled.png\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Group photo Balanced Team Summit 2015\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/BTGR2015-group-labeled.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBalanced Team is a global movement of people who value multi-disciplinary collaboration and iterative delivery focused on customer value as a source for innovation. We\u0026rsquo;re a self-organizing group that learns from each other as we explore processes and methodologies to do good work with happy teams. We welcome people who wear many hats (design, development, testing, product management, marketing and sales, to name a few).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Welcome!"}]