Tag: Primal Fusion

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Finding the Scrum/UX balance

At Primal Fusion we use Scrum to manage the development work that we do. Since launching at DEMO in March we’ve released weekly updates to our Thought Networking product, and sometimes released more often! That’s a brisk pace that we plan to maintain, as a great benefit of Scrum is that you get functionality out in increments and start to get feedback right away. It’s quite a rewarding approach, and as a development manager I love the challenge.

As a long time user experience designer, though, I must confess that I do find it a challenge to reconcile Scrum with user-centered design practices. I’ve spoken with industry colleagues who find it a challenge as well, which is, I suppose, comforting at some level. Even so, it feels like we’re figuring out the right balance at Primal Fusion. One reason is that we’re always willing to try something at least once in our sprints to see if it helps us be more effective. Another is that we’re not afraid to make mistakes as long as we can learn from them and get better.

I’m still sorting out how we’re doing with the balance and how to articulate it. As I get clarity on it I’ll share what I discover.

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Sharing a product with the world

Screen image: Jazz as understood by Primal Fusion

I’ve written previously about Primal Fusion and the successful launch of our product at the DEMO 09 conference. In the days since then we’ve been busily fixing issues that have popped up and adding enhancements. We’re in a closed alpha period right now, which means that we’re controlling the number of users that get active accounts. There are many reasons for this, but it really all boils down to making sure that all is working well and that Primal Fusion provides a reliable service. We’ve had a lot of people register for accounts, many of whom have been waiting patiently for access. The most satisfying activity following the launch has been activating accounts and getting feedback from our users. There are certainly issues, and we’re addressing them, but what we’ve been hearing has been generally positive. Visit Primal Fusion and get yourself an account. I’d love to hear what you think.

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Hello, my name is Mark

The audience for a UX Forum

As I previously wrote, I was a panelist at a Digital Design and User Experience Forum at the University of Waterloo last week. The event was every bit as energizing and engaging as I hoped it would be. My fellow panelists, a diverse group with a shared passion for design, were thoughtful and articulate, and the questions from the crowd were great.

Even better than the panel discussion was the series of presentations made by teams of students showcasing UX-related projects that they have been working on. There were some great idea on display, as well as effective communication of those ideas.

There was also time to mingle and meet people, sharing stories and interests, which brings me to the point of this post.

For me a satisfying and rewarding career is a gift, one that really ought to be shared. Whenever an opportunity to participate in an event like this presents itself, I make an effort attend. I get a chance to meet interesting people, and share whatever I have with whomever might be interested. An event like this is, in its best form, all about giving, whether it’s time or knowledge or introductions or whatever else we have. The conversations and shared experiences can be wonderful.

There’s occasionally a further benefit. As it turns out, a perfect alignment of the stars has led to one of the student presenters at this UX Forum coming on board at Primal Fusion for a summer position with our UX team. This outcome obviously can’t happen on a regular basis, but it did on this occasion. Students and industry practitioners, do take note!

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Demonstration derby / Alpha beta soup

I’m pretty excited that the product that I’ve been working on at Primal Fusion is in alpha release and that we revealed oursleves to the wider world at the Demo 09 conference in Palm Desert today. We’re all about “thought networking” and with these initial steps we’re laying the groundwork for more great products in the future.

What does it mean for a software product to be in alpha release? My initial answer is another question. What does it mean for a software product to be in beta release? Beta used to mean, roughly, a software release that is essentially complete but is being put into wider distribution for final testing in anticipation of a final release. Google’s Gmail, though, has been in beta since, what, the end of the last ice age? That has undoubtedly had an effect on what people think “beta” means.

Where does that leave alpha? It’s got to be at least somewhat less finished than beta, but beyond that…?

At Primal Fusion, it means that we have a new product that we’re proud of, that we know we have more work to do, that we’re letting users join us in a measured way, and that we’re watching what happens closely. We want to be sure that everything is working as expected, and we want to learn as much as we can while our user base grows.

Creating something new is invigourating, exhausting, illuminating, and certainly a few more “tings” beyond those. We’re still early in our journey at Primal Fusion, and we have a lot more work to do to make our product even better. What we have now, though, is something that we’re all proud of, and it’s time to get out in the world with it.

Please come and try it out and let us know what you think.

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There has to be a first post

Why a blog? Why now, when the rest of the online world is merrily tweeting?

I’m currently immersed in the best job I’ve ever had, designing and building software products at Primal Fusion, a great startup company with an audacious vision to transform the internet. I get to wear several hats, and there’s always interesting work to to: designing the user experience, managing a terrific application development group, playing the role of product owner in a scrum team, putting stickers on promotional postcards, and a great deal more.

It feels like a good time to share what I’m learning on this journey from stealth mode obscurity to products in the marketplace. A blog seems like a simple venue. We’ll see what happens.