Terry Blanchard

I just resigned from NVIDIA and one of the tasks I offered to help with during my transition was writing my own job description. On the surface this makes perfect sense. Hell, I only did the job for six years, who else is better qualified, right?

Here’s the weird, creepy part. It’s kind of like writing your own tombstone. Everything is written in the past tense. You write about qualities you personally brought to the party. When you read it, you say to yourself, “Man, I did a lot. I should have asked for a raise!”

So here’s what I suggest you do. Write our your own job description. Be intellectually honest with yourself when you do it. This should be an exercise in self-realization, nothing else. I’ll bet you will be surprised in what you list. I think you will have the same reaction that I did … “Man, I do a lot!”

This is an important regiment. One you should do every six months to a year. Why? Because business forces change on what you were originally hired for. Ensure you are recognized for your agilty and efforts. Don’t let this become what is expected, without proper recognition and reward.

If you know anyone who is a great UX Director, here’s the wonderfully articulated job description.

Written by Terry Blanchard \\ tags: Job Description, Recognition

You’ve heard me rave about how much I love my Mini Cooper in articles such as What is Great Design? But I’d like to tell you about how I got one, and how I became hooked on them.

I’m not a car guy by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t tinker under the hood. If you ask me how much torque my car has you will be met with a blank stare and a raised eye brow. I’m also not that extravagent when it comes to cars. I am fortunate to have a few good friends with some amazing cars. Porsche’s, Corvette’s, Audi’s, and a few Ferrari’s sprinkled here and there. And they’ve all been crazy enough to let me drive them. When my college pal, and fellow Microsoft alum, let me drive his Ferrari 355 I was visibly shaking and almost threw up thinking that his car was almost worth as much as my house.

As much as I love all of these beautiful, high-performance works of art, I just don’t have the desire to spend that much money on one. The reality of my life is this. I drive to and from work Monday through Friday, 26 miles a day. I’m a commuter. All other forms of driving are done in our family mini-van because I’ve got kids and a wife. So, I have a real hard time dropping $100K on a commuter car. I want to … and maybe I will when I’m 40 … but not now.

Back in 2004 my lease was expiring on my current vehicle and I was looking for something new. A good friend of mine, who owned a Mini Cooper, kept harrassing me,

“You should get a Mini, Terry. You’ll love it. Best car I’ve ever owned. It’s awesome.”

“I’m sure it is, but, uhhh … I’m not sure I’m a … uhhh … a Mini kind-of guy.”

He didn’t stop. He was very persistent. It almost ended our friendship. He finally said,

“I’ll tell you what, Blanchard. Go test-drive one, and I’ll never say another word. Ever. All you have to do is drive one. No strings.”

“Fine! I’ll take one out tomorrow!”

I show up at the Mini dealership. I didn’t do any research, didn’t look into to prices, stats, or reviews. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zippo. Why? Because I wanted to shut my friend up. Plain and simple. The salesman approaches me,

“Hi, interested in taking this bad girl out for a test drive?”

“You bet. But I must advise you … I want to really see what this car can do. I want to push it’s limits.”

“I sure hope so. Otherwise, you’ll offend her. Let’s go.”

Personalizing the car by calling it “her”. Nice touch, salesman. But I’m onto your sneaky sales tactics and psychological ways. Don’t mess with me. I’m here to settle a bet, nothing more.

We get out into to some industrial, low-traffic area and we’re on a straightaway. I tell him I want to test the stopping distance and advise him to hold on. He’s unphased.

SLAM!

I hit the brakes full force while we’re doing about 80 mph (approx. 130 km/h) and the car is at a standing stop in what seems like a nanosecond. Hmmm. Impressive. But, it’s a small car. It should do that. I try to be unimpressed in front of the sales guy. He then points out to me,

“There’s a 90 degree right-hander ahead. Based on your driving, it’s clear you know how to take a corner. You can take this one at approximately 60 mph (approx. 95 km/h). I don’t respond verbally. Instead, I hit the accelerator. Being unfamiliar with the corner, I err on the side of caution. I take the corner around 50 mph, hit the apex perfectly, accelerate quickly out of the corner. Not a single tire squeal. Internally, my mind is saying, “Holy fuck! That was awesome!” The salesman turns to me and says,

“You can do better than that. Go around again. I said 60 mph would be fine.”

I think I was just told. Yup, I was called out. The gloves came off, and he was coming right at me. Alright, let’s go. I loop around and hit the corner again, about 70 mph. There was tire squeal, and I almost swung too far wide, but I kept it off the curb. What I couldn’t do, was keep that huge smile off my face.

We drive back to the dealership and I pull into the parking spot located in front when I utter the worst possible sentence any uninformed buyer can make,

“I’ll take it.”

“Great! I’ll go draw up the paperwork.”

Idiot, idiot, idiot. I’m already devising my exit strategy as I follow him back to his office. Price, maintenance, residual. I keep ticking these items off in my head. One of them will get me out of this mess! Not one of them did. Not because of a super-slick salesman. Nope, just an awesome car, price, experience, and overall joy.

I’ll talk more about the specifics in my next article.

Written by Terry Blanchard \\ tags: Cars, Design, Mini Cooper

Imagine a completely normal paper clip. How many ideas can you generate for what else it can be used for? You have 2 minutes. Go.

This exercise is one of the classic creativity tests to determine how skilled you are at brainstorming. The more ideas, the better. But how innovative are your ideas?

There is a very clear connection between the time you use to find ideas and the quality of them. So how do you make the most of the time you’ve been given? First, empty your mind of the ideas that you know about – they naturally come first. Now you have the space to think in a more lateral and untraditional way. If you use another two minutes on the above test, how many more ideas can you generate? What separates the last list from the first?

In the 60’s, many creative theories tested the connection between time and the quality of ideas. The results of the tests were not surprising. To generate good ideas, it takes time. This can be extra minutes, hours, or days.

Enter the “good enough” culture. It’s about making do with the ideas that come first. This is usually masked in ideas that we already know about. Traditional, safe ideas. We don’t take the time to invest in the more creative, new thought out ideas. We rush to move on. As long as it fulfills the minimum requirements, or is the first idea to generate unanimous approval, then it is obviously good enough. Time is up. Next!

In my posting about What is Great Design, Alan Cooper states that first-to-market is no match for best-to-market. Innovation and new thinking is crucial in today’s tough competitive environment. The challenge today concerns time and courage. Courage to focus on more than just performance and results. Courage to deviate from the norm. Courage to actually invest the right amount of time required to elevate to the next level. Courage to be better than just good enough.

Written by Terry Blanchard \\ tags: Brainstorming, Interaction Design

Congratulations. You’ve accepted a new job.

Now take a deep breath and prepare yourself for the challenge ahead. Even though you may be floating on cloud nine now, there are a lot of emotional and logistical hurdles still to clear.

The job-changing process arouses all sorts of feelings. Starting with your acceptance to the first month or two after you’ve started your new position, the emotional limbo you’ll experience will be especially acute.

Why? Because suddenly, reality kicks in. After all this time, the changes you’ve been contemplating are in motion and actually going to happen.

This powerful realization will be followed by a sense of guilt. Damn, I’ve been cheating on my present employer. Having an affair is one thing, but this is divorce, right? I never knew it would come to this!

Enter the fear of reprisal. My boss is gonna crap, I just know it. They’re really going to make me suffer. And if the fear of guilt doesn’t give you enough to worry about, consider the buyer’s remorse you’ll probably feel. What if I made a mistake?

Shhhh. Breathe deeply. Everyone who changes jobs is plagued by these demons. It’s natural. Find, and go to your happy place.

Rather than dwell on the past, imagine for a moment that you’re in your new job. Isn’t this great? Think of all the changes you’re making, and how your new life is a huge improvement compared to what you had before. Think of the new people you’re meeting, the new skills you’re acquiring, and the new opportunities you have to advance your career.

Now, are you going to let your fears unravel everything you’ve accomplished in the way of self-evaluation, planning, resume writing, and interviewing? No way. You’re not the type of person who’s going to allow cold feet to put the chill on changing jobs. You’re a person of action, and you seize the moment. You know that those who back away from golden opportunities may never get another chance.

Self-affirmations like these can do wonders for maintaining your positive energy. And by projecting all the beneficial aspects of your new job into the present tense, you’ll ward off the demons that can distort your judgment, and make you vulnerable to a counteroffer attempts.

If your intention to make a change is sincere, and a counteroffer by your current company won’t change your decision to leave, you should still keep up your guard. A counteroffer attempt can be potentially devastating, both on a personal and professional level. Unless you know how to diffuse your current employer’s retaliation against your resignation, you may end up psychologically wounded, or right back at the job you wanted to leave.

The best way to shield yourself from the inevitable mixture of emotions surrounding the act of submitting your resignation is to remember that employers follow a predictable, three-stage pattern when faced with a resignation:

They’ll be in shock. “You sure picked a fine time to leave! Who’s going to finish the project we started?” The implication is that you’re irreplaceable. They might as well ask, “How will we ever get the work done without you?”

• Answer this challenge by replying, “If I were run over by a truck on my way to work tomorrow, I feel that somehow, this company would survive.” or put it back on them and say, “That implies there was a good time for me to leave? Is there something I should know?”
• They’ll start to probe. “Who’s the new company? What sort of position did you accept? What are they paying you?” Here you must be careful not to disclose too much information, or appear too enthusiastic. Otherwise, you run the risk of feeding your current employer with ammunition they can use against you later, such as, “I’ve heard some pretty terrible things about your new company” or, “They’ll make everything look great until you actually get there. Then you’ll see what a sweat shop that place really is.”

They’ll make you an offer to try and keep you from leaving. “You know that raise you and I were talking about a few months back? I forgot to tell you: We were just getting it processed yesterday.” To this you can respond, “Hmmm… Today you seem pretty concerned about my happiness and well-being. Where were you yesterday, before I announced my intention to resign?”

It may take several days for the three stages to run their course, but believe me, sooner or later, you’ll find yourself engaged in conversations similar to these.

Written by Terry Blanchard \\ tags: Business, Employment, Resigning

You would expect that kind of title from a designer, right? Who wouldn’t. So let’s back that up with a real example. The Motorola RAZR was one of the hottest selling cellular phones during the 2005 selling season and well into the 2006 season as well. In fact, it was selling at a rate of about four million units each month, or roughly 1.5 phones every second. If Motorola were to spend another million or two improving the design, they would make it back in a day.

In a single day.

Design is something you only have to pay once for your product. It’s a part of the fixed costs in the equation, not the variable costs. But it adds value to every unit sold. That’s what Thomas C. Gale, the famous Chrysler automobile designer who retired in 2001, meant when he said that,

Good design adds value faster than it adds cost.

I like this Thomas C. Gale guy. He knew what he was taking about.

Written by Terry Blanchard \\ tags: Chrysler, Design, Motorola, RAZR, Thomas C. Gale