Author: Michigan UXPA

Postponed – Date TBD

Mango Languages

In fall 2004, Ford Motor Company chartered a team of Perl/CGI developers to implement a robust 80-table J2EE application with assistance of a single Java consultant.

The lessons learned are emerging as an application development evolution – Pattern Enabled Development – a catalyst for business innovation.

Share in the excitement as Marvin takes us on a multi-year journey across four continents in pursuit of an enabling approach to global application development. And dissect lessons learned for applicability within your sphere of influence!

About Our Speaker

Marvin Toll is an IT enthusiast with over two decades as an effective Consultant, Project Manager, Architect, Instructor, Supervisor and Developer. PMP certified for ten years beginning in 1999, he was an early adopter of Agile Practices while managing full life cycle development and COTS implementations. As a Java Architect he has “hands-on” skills in object-oriented design, Java EE application development and COTS product development. Marvin has experience in the automotive, education, financial, government, human resources, legal, and utility sectors.

In his spare time Marvin authored four (4) open source initiatives (beginning with the most current):

1. SOAj – A “General Store” Approach To Application Development
2. TestUtil – Automated Method Testing Tool
3. JSlim – “Service Locator Information Manager”
4. protodev – Prototyping Tool (deprecated)

During the past couple years Marvin founded both the regional “Agile and Beyond” conference and the “Pattern Enabled Development” movement.

When

Postponed – Date TBD
6:00 PM — Networking
6:45 PM — Announcements
7:00 PM — Speaker
8:30 PM — Wrap up and more networking

Location

Mango Languages – Host and Sponsor
30445 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 300
Farmington Hills, MI 48334

Map

Cost

$5, Current students
$10, Usability Professionals’ Association members
$20, All others

Register

Register online at Guestlist so we know who’s coming and how to plan for refreshments. We’ll also take payment (cash or check) at the door. Questions? Email events {at} miupa dot org.

When you solicit feedback on a design, people are often afraid of hurting your feelings and may not give you the feedback you really need. How can you solicit useful feedback in an efficient way?

Davin Granroth from Convenant Eyes led an exciting and informative workshop on design reviews. He kicked off the meeting with a description of the technique, and then demonstrated it briefly with
some members of his team. We then divided into three groups to review three different designs that people had brought to the workshop.

A design review consists of three phases:

1. The designer explains the design
2. The designer steps back and leaves the conversation entirely whilethe moderator leads a discussion of what works and what doesn’t work in the design. The designer takes notes.
3. The designer returns to the conversation to echo back what he or she heard during the design review to make sure it was captured properly.

To learn more, Davin has a longer write-up about his design review model on his blog. You can also hear him discuss this technique on the Design Critique podcast.

Thursday,  April 21, 2011

Cengage Learning – Farmington Hills, Michigan

The rapid pace of technology innovation is having a significant impact on consumer behavior both in the way information is consumed and how individuals communicate with one another. Individuals today are leading extremely scheduled and hectic lives. With technology now providing “access anywhere” the lines between work, family and leisure are becoming more and more clouded.

This talk will focus on several emerging trends that demonstrate how consumers are interacting with companies in new ways online and in the real world. This is about giving companies practical advice on how to make sure they are creating a seamless and intuitive experience that will appeal to the consumer of today… who is browsing from many different devices, who has limited time, and who demands useful tools and engaging experiences to help them make better purchase decisions.

About Our Speaker

Marta Strickland spends her days at MRM keeping up on emerging trends, partnering with next-generation technology companies on research studies, performing exhaustive test and learning methodology to what is upcoming (augmented reality, semantic web, pervasive computing) and rethinking how businesses use what has already “emerged” (mobile, social). The goal is to continually push what is possible out of General Motors’ web-enabled platform to serve the consumer needs of today and of the future.

Before her role at MRM, she was the Manager of Social Media Strategy at Organic Detroit.  In her role, she has made it her mission to discover new ways to leverage social media to connect with consumers.  She frequently voiced her mind and evangelized the power of social media as Editor-In-Chief of the Organic blog, ThreeMinds.

During her free time, she enjoys travel, cooking, wine, and filmmaking with her husband and family.

When

Thursday, April 21, 2011

6:00 PM — Networking
6:45 PM — Announcements
7:00 PM — Speaker
8:30 PM — Wrap up and more networking

Location

Gale Headquarters / Cengage Learning Center
27500 Drake Rd.
Farmington Hills, MI 48331

Map

Cost

$5, Current students
$10, Michigan Usability Professionals’ Association members
$20, All others

Register

Register online at Guestlist so we know who’s coming and how to plan for refreshments. We’ll also take payment (cash or check) at the door. Questions? Email events {at} miupa dot org.