Strategy
- https://media-publications.bcg.com/HTML5Interactives/strategy_frameworks/History_of_Strategy_2015.html this timeline view of strategy frameworks helps contextualize them as theory, and fads in moments in time no doubt influenced by the time they were created in.
- https://www.provenmodels.com/ don’t overlook this site because of the outdated design. It’s good, covers the basics, and outlines the origins of key strategy frameworks.
- But what IS strategy? There are plenty of books and articles, but I love how Matthew Tutty articulates the “art” here: http://www.mindmatter.com/what-is-strategy/. I keep revisiting this expert and well-articulated piece.
- This twitter thread on design and strategy https://twitter.com/sophiedennis/status/1251107411311710210
Collaboration
- http://toolbox.hyperisland.com/ (minus taking Myers Briggs so seriously)
- http://www.gogamestorm.com/ Buy the book for the great introduction that outlines how to design and run a workshop. Each activity in the book is available on-line here for free.
- https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook
Reflecting on work
- https://www.manager-tools.com An incredibly rich source of career and management advice vitamins. The podcast series on how to write your resume is both instructive and hilarious.
- https://www.bobsutton.net/articles Bob Sutton is the Professor of Management Science at the Stanford Engineering School and author of The No Asshole Rule and Good Boss Bad Boss. His writing on organisations is evidence-based so the next time some fad comes your way, check-in with Bob’s articles and blog.
Research
- https://www.aqr.org.uk/glossary/ Qualitative research methods. No design research did not invent it all.
- http://sec.cs.ucl.ac.uk/publications/ published research from the Computer Science faculty out of the University College London
- http://apo.org.au/ Analysis and Policy Observatory. Worth checking in to see if there is something on your topic. Created by Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.
- http://designresearchtechniques.com/#/ I just love this so much
- https://measuringu.com/blogs/ consistently insightful and thoughtful information on quantifying and benchmarking the user experience.
- https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ well known for a reason. Often quoted and misquoted so well worth going directly to the source.
- Doing fieldwork in a pandemic – crowdsourced resource initiated by Deborah Lupton Ph.D. Professor at Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, 17 March 2020
Design practice
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/gel/articles/what-is-gel The Global Expression Language that started it all.
- https://www.dta.gov.au/standard/design-guides/ to see how human-centred design and agile are being delivered at scale thoughtfully from the outset.
- http://design-transitions.com/ who doesn’t love a good case study from those who are pushing methods into new terrain?
- Tookits! I appreciate the overview and convenience that a toolkit provides and don’t mind browsing through one every now and then. But toolkits oversimplify the design process. Know that for many one page summaries, whole textbooks exist. Use with caution.
- Like it says on the box https://www.learn-accessibility.org/
- https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources OK OK you’ve probably been here either right before or straight after checking out Ideo.
- An unsung favourite of mine is Columbia’s http://www.designingforgrowthbooks.com/ too, but that’s an actual book you have to buy.
- Also is Deutsche Telekom’s generously published “From Design Thinking to Design Doing” is https://telekom.design/cstudy-redesign.html
- http://www.servicedesigntoolkit.org/ makes it look easier than it is but who can resist checking out a template and a step-by-step guide.
- http://servicedesigntools.org/ Before the book This is Service Design Thinking was this excellent collection of resources, although it may only make sense to the already initiated.
- https://uxdesign.cc/ux-design-methods-deliverables-657f54ce3c7d Includes user experience design, customer experience and service design tools.
- https://uxmastery.com/resources/ when people ask you what UX book they should read, what course should they go to? Send them here if telling them to Google it seems too callous.
- https://flipboard.com/@lafranec/%23jtbd—methods-%26-tools-cf4g635gy Some prominent voices in UX think Jobs to be done is the Emperor’s new clothes but I think it can bring great clarity to product research. Also how I keep up with my old work supervisor, the marvellous Christian LaFrance.
- https://baymard.com/ Usability research on e-commerce. That’s it. Some reports require $ but there is plenty for free. Love how specific this is.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_effects for when you work with people who’ve studied psychology. Doesn’t list Gestalt theory but hey, that does deserve its own thing.
Remote research
- Remote Research Methods for Mobile Applications
- Unmoderated Remote Usability Testing (URUT) – Every Step You Take, We Won’t Be Watching You
- This twitter thread – Hivemind: can you recommend any good tools for remote user testing (ideally ones you’ve used yourselves)?
- An introductory overview from the Nielsen Group with some useful links: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/moderated-remote-usability-test-why/
Technology opinion
- https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ the best writing on technology because it takes a human and sociological view. Look out for Ian Bogost.
- https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us worth a look for irrelevant and critical discussion on technology.
Human directory
- https://alltop.com/ Directories crafted and curated by actual humans used to be a big thing, and was a reason why Yahoo! was a thing before Google. While they may seem anachronistic compared to search they can uncover gold hard to find in your personalised search echo chamber.
For design and product inspiration and curiosities
- https://niice.co/ when Pinterest gets too repetitive
- https://thegadgetflow.com/ when Product Hunt is too repetitive.
- https://www.siteinspire.com/ I still miss those days when CSS Zen Garden was THE thing but hey, what are designers up to THESE days?
Tools
- http://creativeworktools.com/ for when your friend asks if you know of the best software tool to do something. I hope to see this list grow.
Do you have a trusty go-to resource? Let me know what it is in the comments.
One reply on “Resource list”
Fantastic! What a great list of resources. As a Design Researcher who started my career as a Qualitative Market Researcher (“Qualie”), I particularly like the AQR glossary. Thanks for sharing. It shows that the discipline and industry of Design has cherry picked the most relevant and outcome-focussed methodologies. Which, by the way, is a perfectly pragmatic way of approaching research to inform delivery/action.