• I’ve just launched a new podcast, called Dollars to Donuts, where I speak with people who lead user research in their organization. You can find it on the Portigal Consulting site, on iTunes, and on Twitter. Our first episode, an interview with Gregg Bernstein of MailChimp, is getting a great response so far.
• Soft Skills Are Hard, my workshop for Interaction 15 is filling up. If you’d like to be part of it, register for the conference and then sign up for the workshop here.
• We’ve rescheduled my workshop on improv, collaboration and creativity for the folks at GreatSchools in Oakland to next week, after we realized that the last week was not good for people’s schedules.
• I’m kicking off a new project this week, working with an agency in more of a creative director role. Well, that’s probably not the right term, but I don’t think we know what it is. Their staff will be doing the heavy lifting but I’ll be around as a sounding board and general guide on fieldwork, analysis and ensuring we’re meeting the client’s goals. Should be an novel and promising way for me to collaborate with some enthusiastic people.
• Ten years gone: From January 2005 – Ghoulish spam, The Google Pause.
• What we’re consuming: cheese, Episodes, Len Deighton.

Happy New Year! It’s been 2015 for a few days, but this is back-to-work day here and for many of you as well, so I think the greeting still stands. Here’s what’s up as we get things back into gear.

• The semi-stealth project I’ve been working on will launch this week. More to come but here’s a big hint.
• Please sign up for Soft Skills Are Hard, my workshop for Interaction 15. It’s in San Francisco on February 9 and you can register here.
• Tomorrow I am teaching a workshop on improv, collaboration and creativity at GreatSchools in Oakland. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone and having a chance to play together.
• Also this week is circling back with various projects, nailing down schedules for meetings, sorting out invoices and reimbursements, lunch with colleagues, figuring out travel details and generally trying to move forward all the bits and pieces which have been up in the air especially through the holiday.
• From December, there is now a video for Designing the Problem from Interactions South America (also slides and audio).
• Ten years gone: From January 2005 – We don’t remember new products, dress up your vacuum cleaner as a bear, bunny, cat or (ironically) maid.
• What we’re consuming: Lucky Peach, crab rolls, Modern Family, Little Yangon

• Over the weekend we tried to make some sense out of the office space chaos, figuring out what the new layout will be and what furniture we need to get rid of. There’s a long way to go but there’s definitely a sense of progress.
• I’m working with a client to do a bit of retail observation today, looking at how their products – and those of their competitors – are merchandised.
• I’m flying to Austin on Thursday to do lead a full-day in-house workshop on interviewing users on Friday. And catching up with a few folks over the weekend as well.
• From recent talks: Designing for Unmet Needs from Warm Gun (slides and audio), Interviewing Users from HOW Interactive Design (slides, video, Designing the Problem from Interactions South America (slides and audio).
• Ten years gone: From December 2004 – Company makes clothes for women who prefer masculine style.
• What we’re consuming: Hobbit Office, TREATS!, Werner Herzog Inspirationals, Baby Sloth Me.

• It may be the time of year, but it sure feels like a busy Monday, right out the gate. So many phone calls and planning meetings to try to get scheduled.
• I’ve been enjoying my collaboration with a new team in downtown San Francisco, as we help assemble a point of view about design directions to prepare for an internal workshop next week.
• We’re looking good to wrap up the year with a training session in Austin. People are doing paperwork, I’m hovering over the flight-and-hotel reservation buttons. Also, barbecue.
• Last week, I spoke about Designing for Unmet Needs at Warm Gun. You can find slides, audio and a sketchnote here.
• More from recent talks: The HOW Interactive Design slides are here and you can find the video (among several) here.
• Ten years gone: From December 2004 – Leisurama!, Nike dropping the ‘Goddess’ moniker.
• What we’re consuming: latkes, Jiminy Glick, dumplings.

• Happy December! I turned over the keys to our second office space. It was a lovely space with good meeting areas and lots of light, but it was just not being used. I feel like it should have been a sad moment, but it was really just a small moment of transition. Meanwhile, our main office space remains overloaded with furniture and boxes. I’ve got a group coming in on Friday and I’m not sure what state it will be in by then, probably the same.
• I had a great meeting with a new team last week and we put together a plan to help prepare for an internal workshop in the next few weeks. I’m waiting on paperwork to see how and when we’ll move forward.
• I’m expecting to hear this week if I’ll be doing a training workshop in Austin in a couple of weeks. A new collaboration in a favorite city? I’m hopeful it’ll work out.
• I’ve been working on both visual and sonic identities for this stealth project I’ve been teasing here. I’ll be working on the content as well this week, but oh, man….I had to buy a bunch of donuts over the weekend and photograph them. This was terrible terrible brutal awful work.
• I’ll be speaking about Designing for Unmet Needs at Warm Gun this week. Please come say Hi!
• In case you missed it, from two very recent talks: the slides about Interviewing Users at HOW Interactive Design are here and my new talk, Designing the Problem, from Interaction South America with the slides, audio and sketchnotes are here.
• Ten years gone: From December 2004 – Val Kilmer Street Meme, Things magazine.
• What we’re consuming: names of football players, Pixie Donuts, Seiya Sushi, Ewoks are real.

• It’s a short week this week, getting as much done as I can before Thanksgiving. If we can work out the paperwork today, I’ll be spending tomorrow working with a new client to explore their very immediate design and business challenges and seeing what we can get done before the year wraps up.
• Last week I spoke at HOW Interactive Design about interviewing users. I’ve heard great things about how helpful the talk was and the slides are online here.
• Over the weekend, I delivered a new talk as a keynote at Interaction South America. It’s called Designing the Problem, and the slides, audio and sketchnotes are here.
• Coming up this week is the 13th anniversary of All This ChittahChattah. That’s a lot of blogging!
• Ten years gone: From November 2004 – Grotesque consumerism, Nissan Lets You Tell Better Stories, Kreskin Offers Services to N.J. Governor.
• What we’re consuming: Dungeness crab, Olive Kitteredge, Fog City, exuberant Goldens.

• This week, I’m at the HOW Interactive Design Conference. Today I’m giving a talk about user research.
• I was unable to travel to Argentina for Interaction South American but this Saturday I’ll be giving my keynote presentation about Designing the Problem remotely.
• Ten years gone: From November 2004 – Unbalance is the celebrity restaurant owned by champion sumo wrestler Konishiki, Other products by Freud, I Want My Wedding at Dunkin’ Donuts, Dell Loves The Customers Best Buy Doesn’t.
• What we’re consuming: Ramen Yamadaya, Life is Sweet, Mitchell’s Ice Cream, Lasix.

• We moved all the furniture from our secondary office back into our main one and it’s a bit of a massive pile. Some furniture is being thrown out, some is being freecycled, some will be repurposed at home. The stuff we accumulate at work is as overwhelming as the stuff we accumulate at home but has a different emotional weight. Anyway it’s going to be a few weeks til we can start reconfiguring the space for how we’re working now, but we’ve done the bulk of the moving.
• There’s just a week or so left to sign up for my Interaction South American workshop on Interviewing Users.
• Also next week I’ll be speaking about user research at the HOW Interactive Design Conference in San Francisco.
• In early December I’ll be speaking at Warm Gun. Use the code SPKWARM to save $150.
• Out on the town this week, I’m hoping to go to BayCHI with one presentation about storytelling and another about street design.
• Ten years gone: From November 2004 – The Groundlings on Fresh Air, rock and roll, improv, and robot cats.
• What we’re consuming: Trouble the Water, Devil’s Slide Tap Room, Too Many Cooks, Orenchi ramen, Los Angeles Plays Itself, Beauties of the Common Tool.

• We’ve decided to consolidate our office space and so I’ll be spending time in the next few weeks going through the accumulated tech gear, paperwork, books, furniture and office supplies, getting rid of what we don’t need any more and moving stuff around to create a more streamlined and comfortable workspace. It’s overwhelming but necessary.
• Sign up for my Interaction South American workshop on Interviewing Users.
• In early December I’ll be speaking at Warm Gun. Use the code SPKWARM to save $150.
• My Brussels photos are now all uploaded, here.
• Out on the town this week, I’m hoping to go to this BayCHI event featuring Frank Yoo, the head of design at Lyft.
• From the blog last week, When A Food Truck Is Not A Food Truck.
• Ten years gone: From November 2004 – Maybe name is not destiny, then?, eBay tries to harness warm fuzzies, Elevator Pitch Essentials.
• What we’re consuming: iPhone 6, The Roaring Twenties, roof sealant, Grilled octopus with bacon tempura, USB enclosures.

• One of this week’s projects is reviving discussions about collaborations that I’ve had over the past 18 months. Checking in, coming up!
• Here’s video from last week’s discussion about Interviewing Users with the Denver UX Book Club.
• Early-bird (e.g, discounted) registration is now open for my Interaction South American workshop Interviewing Users: How To Uncover Compelling Insights.
• Two recent blog posts about talking to users: Stephen Colbert’s interview guide technique, Nick van der Kolk manages discomfort with his participant.
• Coming up next month, I’ll be speaking about user research at the HOW Interactive Design Conference in San Francisco.
• Ten years gone: From October 2004 – Dog eats penis.
• What we’re consuming: Lobster-garlic ramen, Diego Rivera’s Pan American Unity Mural, Pan Lido Salvadoreno, Methuselah Tree.