It’s a gorgeous January day in Northern California. I feel very lucky!

• I’m kicking off the week drowning in administrivia: sending out 1099 to last year’s contractors, paying the next installment on this year’s taxes, dealing with a missing automated bill payment to our landlord and so on. It’s gotta be done but yuck.
• There is some fun administrivia though: time spent getting ready for a possible office share with a local designer who is interested in one of our unused desks.
• Last week was really dominated by chatting with a number of prospects, outlining project plans, creating documents, talking through approaches and schedules. This week begins with…waiting. Although I’m sure that’s going to get a bit zany before too long.
• We ended last year as an agency of one, and so we’ve begun this year by reaching out to our network of collaborators in order to create just a bit more formality around an informal aggregation. This week will be a lot of conversations with people about the details of working together.
• I’ve started a fun collaboration with a local colleague and will be announcing that here very soon!
• On the town: I’ve been invited to dinner with a delegation of design executives from China. I’m not sure what it’s going to be about but will find out!
• On Thursday, I’ll be teaching a workshop about Interviewing Users at Code for America!
• Here’s my 5-minute talk about The Power of Silence, newly posted from last year’s Fluxible conference.
• Ten years gone: From January 2004 – Phase 3 is Profit!, The Sim Mafia.
• What we’re consuming: The Happy Taco, StarStruck, Modern Family, Steal This Episode.

Happy 2014! I took yesterday off, driving from Vancouver to Seattle, then flying home from Seattle to San Francisco. Of course, a “day off” is a relative term, since I spent much of the travel dealing with scheduling meetings, having pre-meeting check-ins, and so on. Anyway, today we’re back!

• I see they’ve announced the students who will be going to Amsterdam for the IxDA Student Design Challenge. I was excited to see that one of the winning entries was one that I had reviewed and was very enthusiastic about. Good luck!
• This week is so far peppered with meetings about collaborations, projects, fieldwork, helping teams develop and more. Whew!
• Next week I’ll be teaching a workshop about Interviewing Users at Code for America. Can’t wait to meet everyone!
• CHIFOO in Portland, OR has announced their 2014 speaker series I’ll be giving a new talk, about the War Stories, in June.
• Ten years gone: From January 2004 – customers are on their own at eBay, “Internet-Toy”, The Matrix Reloaded, local edition.
• What we’re consuming: Lynda Kay, Mob City, Archives Be Damned 2000, Corny milkshake/chicken karagge waffle sandwiches.

It’s time to sum up some of the noteworthy writings/happenings of the year. Let’s get to it!

• The highlight of the year was the publication of Interviewing Users, my first book! Check out reviews by Garrett Moon, QRCA Views Magazine, and Digital Anthropologist, as well as Goodreads and Amazon.
• Some book goodies online include: cover, foreword, excerpt, acknowledgements, FAQ, testimonials and images and diagrams.
• We had book fun celebrations, with book launch parties in New York and San Francisco.
• I co-organized and hosted the IxDA Student Design Challenge in Toronto and helped with the judging for the 2014 event.
• While we’ve only done one episode so far, Dave Gray and I (along with special guest Chris Reimer) did an online show called We Might Do A Show called We Might Swear
• It was a big year for speaking. I debuted a new workshop at Fluxible called The Designer is Present. I talked about (and led workshops in) Interviewing Users at Catapult Labs, Twitter, Yammer, Citrix, Mozilla, UX Week, MIMA Summit, UX Book Club DC, UX Book Club Philly, Rome UX Book Club, O’Reilly, IxDA NYC and IxDA Los Angeles/LA UX Meetup (slides, video).
• I spoke about Bad Ideas at the Silicon Valley IxDA, SVA’s Products of Design, SJSU Human Factors/Ergonomics Alumni Symposium and SXSW.
• I spoke about improv at Walmart, mobile research at PayPal, design-led innovation at TiE Silicon Valley and Skill Building for Design Innovators at TorCHI.
• I spoke about analyzing research data at UC Berkeley’s New Product Development class and about interviewing users SVA’s Interaction Design class in Research Methods.
• We gathered and shared a huge number of compelling user research War Stories (and are still looking for more).
• Around the blog, we examined social norms around taking pictures of your food, took umbrage at rescinded bonuses, the commoditization of innovation and inauthentic customer stories, considered the impact of activist avatar changes, and explored motivations for behavior change in customers.
• We found interesting sites like Awkward Chatbot and Does The Dog Die?
• We mused about design and meaning and form, self-referential products, socializing death, sex toy design, innovation as eevolution not revolution and the limitations of data.
• In globalization, we looked at the appeal of a Friends cafe in Beijing and importing lowrider culture.
• We found an amazing healthcare case study about sweeping cultural change that wholly reinvented the way services were conceived of and delivered.
• We looked at the role of pop culture and the Bieb specifically.
• In support of Interviewing Users we did interviews with Tomer Sharon, Denise Lee Yohn, Ethnography Matters, Huffington Post, Maish Nichani, Business 901, UIE Book Corner, UX Matters, 33 Voices, UX Magazine and the eLearning Coach podcast.
• We wrote extensively about user research and interviewing, with pieces about robot interviewers, self-reporting in the YouTube era, Harry Dean Stanton and silence, Marc Maron and listening, empathy, pattern-recognition, how body language changes you inside, an approach to interviewing without questions, eye contact or rapport, the art of the interview,
  a curious way to get participants, how stories fuel listening and the dangerous power of the interviewer.
• While we didn’t travel overseas this year (gasp!) we did get around and shared some of what we saw in Austin for SXSW, Baltimore, Kitchener-Waterloo, LA, Minneapolis, New York , and again, Portland, San Diego and Denver, Tampa, Toronto, and again.

All those years ago: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008.

The year is winding down and over here it’s periods of frenzy alternating with chunks of extreme slow.

• After co-organizing the IxDA Student Challenge for two years, I am on the jury for this year’s amazing-looking competition. I reviewed submissions last week and await the announcement of winners soon.
• I’m looking forward to hearing Darrel Rhea talk tomorrow about Customer-Centered Strategies, via teleconference.
• Right now, the Atlantic’s Silicon Valley Summit (subtitled: Listening To The Innovators) is streaming.
• Ten years gone: From December 2003 – Clothing of the future, in the present, Cereal blogging.
• What we’re consuming: Lost Landscapes 8, Le Cercle Rouge, Hush, Johnny Doughnuts.

This is the 100th of these updates. No, we won’t be pausing to reflect, just simply making note of it.

• Just about every week has its own flurry of business-development activity, whether it’s the all-engrossing minutiae of setting up phone calls or the ominous waiting-to-hear-back; I have for the most part stopped reporting on it here and I’ll all say this week is that there’s a particular end-of-year-budget flavor that is emerging. As always, we’ll see what happens.
• Out-and-about this week: I’m looking forward to seeing Leah Buley and Scott Berkun speak at BayCHI on Tuesday. I’ve never seen either of them present before! Also, on Wednesday, I’m going to see Barry Katz speak about The Amazing, Incredible, Unbelievable History of Silicon Valley Design. Hope to see you at either event!
• Ten years gone: From December 2003 – Headvertising, The Availability of Mr. Potato Head.
• What we’re consuming: pretzels in milkshake form, Broadchurch, Art Spiegleman, donuts, Paul Cadmus.

It’s December! We’re in the home stretch for 2013. Also, it’s CyberMonday, a fact which Facebook reminded me of today, sending a notification to the Portigal Consulting page with the helpful advice to “write a post about it.” Gee, thanks.

• Check out the eLearning Coach podcast, where I spoke about Interviewing Users with Connie Malamed.
• I’m headed to New York later this week. I’ll be giving a talk about Interviewing Users at IxDA NYC on December 6 (long since sold out).
• I’m going to be spending a day at SVA, speaking about The Power of Bad Ideas at the Products of Design program and guesting at the Interaction Design program in their Research Methods class.
• Ten years gone: From December 2003 – Golden Bull Awards, Automobile product placement in videogames.
• What we’re consuming: latkes, Full Circle, Hendrix, pop stars aging gracefully.

I’m technically off today, spending today and yesterday in LA for a short birthday trip to see the Turrell retrospective at LACMA and eat delicious food. It’s a short week otherwise, with Thursday (and sorta Friday?) as Thanksgiving.

• Last week was my O’Reilly webcast Interviewing Users. You can see the recording at the link, also two summaries from the Twitters here and here.
• Next week I’ll be in New York for a few days. I’ll be giving a talk about Interviewing Users at IxDA NYC on December 6. You can sign up at the link but it was waitlist only a few hours after it was announced last week.
• Also in New York, I’ll be visiting SVA, speaking about The Power of Bad Ideas at the Products of Design program and guesting at the Interaction Design program in their Research Methods class.
• Ten years gone: From November 2003 – Kung Faux, Recruiting fail, Luxury Golf Cart Lawsuit.
• What we’re consuming: Underworld U.S.A., Flightfox, Osteria Mozza, 31st Union, Like a Rolling Stone, Bazaar.

I’m back from a relaxing week in Hawaii and plowing through email, catching up, trying to figure out what is going on.

• This Thursday is my free O’Reilly webcast Interviewing Users: Uncovering Compelling Insights, Sign up at the link.
• I was interviewed by Cruxial CIO for an article about design, user experience, and customers.
• Ten years gone: From November 2003 – Diamante Poems, Dirty Toilets, young people who swindle older people by pretending to be their children or grandchildren urgently in need of money.
• What we’re consuming: The Best American Noir of the Century, Big Island Brewhaus.

I’m in Hawaii.

That is all.

It’s Fall-Back Monday. What the heck time is it?

• Coming up, I’m going to be doing a free O’Reilly webcast Interviewing Users: Uncovering Compelling Insights on November 21. Sign up at the link.
• Out-and-about this week, I’ll be at Brenda Laurel’s book launch for Computers as Theatre, Second Edition.
• Ten years gone: From November 2003 – Kate Pierson has her own motel, TAMALA 2010: A Punk Cat in Space.
• What we’re consuming: Levon Helm, standard time, Momiji, BrainWash Cafe.

Hello, week!

• From a Monday point of view, it seems like this is a week for writing. I’m holding for a bunch of different clients and while their different planning processes stretches out, it’s a good time to dig into stuff that’s been brewing for me.
• portigal.com should be all set. I think I’ve found all the weird formatting issues that didn’t move over properly. I also updated several hundred rotten links although there will always be more.
• Ten years gone: From October 2003 – Flashmob tipping point, TERMINAL BAR: the film.
• What we’re consuming: Touchez pas au grisbi, Oh! Sweet Nuthin’, The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders.

Greetings from the San Francisco Bay Area!

• I’m staying local this week, which is a bit of a relief, after several weeks of airplanes and hotel rooms.
• It looks as though portigal.com was moved to its new host without significant downtime for the website or our email. Phew! There’s some weird formatting things we keep finding on older blog posts, and I’m sure various other gremlins will crop up so if you see something, say something!
• Out on the town this week, I’m looking forward to Kim Erwin’s presentation about Communicating the New, her new book (where I’m one of a diverse group of interviewees).
• Ten years gone: From October 2003 – Knee Defender, Brand Names for Kids.
• What we’re consuming: Cinematic Titanic, Mori Point, Margaret.

Greetings from Minneapolis!

• I’m in Minneapolis this week to speak about Interviewing Users: Uncovering Compelling Insights at the MIMA Summit. Looking forward to the local cuisine and of course meeting up with some cool people.
• We’ve moved the webhost for portigal.com so that will likely impact when this gets posted, and perhaps some other things. Fingers crossed that all goes smoothly.
• As I dig more into the different collaborations and other engagements that are on the table right now, I’m excited and intrigued.
• Back home, looking forward to meeting up with Lou Rosenfeld to talk about the various doings we’ve got going. Or the goings-on we’re doing. Either way.
• Ten years gone: From October 2003 – KFC is healthy?, ACME products.
• What we’re consuming: Butcher & the Boar, Hell’s Kitchen, The Sense of an Ending.

Greetings from Tampa!

• I’m in Tampa for a few days to teach a workshop at Wolters Kluwer. I’ve got about 24 hours to explore and sample the local cuisine and then diving into working with this team on their research skills.
• There’s are seven different prospective projects floating around right now; some are speculative and won’t ever become actual prospects, others will take their own time to fully emerge, and so it goes. We’ll see what happens.
• In case you missed it last week, we tried a new format of group post at Rosenfeld Media (dubbed the QuickPanel) with our first effort discussing the challenges when Launching a Healthcare Exchange with No User Testing.
• Around town this week, there’s a meetup in Menlo Park this Friday for design researchers. There’s no website so ping me if you want details.
• Ten years gone: From October 2003 – General Mills Cereal Adventure, Sinkems: Dissolving Toilet Targets.
• What we’re consuming: Shipley Do-Nuts, Crossfire, The Salvador Dali Museum, Bo’s Ice Cream.

All hail the beginning of the week!

• No travel for me…well, until this weekend, when I head off to Tampa to teach a workshop at Wolters Kluwer next week.
• I’m in wait-and-see mode about a number of projects (including two that would be very interesting collaborations); last week was the week where I tried to close the loop on a pile of projects that urgently entered wait-and-see mode back in August. One of them was defunded; another team decided to hire rather than outsource; the last is not returning my emails. That’s how it goes!
• On Wednesday I’m heading over to Berkeley to lead a session on analyzing user research data with the New Product Development class at the Haas School of Business.
• I’ve got a few colleagues in town this week and have plans to meet for catching up, networking, and general talking-about-everything. I’m expecting some good inspirations.
• Ten years gone: From September 2003 – Bad Toon Rising.
• What we’re consuming: Pusher, Felina,
  Ristobar.