By Stacy Surla The environment we work in matters. It gives us agency – the ability to affect things with our actions. As user experience professionals, it’s important for us to think about transforming the business – our environment – so Design Doing can happen. IA as commodity is stupid Let’s consider Jane, an informationRead… Read more »
I started commuting by bike just after college, when I lived on Capitol Hill in Seattle and worked in the Seattle Center. Any time I drove meant circling for 30 minutes to find parking within a quarter mile of my apartment, and walking the two miles home was often faster than waiting for the bus.Read… Read more »
A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in. ~ Robert Orben By the time you are reading this, my husband and I will have returned from a weeklong vacation in San Francisco, California. I love taking vacations. There is nothing like decompressing and relaxing from the busy and oftenRead… Read more »
This notion of the best places to work is getting plenty of attention these days in the human capital space. NASA was hailed as the best place to work in the federal government for the last 3 years by the Partnership for Public Service based on its Best Places to Work in the Federal GovernmentRead… Read more »
It possible to train yourself to become happier? This question fascinates me, which is why I was intrigued by this infographic from the folks at Happify, a site where you can sign up for a daily regimen of scientifically-backed happiness-boosting games. The infographic is based on current research on what makes people happier at work,Read… Read more »
When I was growing up, I’m sure my parents and most others who were working adults struggled with what we now call “work-life balance.” My dad had a full-time job and worked part-time on weekends. My grandmother worked in other people’s homes, and my mom worked outside the home, off-and-on, but mostly kept our home.Read… Read more »
When’s the last time you drew something? Or went dancing? Or made a collage? What favorite hobby is boxed up in your closet, untouched since your last move? Adult life can be a creativity killer, as we rush from workout to commute to job to meeting to commute to cooking dinner to bed. With deadlines,Read… Read more »
This is not news so much as awakening. In the deep recesses of my public servant heart I knew…felt…denied that the day of reckoning was here. Yet, it has arrived in the form of “Cities of the 21st Century,” a report published last month by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and Zogby Analytics. TheRead… Read more »
Yes, you are married to your work. And why recognizing this matters! During my first of several appearances on his show, Karl Wadensten, LEAN management expert, owner of Vibco in RI, and former host of The LEAN Nation radio talk show, quickly saw the benefits to thinking of the employer-employee relationship as a marriage.Read… Read more »
Earlier this month, the annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings were released by the Partnership for Public Service, based on data from OPM’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. NASA was rated the best large agency to work for, FDIC was chosen as the best mid-sized agency, and the Surface Transportation board comesRead… Read more »