‘I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends
than we are unalike.’

– Maya Angelou from her poem ‘Human Family’

I chose the above passage because I need to keep reminding myself that I am not that different than everyone around me in class. I have to say that I still feel like the new kid in school. I am older and have different things going on in my life. Sometimes in group meetings I feel like I am not talking the same language as my group members. I get a glazed eyed response, or sort of feel like I am totally not on the same page. And, when I try harder to communicate or understand what they are getting at, I get the impression I am becoming the annoying one. I hate feeling like I don’t fit in, or that I lost my babel fish.

It isn’t just the group meetings either. It is in class, and here at the blog too. I try to respond to comment, but I still feel disconnected. I have been out of an academic setting for a long time.

I tried to participate and give as much as I possible could to make the final rationale the best it could be. I also tried to make sure that everyone felt comfortable contributing to the project. Group work is tough – and part of the grind is getting through those hard brainstorming sessions to come to plan of action to find our design solution. I don’t think I was any more difficult to deal with then the other people in the group, but it isn’t up to me to decide whether my contribution helped or hindered the project. I hope they see my contribution as positive, but if not, then I guess I will just learn from it and try to do something different next time.

I hate the silly insecurities that tag along from experience to experience. I am sure if I was just out of college there would be other insecurities. But, then I would have the time to go out for a beer with my classmates and get to know them better. As of now, I am usually rushing home because if I don’t get home early enough I miss seeing my daughter at all that day. I like getting beer as much as the next person, and I would love to really get to know people in the program.

I don’t mean to whine. I just need to figure out a way to feel more comfortable being a student within the time constraints of being a mother, a wife, and a full-time employee.

Feelings feelings blah blah blah

I feel better when I put them out there though. I am sure many of you are experiencing similar things. We are more alike than different.

Week three seemed to fly by. Finishing project one was good, and I felt the whole experience was enriching, from the beginning ideas to critiques, I thought my group worked really well together.

It was good to see and critique other solutions to the same problem. There are so many possibilities. It was easy to see where we can get sidetracked or out of scope because of one good idea that sounds so cool – but may not be applicable to the problem at hand. At that point I guess you make a choice as to whether it is so differentiating that you re-define the problem to incorporate the idea???

Collaboration in this class can be much different than my experience at work. At work I am the manager of the product and I am ultimately responsible for its success or failure. I am accountable to my manager who is then accountable to the shareholders, so there are definitely times when a decision must be made that is not a group decision.  Sometimes it can be a tightrope wire walk between being creative and staying on task. I think the most important asset we have as a software company is our time. What do we want to spend FTE salary hours on that will really reach out to the clients, drive sales and increase customer retention.

Ok, so I sort of got off track, but my point is that in this class, while we have a facilitator, we are required to come to a consensus using the voting techniques. It is NICE not to have to be the manager on these projects and know that we are all working together to put the most into our designs. Of course, I have been managing a product for quite a few years now, so I get to work on toning down the ‘must keep on track’ mentality and ride in Zen Dog’s boat. It is a good change of pace.

Yesterday my Project two meetings began  – that is what spawned these thoughts for me….I am excited to see where we end up next Monday. I think we are heading in a good direction.

See you downstream!

I thought perhaps that having a shorter week would make this second week a little less tiring. I am not sure what I was thinking there! By the time class on Thursday came I felt like a Zombie…BWAINS!!!!! I did take advantage of the Monday off of work to get a head start on the class work for the week and that was helpful. But, staying after class each night to work on Project 1 meant the evenings are all squished together and the time with the family is limited.

I think that working in a two person team on this first project is a good idea. I think it gradually exposes us to the idea of group designing. It really is hard to come to the first meeting without any ideas at all. I was glad when we started and my team member mentioned some of his ideas and they were similar to my own. It seems to me that the purpose of this project may not really be to design the best thermostat, but to learn how to work together, use personas and usability testing to do the design process.

It isn’t that I don’t want to design the best thermostat EVER, but I guess I am mostly focusing on following the loose process given and trying to get the most out of all these tools – sketching, personas, tests, etc. It also seems like we are being given a process in disguise…that it exists but if we make the whole project about the process then we loose some creative opportunities.

My undergrad was in Mathematics and Music, and I have always sort of teeter tottered between the right and left brain….the chaos and the order. I like that this class is not explicitly giving you a design process that you have to follow, but that it is giving you a set of tools that helps you to generate good (great) designs. A few years ago I took an Instructional Design course from the School of Education. It was very structured in determining what was included in a design process and documentation. Although that really satisfied my urge to have a list to check off, I don’t think that we got the most creativity out of our team members that we could have if the process was a little more loose.

Tomorrow I get to spend some time in a class for Adobe Flash Catalyst and the Colts NFL season begins. I think minus one little girl’s ear infection life would be pretty fantastic. On a lighter note, Charlie is working on sitting up by himself and Zoe is learning how to wash her hands.

1lb of Ground Turkey
1 lb of Ground Turkey Sausage
2 cans of White Beans
1 package of McCormick White Chicken Chili Spices (You could use your own spices instead. I love ginger, garlic and cumin as an intriguing mix for white chili.)
1 Jar of Salsa Verde
5 cups of water
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
1 bag frozen corn

Brown and drain the Ground Turkey and Turkey Sausage
Combine all of the ingredients into the Crock Pot and put on low for the day.

It is especially yummy with some sour cream, mozzarella cheese, black olives, diced tomatoes and diced onions to top it off!

Since I am only taking one class, my first two days of classes included our first lecture in Interaction Design Practice. That might not seem like much, but everything else around me has changed too. Because I have to leave work earlier for class on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have to get to there much earlier. And getting to work means getting up, feeding, clothing and getting two babies out the door and to daycare. They are usually pretty happy in the mornings, so as long as I get a cup of coffee in me and a bit of fiber and protein I am doing OK. I did get something in the crock pot for dinner so that my husband wasn’t extremely overwhelmed when he got home and had the kids alone during what is sometimes the most trying part of the day. Unfortunately our daughter has an ear infection and is teething so she isn’t the happiest of toddlers these days.

The week flew by and new projects began at the office. I am concerned with juggling all of these things at once. I usually try to go with the flow of the things and trust that things will work out. Still there are some things that I sort of feel have no room for error. I have to perform well at my job to help support my family. I want to do my best in the classes so I can learn as much as I possibly can in the program. And, there is no room for error when it comes to raising my children or maintaining a healthy relationship with my husband.

I don’t mean to sound like I am complaining. I took on this challenge because if I don’t do it now then when would I do it? I am so excited to be in the classroom again. I can apply the things I am learning right now at work. I am already planning on discussing setting up a monthly usability testing morning with my boss from what we are reading in the Krug book.

Of course, there are also the nervous, self confidence issues that have tried to invade my mind these days too. ~~What am I thinking! ~~I won’t fit in at all.~~ I am too old and my stories about ABC’s and babies rolling over will sound alien to my classmates.~~ I have been working too long and my experiences might be a burden. (I am really focusing on becoming the cleanest slate possible after working for ten years.  Zen Dog don’t fail me now!) ~~People will not want to do group work with me because of my schedule conflicts.~~ I just need to let those thoughts flow by and move on to the next priority. This is just the first class. I have a lot more to do. I better just sit tight and continue the ride!