Effective 1:1s

I’ve been trying to be more explicit with orchestration of management during my day job. Previously my weekly 1:1 was going for a walk and getting a coffee. But after reading the article listed in the Inspiration section, I proposed a more standardized structure.

Inspiration and references

Effective 1:1s

A list of potential items for discussion; to be added to over the period between check-ins.
Consistency of schedule
What can the manager hold their report accountable for at their next 1:1?
What can the report hold their manager accountable for at their next 1:1?

Interruptions

  • Newlines within textarea placeholders: apparently it isn’t valid, but Chrome seems to accept an explicit newline.

  • Originally I had the help-text below the textareas, but then moved the help-text above the textarea for greater clarity. I wanted to avoid using labels with full sentences.

Reflections

  • The “If no…” input is rather awkward. Perhaps it could be hidden unless the previous “No” radio button is selected.

  • Having an incomplete/working textarea is rather odd but I like it. THe idea being that the form would be started after the previous 1:1, then submitted after the next one.

The Product Management Press Release

I’ve been spending a lot of time at my day job churning with team over engineering-change management. I had a few people mention the “write a press release”-pattern and found a great summary of it.

For new initiatives a product manager typically starts by writing an internal press release announcing the finished product. The target audience for the press release is the new/updated product’s customers, which can be retail customers or internal users of a tool or technology. Internal press releases are centered around the customer problem, how current solutions (internal or external) fail, and how the new product will blow away existing solutions.

Inspiration and references

Product press release

Name the product in a way the reader (i.e. your target customers) will understand.
Describe who the market for the product is and what benefit they get. One sentence only underneath the title.
Give a summary of the product and the benefit. Assume the reader will not read anything else so make this paragraph good.
Describe the problem your product solves.
Describe how your product elegantly solves the problem.
A quote from a spokesperson in your company.
Describe how easy it is to get started.
Provide a quote from a hypothetical customer that describes how they experienced the benefit.
Wrap it up and give pointers where the reader should go next.

Interruptions

  • I keep forgetting label for=

  • Should buttons be title- or sentence- cased?

Reflections

  • Is a form more effective than a check-list? In this case, I think the original bulleted list is easier to understand.

  • Placeholders are a good place to put example text, rather than descriptions.

Survey or Instruction

Yesterday I tweeted a question asking if anyone had a styleguide for writing forms. I received a lot of great responses, but also had the realization that there is a distinction between “survey”-forms and “instructional”-forms (my terminology). The distinction being that the former is primarily focused on collecting information for later processing/analysis (e.g. Census Survey), while the latter is intended to perform some work in function through the act of completing the form (e.g. IRS Income Tax Worksheet). There is overlap: what is primarily a survey may include instructional elements (e.g. ensuring the filler-outer understands their eligibility); and an instructional form may be submitted for additional processing.

Inspiration and references

Purpose of form

Form type

Interruptions

Reflections

  • I wonder why Bootstrap doesn’t have a good style for Radio button groups?

  • There is an English StackExchange Q&A to answer: preparer, respondent, responder, submitter

So you made a form today

I struggled a lot with yesterday’s form (the first form!) because I was constantly thinking that it wasn’t good enough: horizontal spacing? placeholder and help-text voice? more pre- and post-submission context? That’s a common problem when doing something simple. A tactic for moving forward is to have a “parking lot” to safely capture those thoughts and doubts without the obligation of representing them in the final product.

Inspiration and references

Form reflection

Provide a list or description.
Provide a list or description.

Interruptions

  • What makes an effective placeholder versus help text?

  • Am I using consistent capitalization and grammar?

  • Double-checking matching name, id and aria-x attributes is difficult

Reflections

  • Better clarify the difference between an “interruption” and a “refinement”. Interruptions obviously become inspiration for refinements.

  • How could I better reference the form being reflected upon?

Did you make a form today?

I created this form as a starting place for creating further forms. Web forms are complex but also are the most common interface for capturing information in my daily life. As a web developer, I spend a lot of time balancing effectiveness, usability, aesthetics and accessibility (and a several other adjectives probably). This is an opportunity to improve my craft.

Inspiration and references

Today's form

Provide one sentence or more that explains what intent or context the form seeks to capture.
List links and brief descriptions.