Macadamian Blog
MIX 2011 - Open Source Fest
Microsoft hosted a community-building event last night called Open Source Fest. The premise was pretty simple:
- Invite 50 or so exciting open-source projects.
- Set each one up with a kiosk-style booth in an intimate room.
- Add the first-day MIX attendees.
- Throw in free snacks and drinks for good measure.
It turned out great. It was incredible, in fact.
I was demonstrating the Windows Phone 7 Isolated Storage Explorer on behalf of Macadamian. All night I was having real conversations with developers about what I do, what they do, and any overlap.
It was enthralling, and I want to take a moment to dissect why this was such a smashing success:
MIX 2011 - Design and Development: Working in Parallel
If you're a developer, how do you normally work with your design team?
They hand you wireframes, you start building. A new design comes in, you iterate. Rinse and repeat, and a product is born. The story for designers is similar: figure out what you're designing, sketch it out, wait for feedback. Iterate until it looks and feels beautiful.
This is already a good process. It's iterative, there's communication between the design and development teams. But sometimes, especially when the project is first starting up, it feels a little too... synchronous. Everyone is blocking everyone else, and it takes a few weeks to really get the project off the ground. Does it have to be this way?
Motorola Atrix Webtop, a sluggish first impression
I was really looking forward to the Motorola Atrix and specifically the laptop that comes along with it. I'm a big fan of Android. I'm one of two people in North America who BOUGHT a Nexus One and thinks it's actually a good phone.
MIX 2011 - Hello from Las Vegas!
Macadamian is at MIX 2011!
MIX is Microsoft's annual web design/development conference. This is right up our alley as a design/engineering shop, so we'll have plenty to talk about.
Check back here for analysis of the most interesting sessions and news. For more frequent updates, follow @macadamianlabs on Twitter. And of course if you're at MIX as well, please say hi!
This promises to be an incredible week; the speaker list is full of big names and exciting topics. Registration starts in just under an hour. I can't wait!
Creatividay - making the time to try new things.
One of the great things about being a consulting company is we're surrounded by cool projects. On any given week, we're designing tablet EMR apps or Android-based remote controls for a new consumer video conferencing play. One of the tough things about being a consulting company is that we're surrounded by other people's cool projects. How do you find time to stretch your own creative muscle and try new things that may not be immediately related to an ongoing project?