Thoughts

Chancellor Blank has taken a bold move of leadership this month, as she pushed the dialogue of corporate-civic relations in her piece “A Stronger Civic Sector” published by Ford Forum. Blank warns against unregulated economies, and stresses the need for the civic sector to ensure companies are working toward the common good. She pays tribute that “ Markets are very, very good at looking at cost of production and demand and getting people together, finding a way to sell goods or sell services” but she warns “but they don’t do anything beyond that.”  Blank sums the piece up simply when she says “Markets alone can’t solve social problems.” Blank uses this framework for her argument. She pushes the need of a strong civic sector to regulate markets because sometimes “it isn’t in the best interest of the company...to invest in the community”. She outlines tools that the civic sector has to influence the marketplace, including it’s ability to influence a company’s reputation, and affec

There's a song that captures my feelings of involvment in the Madison 350 community more than any other, and that is Stand By Me by Ben E King. If you're up for it, give the song a listen while you read. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9kyGMvfZqo&feature=youtube_gdata_player When people ask why I'm involved with 350 and the UW Fossil Free Student Coaltion, I'm always a little hesitant to answer because I do not know how to articulate it. I can articulate the rational part of my involvement: the want, and need to actively do something to attempt to ensure the future of the planet. There's another part though, infinitely more powerful, that is too difficult to put into a rational string of words. And that is what this song conveys. For those who are forced to study it and see it everyday, there is no denying the gravity of our future. It is a burden we all live with everyday. I am being completely real when I say there's a good chance I may see this wor

1. You will never have enough time to user test.  God do I wish I could user test forever. User testing is putting your product in people's hands and getting feedback. This is extremely important because you may think you're products  the  shit, but in reality, it may just be shit. By user testing, you find out early one what people like, what they don't, and what they find confusing. If users don't like your product, they are simply not going to use it. I wish I could do endless user tests and feel confident about our product, but the reality is there is writing to be done, budgets to be made, and networking that has to get done. When you do get that precious time to user test, hit it as hard as you possibly can. 2. This isn't academia In academia I was taught to point out every nuance in my argument, and to endlessly elaborate every god-damn point. Business is nothing like academia. At first it feels weird to sell and not drone on about methods and literature.