Author Archives: Skip Walter

About Skip Walter

Retired software executive, ardent book reader. Enjoying slow travel, learning to cook, and searching for fine wine growing. Grandfather, husband, father, brother. Recorder of Seattle sunrises. Voting blue.💙

Being a Citizen – Jury Duty

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Skip Walter

Two months ago, the dreaded jury duty notice showed up in the mail. Uggh. I am ashamed to say that my first response was “How do I get out of this?” Then the integrity part of me realized that this … Continue reading →

Posted in Citizen, User Experience, Values | Leave a comment

Observing Users for Software Development

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Skip Walter

“You can observe a lot by just watching.” – Yogi Berra Too many years ago, I sat in a sterile conference room at DEC mesmerized by the lecture being given by the talking head on the video, Russ Ackoff. Ackoff … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL-IN-1, Attenex, Attenex Patterns, Design, Human Centered Design, Innovation, Software Development, User Experience | 5 Comments

Succumbing to the Ultimate Power Trip

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Skip Walter

While at lunch with a colleague the other day, we got to talking about different aspects of power. I asked if my lunch partner had ever experienced the “power trip” that is the White House environment. “No, why?” was the … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL-IN-1, Content with Context, organizing | 1 Comment

Easy Productivity Boost – Multiple Monitors

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Skip Walter

Seeing this NY Times article, I was reminded of one of our key recommendations for boosting productivity in eDiscovery – make sure each lawyer reviewer has multiple monitors. From a capital investment standpoint, multiple monitors are very inexpensive and pay … Continue reading →

Posted in Attenex Patterns, Big Data, Content with Context, Human Centered Design, iPad, User Experience | 1 Comment

Idealized Design Qualities for a University

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Skip Walter

In many ways our universities are a four hundred year old anachronism. In the last twenty years with the expansion of the Internet for content, connections, and communications, the world of learning is in a different state. As Brynjolfsson and … Continue reading →

Posted in Content with Context, Human Centered Design, Idealized Design, Innovation, Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management, Learning, organizing, Teaching, University, User Experience | Leave a comment

Growth Partners

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Skip Walter

Working with startup entrepreneurs, I am often asked “What else should I be thinking about?” Invariably the answer is “what are you doing to create growth partners?” The experienced startup entrepreneurs will think through and develop plans for a channel … Continue reading →

Posted in Idealized Design, Innovation, organizing, Relationship Capital, Value Capture | 3 Comments

Visuals Speak to Me – Quite Loudly as it Turns Out

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Skip Walter

I am a very visual person, although I have more of an ability to recall those things I’ve seen rather than being very good at creating visuals. This week my cup overfloweth with colleagues and students pointing me to some … Continue reading →

Posted in Content with Context, Human Centered Design, Idealized Design, Learning, Nature, organizing, Visual pattern Language, Working in teams | 4 Comments

Walter’s Laws

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Skip Walter

While creating and developing ALL-IN-1, I wrote down my first law of software development – “Any product not used by its developers ain’t worth squat.” In building our system, we depended on ALL-IN-1 to coordinate the work among the developers. … Continue reading →

Posted in ALL-IN-1, Content with Context, Software Development, WUKID | 2 Comments