Today, I launched The Kaizen Software Manifesto.

Why? Because I think the software industry has limited itself through its current processes and standards, and the best way for the industry as a whole to move forward is to continually focus on finding new solutions, ones that haven’t yet been discovered and ironed out. The software industry is not designed to stagnate. Quite the opposite. In fact, the constant in-flux nature of the technology world is exactly why I love it so much.

That said, the industry is fairly settled on ideas like Agile development, and User-Centered Design, which, at their core, have changed very little over the years, despite that they have so much room for improvement. Since the goal is to keep moving forward, what’s needed is not a new process, it’s a mindset that enables us to continually develop new ideas.

Kaizen is uniquely qualified to play this role. Kaizen is the practice of continuous, incremental improvement. The Manifesto simply applies this idea to the software industry.

From the site:

“The Kaizen Software Manifesto is offered to create a foundation that processes themselves cannot provide. Instead of proposing another process, the Manifesto offers a mindset - a culture - that can be used to give birth to new processes, whatever they may be. Instead of confining practisioners to the restrictions of any one process, it enables them to improve the process, or even to invent a new one. The goal of the Kaizen Software Manifesto is not to confine, it is to enable.”

I first wrote about kaizen in the context of web and software design in Designing the Obvious. Since then, I’ve come to realize the limitless potential and power of kaizen when applied to other aspects of the software business. It applies to marketing, customer support, internal and customer-facing processes, product development, and even meetings.

My hope is that The Kaizen Software Manifesto will mark the beginning of a new conversation, focused on new ideas.

Take a few minutes to look around and see what you can gain from adopting the mindset of kaizen, and by developing a culture of continuous improvement.

I don’t often talk about Designing the Obvious book reviews through my little blog here, but this one, from Life without Tea,simply had to be mentioned.

In addition to being titled “The greatest web application design book”, it includes what I think is the best line ever written about the book. In the review, “Vorsuc” says:

“I’m currently going to petition Gideons to see if along with bibles, they can leave a copy of this book in every so-called ‘web designer’s’ hotel room.”

Wow. High praise indeed. Thanks, Vorsuc!

During a web presentation I gave today to a User-Centered Design course at the Art Institute of Atlanta (incidentally, about the problems with user research), I was asked if I had any sage advice for students about to graduate and go out into the crazy software world.

I’ve been asked this question before and never had issues answering it, but somehow, today, I had the right answer.

I told them they should never settle on one process, one way of doing things, one mindset, and stick with it the rest of their lives. Everything they know about technology and the software business right now will be completely different in 10 years. No solution they come up with now will make as much sense in 10 years.

My sage advice, in other words, is to keep moving forward. Keep finding new ways to improve. Improve designs, code, design and development processes, communication with colleagues, and anything else that matters in work or in life. (You mean they’re not the same thing?)

Whether this makes me a sage, I have no idea. But I know it was the answer that took me a long time to find, and it’s the only one I can think of that probably will still make sense in 10 years.

I can’t talk about what we’re doing together just yet, but it looks like my new cohorts at Etre may have read my post on what makes a company great. They were kind enough to send over a nice bottle of champagne, all the way from London, to toast our new project.

I’m very happy to be working with Etre, despite that my wife and I shared a bit of champagne headache this morning.

Cheers, mates!

After being beaten into submission by a couple of my clients (and a bunch of others who have poked and prodded), as of today, I’m officially a full-time consultant.

So, if you’ve ever thought about getting me involved on a project, there may very well be a chance (this may be just as surprising to me as it is to you). If you’re interested, contact me so we can talk about it.

Remember, I also now offer in-house training sessions, in addition to expert usability reviews, onesheet reviews, and of course, interaction design work.

As a side note, I’d like to take a moment to thank the folks at Go Daddy for a great year. Every company has its quirks, but overall, I very much enjoyed my experience at Go Daddy, and I’m honored to have been able to forge a path for interaction design work and to build up and lead the User Experience team. I wish my friends and co-workers there the very best.