With over 140 RSS feeds now in my blogroll, it takes me around 2 hours a day to consume all of the info that is published…and most of that is just skimming to pick out the information I want to heavily digest vs. the info that doesn’t matter so much.

RSS allows us to consume more information faster than ever possible before. I even believe that RSS will increase the rate to which we evolve as a race. The downside of this is information overload. With all of this information at our fingertips, how can we possibly filter the important from the not-so-important? Marshall Kirkpatrick (former writer for Tech Crunch) gives us some insights to how he manages thousands of feeds with ease (I’ve added a couple tips of my own as well)…

Use a start page

Marshall suggests using a startpage that can be glanced at every couple of hours that gives you a high level of what’s new with items you’ve marked as a high priority. The new google reader provides a nice start page that I sometimes use. Alternatives include Original Signal and Page Flakes.

Preview New Feeds

I think its a good idea to preview new feeds that you subscribe to. This helps keep them separate from other feeds you’ve deemed as important and reliable information. You can do this by creating a “new feeds” folder or just put them at the root level of your feed reader. Once you’ve deemed your new feed as one you want to hang on to and read regularly, you can them move into the appropriate folder or tag.

Organize your feeds

This one is pretty much common sense…but common sense is not always common practice. I am constantly re-structuring and optimizing how all of my feeds are organized. At one point i had an “internet” folder, but now its necessary for that to be broken out into 4 or 5 folders. Marshall advises that with thousands of feeds, it helps to separate your feeds by priority so that you can quickly access the more important information.

High priority sources

I’ll just quote this one (note the last sentence in bold :)…

“The single most helpful tool for me in my efforts to blog about news events first has been an RSS to IM/SMS notification tool. I use Zaptxt to subscribe to very high priority feeds. It sends me an IM and SMS whenever a high-profile company blog is updated and in a number of other circumstances. There are quite a few services that offer this functionality now and it’s invaluable. A big part of taking a prominent position in the blogosphere is writing first on a topic. That’s a large part of what got me the job at TechCrunch and it’s something that an increasing number of people are clearly trying to do.

In sectors where people are already using tools like the above, I expect further developments to emerge that differentiate writers’ handling of the huge amount of information available. New tools and new practices. It’s a very exciting time to be someone who works with information.”

Do you have any tips to share? Let me know!

Wireframes never really cut it for me. Creating static diagrams of very dynamic sites make it difficult to articulate interactions to developers…normally requiring hand-holding to ensure things are built as designed. Developers loooove hand-holding.

Before I start a new project I normally interview the developers that I’ll be working with and ask them what they expect from my prototypes in order to do their job the best they can. Most tell me that they want everything defined to the point that there is no question what needs to be built. (Personally I prefer working with developers that have more of a hand in the design so that they’re engaged and accountable for what they’re building…but thats another article). With today’s tools (like visio), this is difficult to achieve.

We need more from our prototypes…they still need to maintain lo-fidelity and rapid development, but need to contain all the interactions and work like the final product.

Welcome to the world of Simulations.

Simulations were originally used by Boing to test drive features of the 777 before they were actually built. In the same way, they enable us to build a web application that we can test drive (and usability test!) before we build the final product. They allow us to create working tabs, forms, error handling, and can even make global changes.

Boxes and Arrows recently posted a comparative review on various simulation tools available today…

Axure RP4

The latest version, RP4 (there is actually a Beta of 4.3) has certainly added a number of new features compared to RP3. RP4 provides the ability to create a basic sitemap (indicating pages) and the ability to link these pages together. RP4 offers masters for rapid changes to an entire project. RP4 allows for basic annotations but doesn’t offer a robust requirements management solution. Of the products reviewed, Axure RP4 falls in the mid-range for pricing. With the addition of a true simulation engine, this RP4 could certainly gain ground against the higher-end products. However, at its current price, it’s a great entry point into the world of simulation.

Scenario Design: No
Page Design: Yes
Widget Library: Yes
Dynamic Display: Yes
Data Interaction: No
Decision Logic: No
Annotations: Yes
Centralized Server: No
Portable Distribution: No
Requirements Management: No
Enterprise Support: No
Export to MS Word: Yes

LucidSpec

Much like Axure, LucidSpec offers the capability to create static “prototypes.” The product does not contain an actual simulation engine, thus limiting the product’s ability to save and reuse data at a later time. The product allows the design to “describe behaviors” or specifications in annotative form. However, it does not offer a solution for tying a non-visual requirement to visual elements.

Scenario Design: No
Page Design: Yes
Widget Library: No
Dynamic Display: Partial
Data Interaction: No
Decision Logic: No
Annotations: Yes
Centralized Server: No
Portable Distribution: No
Requirements Management: No
Enterprise Support: No
Export to MS Word: Yes

iRise

iRise offers a real simulation engine that allows users to save, edit, and delete requirements data. Of the products reviewed, iRise Manager provides the most comprehensive requirements management solution. Studio generates a portable simulation known as an iDoc, which can be reviewed with the free iRise Reader. Shared Server enables collaboration and incorporates a model for check-in/out capabilities and synchronization with the requirements management server. The shared server also provides an alternative delivery method, allowing stakeholders to view the simulation by accessing a URL. iDoc Express is a cost-effective service offering, where companies hand over requirements and receive a comprehensive simulation at a fixed price. No product purchase or installation is required. This is by far the most mature product in this space, with the most extensive list of recognizable customer names.

Scenario Design: Yes
Page Design: Yes
Widget Library: Yes
Dynamic Display: Yes
Data Interaction: Yes
Decision Logic: Yes
Annotations: Yes
Centralized Server: Yes
Portable Distribution: Yes
Requirements Management: Yes
Enterprise Support: Yes
Export to MS Word: Yes

Serena Composer

Composer fits at the lower end of the higher tier products. It offers the ability to model business processes at a very high level much like MS Visio. It then extends that ability to creating activities and detailed page designs. Composer provides greater support for requirements management; it is probably closer to iRise than any other tool. The challenge with Composer is that all users must own a licensed seat to view anything created within the product; this really limits the ability to share with stakeholders.

Scenario Design: Yes
Page Design: Yes
Widget Library: Yes
Dynamic Display: Partial
Data Interaction: Partial
Decision Logic: No
Annotations: Yes
Centralized Server: No
Portable Distribution: No
Requirements Management: Partial
Enterprise Support: No
Export to MS Word: Yes

Enterprise Simulator

Simunication is all web based. This is most likely the product’s biggest advantage over some of the lower- and middle-tier applications. Its interface, however, is quite cumbersome for the non-technical user. It offers the ability to simulate data through a scaled-down simulation engine. The workflow is driven primarily by creating use cases, then designing screens around those cases. Delivery is simplified by its all-online approach—thus anyone with a web browser can access it.

Scenario Design: Yes
Page Design: Yes
Widget Library: No
Dynamic Display: Yes
Data Interaction: Yes
Decision Logic: Yes
Annotations: Yes
Centralized Server: Yes
Portable Distribution: No
Requirements Management: No
Enterprise Support: Yes
Export to MS Word: No

Sofea Profesy

Profesy is comparable to Composer in product maturity. It offers requirements management with a scaled-down simulation engine. Much like Composer, there isn’t an easy way to distribute the simulation outside of the tool/editor in which it was created.

Scenario Design: No
Page Design: Yes
Widget Library: No
Dynamic Display: Partial
Data Interaction: Partial
Decision Logic: Yes
Annotations: Yes
Centralized Server: No
Portable Distribution: No
Requirements Management: Yes
Enterprise Support: Yes
Export to MS Word: Yes

Benefits to the user experience professional
User experience professionals who leverage simulation technology are able to visualize projects much earlier within the development lifecycle, while producing requirements that are much clearer than those generated through traditional requirements gathering processes. In fact, two of these packages, iRise and Serena, were actually created to help business analysts visualize requirements when they didn’t have access to user experience professionals for that part of a project!

One key feature that static wireframes lack is the ability to interact with the interface; by using a simulation tool, this limitation is removed. Software interactivity and ease-of-use, in addition to the portability and reusability of the simulation, are key points to consider in choosing the right simulation software for your company. The next several years should be quite interesting as each of these products continues to improve, adding new features and offering tighter integration with third-party products.