Research, Technology, and Teamwork blog by Susie Wee

Top ten tips for doing business in Asia

susie.wee — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:22:00 GMT

The NY Times published an article about President Bill Clinton’s visit to North Korea to meet with Kim Jong-il about releasing the two imprisoned American reporters, Laura Ling and Euna Lee. The result was simple and surprising- they were released...(read more)

Social cloud technology in the fabric of the Internet

susie.wee — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:52:00 GMT

A shell for Twitter Remember the good old days when you had a terminal screen and you typed ls , cd , and man ? And, if you were a little more advanced, you might have used pushd , popd , cat , head , and tail . Well, there is a very alpha project called...(read more)

Back from sabbatical: Blogging is back, but comments and subscribers are not

susie.wee — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:49:00 GMT

I took a sabbatical from blogging for the last 1.5 years. It was not because I was making a statement. It was not because I switched to a flashier tool . It was just because I took a job that was not very conducive to blogging. In essence, I was immersed...(read more)

From Work-Life Balance to Work-Life Bursts and Work-Life Teams

susie.wee — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:20:00 GMT

From Work-Life Balance to Work-Life Bursts and Work-Life Teams I was reading a colleague’s post on work-life balance , where she was referencing Jack Welch’s statement that there is no such thing . Those who know me would certainly laugh if...(read more)

My newest discovery: Secret Facebook users

susie.wee — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:06:00 GMT

I’ve been an avid facebok user for years. I started using Facebook very soon after they first opened it up to people outside of the .edu domain. I recruited lots of old people into Facebook… long before it was acceptable for old people like me. And, I’ve been thrilled to watch it go more mainstream. I wrote a post about how my home town in Western New York has even joined in. And now you hear stories about how people’s grandmother’s are joining. This has allowed me to end up with a pretty entertaining set of Facebook friends. I think I passed some invisible threshold where my Facebook social network became large enough and active enough that I can be almost constantly entertained with interesting status updates, posts, and pictures. Pretty fun!

I have a few friends left who are still holding back from joining. They are concerned with privacy, and the thought of blasting their little life events is not at all appealing. Many of my recruits felt that way at the beginning and joined just to be polite to me (and perhaps because I begged a little), but many of them are now actively posting away and having fun. But I still have real-world friends who have not joined.

I was having dinner with old college friends last week and I made an interesting discovery- I discovered a secret set of Facebook users! These Facebook users don’t feel comfortable with getting an account (and some even dis the idea), BUT they lurk by using their significant other’s account! My one friend makes her husband friend her friends. And when she gets home from work, she asks him “What’s going on with my friends?” Another one of my friends just had a shocking event where her friend said “Oh, I saw that you were at so-and-so’s party”, and she thought “how the heck did you know that?”. The reason was because someone posted a picture on Facebook. She doesn’t feel comfortable with joining, but when I suggested she just look at her husband’s account, and she said “Yeah- that would be okay”.

Anyways, I thought it was interesting that there might be this hidden set of Facebook users who are not Facebook account holders. Any idea on how big this group is? Do you know any secret Facebook users?

Welcome to Facebook, Batavia!

susie.wee — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:36:00 GMT

I've been living in Silicon Valley for the last 12 years, and I was in Boston for 10 years before that, but I spent the first 16 years of my life growing up in a small town in western New York called Batavia. According to Google Maps, it would take me 1 day and 16 hours to drive 2717 miles from my old hometown to my current hometown.

My parents still live in Batavia in the house where I grew up. My bedroom is still in tact with beaten up children's furniture, paint, and wallpaper I chose when I was about 5 years old (pearly white dresser, lime green walls, pastel-colored wallpaper with rainbows and houses).

Batavia is a town of less than 20,000 people located halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. It is about 30 miles away from Buffalo, and lucky us, it is probably the last town within Lake Erie's snowbelt. In other words, we get all the snow that Buffalo gets without the benefits of living in a big city. But the good thing is that we have awesome chicken wings, those that are known to the rest of the world as Buffalo wings. If you're ever driving on the New York State Thruway between Buffalo and Rochester, make sure to stop by Batavia and hit Pontillo's Pizzeria on Main Street to get some of the best pizza and wings you've ever had. And you can stop by Batavia Downs to bet on a few horse races. But don't drive too far and don't blink, because if you go about 1 or 2 miles away from the Thruway exit in any direction you'll be out of the main part of Batavia and you may be in the middle of a corn field. I kind of think of Batavia as middle America- a small town with a high school, a mall, a Dunkin Donuts, and a few pizza joints. Batavia's first and only Starbucks just opened a couple months ago. My mom goes there on Sunday morning with her friends, but they only get coffees, not cappuccinos and lattes. Overall, Batavia is a modest town with down-to-earth, friendly people and I think it was a great place to grow up.

I lost track of most of my friends from Batavia, but the funniest thing has been happening over the last few months. They are now coming out of the woodwork and we're getting back in touch. How? Batavia is now on Facebook!

I've been an active facebook user for a couple years. Many of my Silicon Valley friends are on Facebook. Lots of people at HP are on Facebook. I can take the credit/blame for getting many people to join. Many of my college friends are on Facebook (I went to a techie college). But I was quite surprised when I first started getting Facebook friend invites from my fellow Batavians.

I now get status updates from my high school and elementary school friends, my brother's friends, my sister's friends, my band friends, my soccer friends, people who I was a babysitter for, and people who I babysat. Most of us seemed to have turned into respectable adults. Some people are generous enough to share family pictures. I can poke them, I can leave a comment for them, or I can just passively watch them. The coolest thing is that I can become friends with them even if I don't have time to talk to them.

I often wonder how long different web sites will be around. I thought Facebook would come and go. But I have to say, now that middle America is getting onto Facebook, it will probably be around to stay.

Welcome to Facebook, Batavia!

A little July 4 post

susie.wee — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:33:00 GMT

I was in the Shanghai airport on the 4th of July to catch my flight back to San Francisco. I just finished a one-week business trip in Shanghai, so I was thinking quite a bit about how much China has changed and how bright China's future is. I was also feeling a bit patriotic since it was Independence Day in the USA. I was busily making my way towards the gate with all the regular airport hustle bustle when I caught this announcement: "Flight xxx from Shanghai to Moscow is now boarding". I stopped in my tracks. When I was a kid, I never imagined I would get to visit countries like China or Russia, and there I was in the Shanghai airport on July 4, 2008 where I just as easily could have boarded the flight to Russia as the flight to the US. The world is indeed becoming a small place!

Following from in front and Leading from behind

susie.wee — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:29:00 GMT

I had an interesting experience when going out to lunch with my team. They took me to one of their regular lunch spots where I had never been. I kind of vaguely knew where it was, but I didn’t know exactly where it was.

I had to drive separately to get back for a meeting, so we split up in the parking lot to get into our cars. For some reason I ended up getting into my car and out of the parking lot first. Since I vaguely knew where the restaurant was, I started heading in the general direction of the restaurant. But, since I didn’t exactly know where the restaurant was, I had to follow them. But, I was in front of them. So, I had to follow from in front.

So there began my little adventure. I kept going towards the general direction of the restaurant. But, I kept looking in my rear view mirror to see where they were going. I looked in the rear view mirror to see which lanes they were getting in, and then I switched into those same lanes, but did this many cars in front of them. I actually followed them from in front for about three turns… all the way into the parking lot of the restaurant. It worked perfectly! And, it was actually pretty fun!

So, why am I writing all this? Well, I thought it was pretty funny to follow from in front. And then I thought about how it applies to work. Sure, as a manager I’m the official leader of my organization. But, in many ways, my team members “lead from behind” while I lead by “following from in front”. I mean that I lead by getting the best ideas from my team and others around me and I use these ideas to help guide all of us forward. Now, I think I have a good idea of my own every now and then, but I’m also perfectly happy to push forward the great ideas that my team members have. Hey, a great idea is a great idea no matter where it comes from. And actually I’m kind of proud of my ability to pick out great ideas from my team.

We’re all familiar with the concept of “Leading from behind”.

What do you think about the concept of “Following from in front”?

Have you followed from in front?

Toys in my sandbox: HP Touch, Mini, and Slim

susie.wee — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:13:00 GMT

One of the neat things about my new job is getting to play with, I mean, work with some cool products. Last week the HP Personal Systems Group (which I'm now in) had a big product launch in Berlin. I was happy when the launch date finally came, because I could finally talk openly about the products that I was playing with- oops!- I mean working with at work.

Before I introduce you to my new toys, let me wander into a little career advice since some readers told me that they missed this during my little blogging drought.

Back when I graduated from grad school and was looking for my first job (12 years ago!), one big thing I realized was that the company that you work for determines the kinds of projects that you can work on. In other words, your company sets the context for your work. This was very important from a research perspective, because your company's strategy determines which research problems are relevant or irrelevant, you should work on problems that relevant to your company, and thus this has a big influence on your research career. This not only applies to research, but is true for any field that you're in: research, engineering, design, business, marketing, sales, etc.

So, my two career tips from this little story are:

Work on areas that are relevant to your company and your company's strategy!
Work for a company that provides a context for the type of work that you believe in!

Note that this is related to Tip #10 in my Top 10 Career Tips:

Align your work with your passions and strengths. Define your career accordingly.

To say this in a more playful way, I have always viewed that your company is your sandbox, and your company's current and future products are the toys in your sandbox, and these toys are the ones you get to play with and build on to do your work.

Okay, enough of the career advice. Let me introduce you to some of the new toys in my sandbox: Touch, Mini, and Slim! (This is not supposed to be a sales pitch, but I have to say that I love these products, so apologies in advance if it sounds like one.)

Touch is the new HP TouchSmart PC. It's the second generation of the TouchSmart product. Touch has a 22" widescreen with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. All the computer guts are built into the touch monitor, so all you do is plug in power and an ethernet connection. It comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse. The first version was bigger and boxier, and this version is much more streamlined and sleek. It's neat to see the evolution of the product as we refine it through improvements in technology (e.g., touch sensor technology, display technology, etc.) and through user testing and feedback. It's a neat new device category that we're driving. So far the blog posts have been fun to read [1] and I can't wait to learn more from the new users of the product to get a well-rounded perspective. I'm really excited about the emergence and evolution of this category, and it will be neat to get more software developers going on this platform!

Mini is the new HP 2133 Mini-Note PC. It's so cute! (Sorry- I couldn't help myself.) It is less than 3 pounds and it has an 8.9 inch WXGA display. It comes with Linux or Vista. It has a cool aluminum case. When I first saw this model in an internal board meeting many months ago, I was immediately drawn to it. The first thing that came to my head is that this is just about to reach the size where I could put it in my purse and still have a fairly full computing experience (I say "fairly" because of the small display). It was slightly bigger than the purse that I had at the time, but I liked it so much that I was thinking that I would buy a slightly larger one so I could carry it around. This raises an interesting usage question that I'll have to write another post about: women like products that fit into their purse while men like products that fit in their pocket. So I wonder what will become of this new form factor of devices. Don't worry- it's not a women-only device. When we unboxed one in my lab the other day, all the men were equally excited about it and we all drooled equally! This is the product category of the Asus Eee PC and surely more competitors will emerge. An interesting this about this product category are the price points- baseline versions are at the sub-$500 level, which allows this fairly full computing experience to get to quite a few places.

Slim is the new ultra-thin notebook, the VooDoo Envy 133. It's 0.7 inches thick and is just over 3 pounds with a 13.3 inch display. It fully boots into Windows, but it has a quick boot Linux-based OS- another great topic for a future post! The upgraded version has a solid state drive for more money, of course. Unfortunately, I don't have one of these myself yet, but I have seen and touched them and they are pretty cool. My brother has been in the market for a laptop and I told him to hold off until this model came out. Bloggers [1,2] are comparing this to the MacAir, which is .76 inches in the center and tapers out on the edges. These thin and light notebooks with full-size displays are very interesting and they change your coffee shop, airplane, and over-the-shoulder carrying experience. I like the thought of tucking this away in my slim bag neatly lined up with a writing notebook and a few folders. Slim looks and feels very crisp and sleek- very much in the VooDoo spirit!

My team's job is to look at next-gen software experiences for these and other HP personal computing products. All I can say is I have a fun sandbox to play in!

It's neat to see these emerging product categories evolving. I'd love to hear your thoughts on these categories, so here are a few questions:

What do you think about these product categories (the good, the bad, and the ugly)?
How do you think these product categories will evolve?
How would you like to see these product categories evolve?
What kinds of experiences would you like to see on these products?

I'm back: From research to business

susie.wee — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:02:00 GMT

Sorry for my long break from blogging. Thanks to JCS for asking me to come back, as it was just the push I needed to get this post out. A few other readers have also noticed my absence from the blogosphere, thanks to all of you for your encouragement and support.

My silence does not mean I've been idle and it does not mean I've run dry on topics. In fact, it's been quite the opposite. My recent experiences over the last few months have given me plenty of reflections to write about, but very little time to write them! The biggest news I have to announce is that I changed jobs within HP. I moved out of the research lab and into the business.

I am now leading what I call the newest startup in HP--the HP Experience Software Business (ESB). ESB is within the Emerging Businesses unit in HP's Personal Systems Group. I coined the term "Experience Software" to refer to software that drives and is driven by the user experience. I have found that taking an experience-centered approach to software and business is as important as taking an experience-centered approach to design, research, and technology (which I've written about in the past). Putting the experience first is really a mindset that affects everything you do, ranging from deciding what feature you put in a product to asking your friends what they like or dislike about their coffee cup. I want to thank my experience-driven researchers in HP Labs for teaching me the importance of experience over the last few years- they knew the importance of this long before it became fashionable!

While I am no longer in HP Labs (after almost 12 years!), I am still very involved with the Labs. I am on one of the advisory boards that is responsible for approving, guiding, and reviewing the research projects. In fact, I rely on HP Labs research even more now than I did when I was a lab director there. I feel very fortunate to be able to work with the researchers- to get consulting advice in their areas of expertise, to listen to their newest and oldest ideas to inspire ideas for my new business, and hopefully to bring some of their great ideas to market!

I'll try to post more now that I have the monkey off my back regarding my silence in the blogosphere. I plan to keep my posts in the same flavor unless you suggest otherwise. (Any suggestions?) And, while I can't reveal everything we're doing, some posts will give hints about the areas that we're thinking about. In the mean time, please wish me luck with ESB!

p.s. We have a new blogging system that makes it easier to leave comments. Like any other blogger, I love to hear what my readers are thinking; so please feel free to leave comments.

Your computer: A platform, an appliance, or a browser?

susie.wee — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 03:21:00 GMT

I've been thinking about how different people use their computers. It occurs to me that there are at least three different ways that people use their computers: as a platform, as an appliance, or as a browser.

Some people use their computer as a platform. They get the computer with some base operating system and a handful of applications. Then, over time they continue to download and buy software to suit their needs and desires. Gamers certainly do this as they download and install new games. Photo and video buffs sometimes do this as they buy the newest multimedia editing software. As new software comes out, they buy or download it and get different uses out of their computers.

Some people use their computer as an appliance. They get the computer with an operating system and a handful of applications. Maybe they add a few more applications soon after original purchase. But once they get it set up, they pretty much use the computer "as is" for the rest of its lifetime. They may do a handful of things such as run a word processor, use email, and browse the web. I'm calling this an appliance because it's used in the same way again and again after the initial setup.

Some people use their computer primarily as a browser. Think about how much time you spend running applications on your computer (e.g., a word processor) vs. how much time you spend on services through your browser (e.g., in facebook, gmail, and flickr). Those who spend more than 80% of their time in the network are using it as a browser.

How do you use your computer?
What types of people use their computers in these different ways?
Do you agree with this classification? Is this set of modes complete or are their other major modes of use to add to the list?

Teamwork: Recovering from mistakes

susie.wee — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:23:00 GMT

I just played in two women's ice hockey tournaments in the last two weekends. We competed at a Women's C level in the first tournament (MLK tournament in San Jose) and at a B level in the second tournament (in Las Vegas!). Perhaps you can guess the result- we won the first tournament and we lost the second tournament.

Needless to say, two back-to-back weekends of hockey tournaments creates lots of good teamwork blog material. I'll just start with one for now: Teamwork is about recovering from mistakes.

Let's face it- everybody makes mistakes. In every second of every shift of a hockey game, you can do something brilliant, do something catastrophic, or do something somewhere in between. You will make mistakes. In fact, if you don't make mistakes then you may not be taking enough risks or working to the peak of your ability.

So, the question is what happens when you do make a mistake? Of course, you should get back into things and try to recover (it doesn't help to get down on yourself in the moment!). In addition, this is where teamwork comes in. When you make a mistake, it's not the end of the world. Rather, it's an opportunity for your teammates to shine! If your teammate makes a mistake, then you have an opportunity to shine!

Here's an example: I was playing center. One of my defenders went into the offensive zone to make a play, so I covered back for her. Then there was a turnover. The other team got the puck and their forwards started skating towards our goal. Since I was covering for the defender, I started backing up to cover the play, while thinking hard about being in the right position to cover them. I was feeling pretty good and I was ready for the challenge of breaking up the play on this odd man rush. Then, out of the blue, my skate caught an edge and I fell backwards on the ice. My heart sunk. I thought "Oh $@#%%! They might score!". I turned over and saw the other team skating hard towards the net. Then, all of sudden, I saw a streak of my teammate's jersey. She was backchecking hard at full speed... she caught up to the player with the puck... took the puck away from her... and broke up the play! Yay- they didn't score! Meanwhile I got up and jumped back into the play and the game continued on.

I was really proud of my teammate who totally rocked and saved the team from my mistake! Also, I think that even if my teammate didn't break up the play, there was a really good chance that my goalie would have saved the day since she was also playing a great game! Of course, I'll try to make fewer mistakes and stay on my skates next time :), but it's great to know that I can count on my teammates in times of trouble.

This is just one split-second example of a teammate covering for another teammate's mistake. In a fast-paced sports game, mistakes and recoveries happen all the time- even every few seconds. Sometimes it's blatant and sometimes it's subtle. The main thing is that it's all about teamwork- you work to the very best of your ability for your team, and if you or a teammate happen to make a mistake, you get out there to help recover from it and drive forward to create the next great play.

An added bonus is that by knowing that I have great teammates who can recover from mistakes, I know that I can take bigger chances on high-risk, high-reward plays. And, I hope my teammates know that they can do the same since I'll be covering for them.

Another added bonus is that every time the team makes and recovers from a mistake, the team grows stronger! It makes teammates appreciative of each other, trust each other, rely on each other, and gain confidence that they can get through even tougher situations together.

The example that I gave was a very blatant and visible mistake and recovery that happened on the ice. Note that mistakes and recoveries happen off the ice as well- in between shifts, in between games, and in between tournaments. In addition, mistakes and recoveries happen in work and in life, and teamwork can help with the recovery. Do you have any great mistake and recovery stories in sports or at work or in life?

Feel free to leave a URL with your comments.

Desktop vs. notebook: It's all about the display

susie.wee — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:17:00 GMT

I thought I had it all figured out. I'm doing a house remodel (wish me luck!), and I thought I didn't need to set up a computer area. After all, notebook computers are awesome. I bought my sister an entertainment notebook computer over the holiday break and it is impressive. I have a small mobile notebook/tablet PC for work since I travel so much. I use my notebook all over the house- at the dining table, on the couch, on a desk, on the floor, and in the bed. And, when I'm out and about I use my little iPAQ handheld to stay connected (actually, I use my iPAQ all over the house too). So, I thought I wouldn't set up a dedicated computer area, but instead I would set up little charging areas around the house for all my portable devices.

This morning I had a change of heart. I stopped by Fry's Electronics and I saw a desktop computer with a 30" LCD display, all on sale for $2000 (yes, it was an HP, but this is an experience discussion, not a sales pitch). The 30" display was impressive, and seeing it really made me rethink how I will use my computer. All I can say is: Wow- I need it. :)

I think I will set it up in my living room so that it doubles between a full-fledged work area and a secondary entertainment area. TVs are getting bigger, so it doesn't quite serve as the primary entertainment area. But, since the TV is often sought/fought after, having a secondary entertainment area nearby would be useful.

The other thing I saw at Fry's was our extreme multimedia entertainment notebook with a 20" display (HP Pavilion HDX). To be honest, at 15.5 pounds I don't think I'll be carrying it with me all around the house, but it sure is impressive on the multimedia front. This would also be a candidate for a combined work/secondary entertainment area.

So, I guess I'll have to re-think my design and put in a computer area after all.

Much discussion to date about the choice between desktops vs. notebooks [1,2,3] has been around the style of computing experience people want. In the years ahead, I think this decision will be based on the style of display experience people want.

Does having an affordable, sleek 30" display change your view of how you would use your computer? If so, how? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Please feel free to leave a URL with your comments.

A cute workshop

susie.wee — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 10:11:00 GMT

I came across an announcement for the following workshop: Workshop on Designing Cute Interactive Media in conjunction with the ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems.

ACM is the premier professional research society for computer scientists. I think it is quite a statement that the broader research community is recognizing design, experience, and human emotion as bona fide research topics. Cuteness is being recognized as research by the research community!

In my mind, user adoption is the ultimate indicator of a technology's success, and adoption is driven by having a great user experience. The research discussed in workshops like these will help us understand and eventually formalize the coupling of experience and technology. Understanding how to provoke human emotions like cuteness will help identify new research directions and drive technology adoption.

Congratulations to the researchers who were pushing these ideas in their work before it reached broader acceptance! For example, 2007 was the 25th anniversary of CHI. Clearly your efforts are paying off!

What do you think? Is studying "cuteness" research?

Feel free to leave a URL with your comments.

Learning as a New Year's Resolution

susie.wee — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:41:00 GMT

It's the time of year to reflect on the year behind and think about the year ahead. As I reflect on the last year, I realize that my most valuable accomplishments were not necessarily the accomplishments themselves, but the learnings that were behind them since it is those learnings that you carry with you into the new year and for the rest of your life. So, here's a little tip for setting goals and resolutions that will last you a lifetime.

For example, you could set a New Year's resolution like "lose 10 pounds" and you could accomplish it. But, perhaps a more valuable lifetime accomplishment is "learn how to lose 10 pounds". You could set out to "run a marathon" or you could "learn how to train for marathons". You could set out to "write a significant paper" or you could "learn how to write significant papers".

Of course, you do want the tangible goals and results to go along with your learnings, so I'm not suggesting you do away with them. Rather, I'm suggesting a two-part resolution. For example:

Lose 10 pounds. Learn how to lose 10 pounds.
Run a half-marathon. Learn how to train for half-marathons.
Write a significant paper. Learn how to write significant papers.
Make an impactful invention. Learn how to make impactful inventions.
Manage your finances. Learn how to manage your finances.

This also allows you to set long-term goals and resolutions, while giving you a path to get there. This suggests a three-part resolution. For example:

Long-term goal: Become a manager. Learning goal: Learn how to manage people. This year's goal: Manage an intern.

Okay... You try it! Feel free to share some of your learning resolutions here!

Best wishes for a Happy 2008!

Feel free to leave a URL with your comments.