(Note: I use Outlook 2007 but this should work in later versions as well with hopefully minor modifications.)

Create a top-level folder called “Archive”

This folder will store all the emails you no longer want to have in your inbox but don’t want to delete. Having all the emails in one place makes it very easy to find a specific email by just about any criteria – sender, date, subject. When you search, Outlook will filter to show only the items that match your criteria right as you type, which makes locating emails very quick.

Set up and use Categories instead of folders

Using the “Categories” feature of Outlook has several advantages over using folders. For one, it lets you categorize emails without moving them from your inbox. If you use your inbox as a sort of to-do list, this can be very handy as it keeps you from jumping between folders to see what you need to do or respond to.

Another advantage is that you can apply more than one category to any given email. This is the biggest restriction in using folders because you can only file something away into one group. Sometimes, though, emails can be classified into two or more groups, which might require complex folder hierarchies that will make finding that email all that much more difficult. Categories remove this problem because you can assign as many categories as you want to an email.

Categories can also be color-coded, which enables a quick way for you to scan through a long list of emails and locate just the ones that you are interested in. The colors are also reflected in Calendar if you categorize your meeting requests.

If you don’t have a “Categories” column in your email view, you can add by right-clicking in the table header (where is shows the subject, sender, etc.) and selecting “Field Chooser”. In this dialog, locate “Categories” and drag it into your email list view where you want the categories to appear. I have them as the last column for easy scanning.

If you want to view all your emails for a given category, this can be easily accomplished by setting some view options in Outlook. You can sort by category, then choose the View > Arrange By > Show in Groups option.

Add an “Archive” button to your toolbar

This is kind of an advanced bonus feature you can add to make archiving emails even easier. For this, you need to be somewhat comfortable using macros.

First, create a new macro called “Archive”. Use the following code and just substitute the name of your top-level folder (the one containing Inbox, Deleted Items, etc.):

Sub Archive()
On Error Resume Next
    Dim objFolder1 As Outlook.MAPIFolder, objFolder2 As Outlook.MAPIFolder
    Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace, objItem As Outlook.MailItem

    Set objNS = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")
    Set objFolder1 = objNS.Folders("Name of your top-level folder")
    Set objFolder2 = objFolder1.Folders("Archive")

    If objFolder2 Is Nothing Then
        MsgBox "This folder doesn't exist!", vbOKOnly + vbExclamation, "INVALID FOLDER"
    End If

    If Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection.Count = 0 Then
        'Require that this procedure be called only when a message is selected
        Exit Sub
    End If

    For Each objItem In Application.ActiveExplorer.Selection
        If objFolder.DefaultItemType = olMailItem Then
            If objItem.Class = olMail Then
                objItem.Move objFolder2
            End If
        End If
    Next
    Set objItem = Nothing
    Set objFolder1 = Nothing
    Set objFolder2 = Nothing
    Set objNS = Nothing
End Sub

(Note that I did not write this code myself. It’s based on sample code I found elsewhere and modified to suit my needs.)

Next, to add the button, go to View > Toolbars > Customize. In the Commands tab, select category “Macros”. This will show a list of all the macros you have defined. Click and drag your “Archive” macro to the toolbar of your choice (I put mine in the main toolbar, but you can also create a custom toolbar just for this button).

Once you have the button placed you can close the dialog and start using the button right away – just select an email in your inbox, click the button, and it should be moved to your Archive folder.

However, if you want to make it look a bit nicer, go back to the Customize dialog (you can right-click the button and select “Customize”). In the Commands tab, click the button “Rearrange Commands”. This will bring up another dialog. Select the toolbar that contains your Archive button and then select the button in the list of controls. If you click on the “Modify Selection” button to the right, you’ll get a long list of options. The first thing you should change is the name so it just says “Archive”. The other thing is you may want to change the icon or choose to not display an icon at all.

And that’s it! Now you should have a nice button in your toolbar for quickly archiving email messages.

I’ve been using this method of archiving and categorizing for several years now and have found that it really improves my productivity within Outlook. I don’t have to dig through folders looking for something I received 6 months ago and I don’t have to worry about filing my emails to stay organized. As soon as there is nothing actionable left for me to do regarding an email, I archive it and forget about it until I need to reference it again. It’s a great way to get things done.

You can download the slides here (in PDF form) or here (in PPTX form).

I found there are four things you need to do in parallel: learn, stay current, practice, and evangelize. Sometimes you’ll focus on one more than others, but to be successful, you really need to juggle all four. (And it doesn’t stop after you’ve made the switch, you just have less to learn and more to stay current on.)

Learn

Although a lot of design is common sense, you still need to learn how to recognize what sense is “common” and what is not. To this end, I recommend attending conferences and seminars and reading books.

Depending on where you live, there may be a local SIGCHI, UPA, or IxDA chapter that organizes events and seminars – that would be the first thing to check out because local events are usually less expensive and more intimate than the big national conferences put on by these organizations. Regarding the bigger conferences, I can’t speak for UPA or Interaction, but CHI tends to be more academic, so it may not be the best use of funding (if you’re lucky enough to get it in this economy). I found UIE’s UI conference to be great for a beginner, with great speakers and day-long seminars that cover subjects like design strategy, intro to interaction design, paper prototyping, and many others in full detail.

For books, I recommend Robert’s first book Designing the Obvious and Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug. These are quick reads, but they manage to cover a lot of design basics – definitely enough to get you started. Books like About Face by Alan Cooper, while comprehensive and often recommended, are more useful as references when you need to look up how to solve a particular problem. It’s not something you’ll want to read cover-to-cover (unless you have a lot of time on your hands).

Stay Current

There is a bit of overlap between learning and staying current, but I think they deserve to be called out individually because the resources you use are different.

To get and stay current in the field, you should make Google Reader or another RSS feed aggregator your best friend. Blogs are by far the best way to stay in touch with the design community. Here are a few that I recommend:

• Signal vs. Noise
• UIE Brain Sparks
• Boxes and Arrows
• Seth Godin’s Blog

If you find an author you like, they probably have a blog – look it up. If you do some development, read developer blogs. Subscribe to Gizmodo if you have time to spare. Whatever you’re interested, subscribe to the feed and you’ll be on top of all the latest news, trends, and techniques.

Another fantastic resource for staying current is the SXSW Interactive conference. This will be the best investment you make, guaranteed. You’ll be surrounded by bright and creative people and all the emerging technologies. It’s a great motivator and a great way to meet all those internet ‘celebrities’ like Jared and Robert (not to mention Kathy Sierra, Jason Fried, Jeffrey Zeldman, and many others).

Practice

The only way to become a designer is to design. Even if it’s not in your job description, start incorporating design techniques you read or hear about.

Do some hallway usability tests, make a paper prototype, create some mock-ups before diving into the code. One of the first things I did was create a paper prototype and run some usability tests with people in the office. We got some great feedback this way that led to a much better design. It’s amazing how much a quick and dirty usability test can uncover.

Another thing you can do is start asking questions: Who are the users? Why do they need our tool? How do they currently accomplish their tasks? Why do we need features x, y, and z? What workflow are we trying to support? These are the types of things a designer needs to tackle for every project, so the sooner you start asking questions, the sooner you’ll figure out the right questions to ask. If you’re lucky, you may get to talk to some real users and observe them in their environment.

Find the low-hanging fruit for your project – something that would be easy to improve – and do it. It may not be the most visible thing or lead to impressive results, but at least you’ll get to practice your skills and it’ll give you something to talk about when you need to convince others of the value of design and usability. The more you do, the more people will start to see you as the “expert” in the field.

Evangelize

There’s no getting away from this one. You have to be passionate about great design and usability and you need to talk about it. Make it a point to know all the key decision makers in your company and meet with them on a regular basis. Even if it’s over coffee in the break room, you need to spread the idea that usability is a priority, not a “nice-to-have”. It’s usually not hard to convince people that usability is necessary, but it is hard to get them to act on that belief.

One of the things I did is establish a Usability Special Interest Group where we review our current products and mock-ups, read and discuss design-related books, and share other interesting information we learn at conferences or read online. We have a group of people interested in usability (developers, managers, interaction designers, and technical writers) who learn together and all now evangelize usability on the projects they’re involved with. In addition to being a support group for like-minded individuals, it’s also a great way to spread the influence.

What you do will depend on your organization and its culture. Just find the right people and talk, talk, talk. This is a great way to establish yourself as a usability expert and to start swaying the company culture in the direction of usability, where they will actually value your work.



Remember, it’s better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission. The best way to make the switch to interaction designer is to start doing the work. As a developer, you are intimately involved in your products, so you have a great chance to influence them. Don’t wait for someone to ask you to design something or run a usability test – just do it and then present the results. Time may be a concern, but if you don’t find the time for design, no one else will either. Learn, stay current, practice, and evangelize and soon enough, people will see you as the designer you want to be.

Then order your new business cards.

Nothing says “we care about our employees” more than a corporate hairdryer in the ladies’ room.

The treasures of my file cabinet, left by some unknown office worker long ago and only now excavated by me, armed with a new key to open the cabinet. Using the penny-dating technique, I place these contents somewhere between 1975 and 1992.

One reader shared with me the story of his brainteaser interview.

During a screening interview, I was asked how I would design a bike fit for someone visually impaired. I responded something to the effect of, “What, like, for blind people?”, and she answered yes. 

I thought for a moment and then I responded, “Well.. a blind person riding a bike doesn’t sound like a very safe idea, so I would make the bike stationary, maybe with a fan blowing in the person’s face. He probably wouldn’t even know the difference.”

She was speechless.

Now, granted, he will not get the job. Despite the complete absurdity of the design request, and the complete practicality of his answer, the job will go to a candidate who manages to answer the question by designing an extremely overcomplicated solution for a completely non-existent problem. And that candidate will be the same person who designs their software.

– Classic WTF: Job Interview 2.0: Now With Riddles!