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Articles by Torrey
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Video highlights of Confab 2018
Video highlights of Confab 2018
I was blown away by Confab 2018. I thought I'd share my favorite 3 of the videos now available online.
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16K followers
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Torrey Podmajersky reposted thisTorrey Podmajersky reposted thisVoters with disabilities: Help us make election information more accessible The Center for Civic Design is conducting a study to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of websites that provide information about accessible voting in the US. This study will help us develop a set of evidence-based recommendations to make digital elections content easier for voters with disabilities to comprehend. About the study Dates: April 2nd - April 17th Location: Virtual, over Zoom Compensation: $50 - $ 70, depending on level of engagement Disability focus: Voters who are blind, have low vision, or a cognitive or literacy disability Sign up for the study: https://lnkd.in/e6yzAGZU This is a two-part study, with an optional short self-paced task, followed by a 1-hour interview over Zoom.
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Torrey Podmajersky shared thisI want you to come to Button, see the best new info from our speakers, and connect in our one-of-a-kind community. If that would be a hardship for you, please apply for the scholarship THIS WEEK! 🙏🏻
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Torrey Podmajersky shared thisI'm not writing a book anymore—in fact, I may get my physical copies as early as today! 😱 But what do I do now? What do we all do, with all this ::gestures broadly:: going on? I share some finds and philosophy in this week's Chirp newsletter.
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Torrey Podmajersky reposted thisTorrey Podmajersky reposted thisGreat fireside chat with Carrie Hane. A bit that hit hard: companies are using AI to generate more and more content, but AI performs better with less of it when it’s ruthlessly accurate. The example of an AI giving the wrong CEO name because an old press release was still hanging around on the site was a clear demonstration. Not a hallucination. Just old content being the first thing found. Turns out content's important! 😜
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Torrey Podmajersky shared this"Oh, did you need that?" The absolute innocence. The frustratingly obvious problem. Am I talking about Bailey (the rescue horse pictured) stepping on the hose while I try to fill watering troughs? Or am I talking about the resources, meetings, and access required to do my job well, that other people don't realize they're blocking? When I work in design, I'm always working deeply in context. I absolutely need the context of what business problem this feature or product needs to do, and I also need the context for the user and for the customer. When I work on a farm in early Spring, I'm always working deeply in mud... like the mud I had just dragged this hose through, that Bailey is stepping on.
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Torrey Podmajersky shared thisCome listen to these wonderful people (and their embedded, multi-model, constant-iteration, biological neural networks) about systems thinking—one of the most important topics for people in content and design to understand.Torrey Podmajersky shared this🗓️ April 23: You’re invited to a special Button event! Join host Torrey Podmajersky and guest speakers Keri Maijala and Cindy Xiong from the LinkedIn Content/Conversation Design team for a chat about the role humans play in systems thinking. Turn in for the talk, participate in a live Q&A, and get the session recording after it ends! Register for free: https://lnkd.in/g98hh2hg — A special thank you to our watch party sponsor: Communication Leadership at the University of Washington. This program teaches in-demand skills in growing communication fields. Advance your career with an AI-ready master’s degree focused on storytelling, content, and purpose-driven leadership. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gYEwYBKJ
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Torrey Podmajersky shared thisSuch a helpful framing to understand how you might use and consider language differently for different moments. Thanks Emily!
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Torrey Podmajersky shared thisUX Skills for Business Strategy went to the printer yesterday. IT IS DONE. 🦄🍷🎉 Happy 0th birthday to our big, audacious book, and happy first book to Maya Elise Joseph-Goteiner and Kim Mats Mats. You made this book pretty amazing. The ebook will be available soon (next week?), and the printed book will be shipped to pre-orders in the next 3-4 weeks. You'll see me posting even more about it, and events we'll have about it, over the next weeks and months, but I wanted to mark the occasion.
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Torrey Podmajersky shared thisSeriously, though - I feel this to the bottom of my soul. The talks are SO GOOD. They are nerdy, insightful, heartfelt, and precisely what companies need their content designers (and everybody who works on content) to know. I can't wait to share these amazing people with all of you, while I also wish that we could pack! even! more! of these astoundingly good talks into Button.Torrey Podmajersky shared thisAs we put the finishing touches on the #Button2026 program and prepare to reach out to selected speakers next week, we want to take a moment to say how much we appreciate the time, thought, and care that went into every single submission. This community continues to surprise, delight, and impress the heck out of us. We received hundreds of submissions this year (!!!), and with a limited number of speaking slots, narrowing things down is never easy. So many strong ideas, thoughtful perspectives, and real-world experiences. It’s what makes building this program both exciting and incredibly tough. If you’re curious what we tend to look for, here’s what stands out: • Tangible takeaways you can actually apply in your work • Practical case studies and lessons learned • Fresh perspectives on common content design challenges • Original ideas that feel timely and relevant Thanks to Keri Maijala, Jonathan McFadden, Torrey Podmajersky, and Andrew Stein for your brilliant brains — we’re grateful for our inaugural Button Board. And a big thank-you to Tenessa Gemelke for your continued work shaping the program. We’re deep in the final selection process now and getting very close! We can’t wait to reveal the full speaker lineup SOOOOOON. 👀
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Torrey Podmajersky liked thisTorrey Podmajersky liked thisTalking about what *might* happen in the future is a great way to avoid engaging with or taking responsibility for the material realities of what is happening now.
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Torrey Podmajersky reacted on thisA good read for my coachees and anyone looking to be promoted. Zania Barnum’s talk at Flux last year really highlighted the often invisible work that so many of us (especiallly women and people from marginalised groups) end up doing that is important, sure, but perhaps not as impactful or “promotable”. I talk in coaching sessions about shifting the mindset and narrative from focusing purely on initiatives (doing the things) to impact (the difference it makes). I also talk to lots of people who *are* making a real difference but are struggling to see that. So, have a read and let this be your permission slip to shout a little louder about the amazing work you’re doing – and get the flowers you deserve. 💐Torrey Podmajersky reacted on this𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁, 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 Most careers don't stall because of a lack of talent. They stall because people spend time on the wrong work — or the right work isn't visible to the people who matter. Last October I delivered a talk on this at Flux Convergence in London. The feedback made it clear this needed more room than a talk allows. I promised the article by end of year. It's March. I know. The delay wasn't only the writing — it was also the format. I had more content than a 20-minute talk could hold, and standard publishing formats couldn't tell the story the way I wanted. So I built my own site instead, and that's what made this possible. The article is called 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚, 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝-𝙄𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙩, 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠. At its core, it's about the difference between 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 and 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 work — how to recognize it and what to do about it. I developed two frameworks. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘆𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗱 tells you what kind of work you're doing. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘅 tells you how to evaluate it. Both are read through two lenses: 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵, which tells you whether the work will be rewarded, and 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆, which tells you whether you can sustain it. From there, five 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 give you something tangible to act on. There's also 𝗮 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 that touches on why non-promotable work disproportionately affects women. I saved it for the end deliberately, but it's worth reading regardless of where you sit. ~25 minutes. Worth it if this is something you're navigating. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/egBEqKZ7
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Torrey Podmajersky reacted on thisTorrey Podmajersky reacted on thisSeattle friends, join me and my fabulous co-authors, Maya and Torrey, in-person on April 28 to celebrate the publication of our book, UX Skills for Business Strategy. Blink is hosting a book launch celebration for the Seattle community, and we have a great event planned, including drinks, snacks, giveaways, and - you guessed it - cake. (Which of the incredible flavors from Cakes of Paradise, pictured? You’ll just have to show up to find out.) We’ll give a short talk about how our book enables connecting skills to business impact and why this is so timely, but the real icing on top is the chance for community conversations and connections. Space is limited, so sign up at the Eventbrite link in comments. I hope to see you there!
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Torrey Podmajersky reacted on thisTorrey Podmajersky reacted on thisin the most recent episode of The Content-first Poidcast, Torrey Podmajersky and I talked about something that quietly breaks a lot of organizations—meaning at scale. As teams grow, add channels, and bring in AI, the problem isn’t producing more content. It’s keeping the message clear. The same words start to mean different things. Things drift. And suddenly, everything feels just a little off. That’s exactly where Torrey Podmajersky has focused her work. She’s spent years helping teams create language systems that actually hold together as they scale. In her new book, she takes that even further—showing how to build content that stays consistent, usable, and human, even as complexity increases. In this conversation, we get into why meaning breaks down, what it actually takes to scale it, and how to bring clarity back into the way teams communicate and build. https://lnkd.in/er9Dx462Clarity at Scale: Fixing Meaning Drift in Product Teams - with Torrey PodmajerskyClarity at Scale: Fixing Meaning Drift in Product Teams - with Torrey Podmajersky
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Torrey Podmajersky reacted on thisI've always appreciated the Pac-Man Rule ever since I first heard Eric Holscher describe it at the #WriteTheDocs conference. Excellent practice in life in general: Wherever you find yourself standing, make space for all to feel welcome and included.Torrey Podmajersky reacted on thisLove how the Pac-Man Rule has made it to far into the Python community here at #PythonAsia. If you want to learn more about it: https://lnkd.in/gFHguyZJ
Experience & Education
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University of Washington
View Torrey’s full experience
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Publications
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Take the Time to Use Fewer Words
Microsoft Design blog on Medium.com
See publicationtl;dr: If a user experience needs an explanation, something is fundamentally broken. Consider redesigning the experience until people no longer need it explained to them.
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What to Write: Communicating Based on User Need
User Experience Magazine
See publicationThe Content Continuum breaks down user intent so that writers can make better decisions about what to write--and, just as importantly, what to leave out.
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The Natural History of Carnivorism in Unicorns
Mad Scientist Journal
See publicationA scientific paper.
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Automatic Selection
Daily Science Fiction
See publicationInternet of Things gets a very personal virus.
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Gathering Grace
Hanford Mead Publishers
See publicationGathering Grace is the story of a superhero and a supervillain--and the granddaughter they have in common. When Grace moves from one grandmother's house to the other, their lives and the city is changed forever.
Patents
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Persistent User Identification
US 9595146
Organizations
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Science Fiction Writers of America
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Recommendations received
4 people have recommended Torrey
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