Lean UX, sister discipline to the agile development method, is user experience design and usability testing for fast-paced software teams. UX designers build flowcharts, construct wireframes, and conduct user research to help teams design new product features. A UX designer working with an agile team would do all these things while adhering to the tenets of lean UX. But since we can’t really talk about lean UX until we understand agile, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page.
Aside from having to deal with weather, mud, and the occasional slippery rock, there are key issues related to sample quality that can make testing water specimens from the field a bigger challenge than lab testing. That is why, when it comes to confidence and accuracy in onsite testing for nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, pH, and more, there’s nothing like using the right tools to do the job on the spot. Here is a quick checklist of trials, tribulations, and potential solutions for streamside sampling.
New technology helps utilities meet the challenges of maintaining a safe and adequate public water supply.
Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) processes involve injecting sand to keep pores of a well open. When the well is brought back online after fracking, some of that sand burps back up to the surface and into a separator. The unwanted byproducts, paraffin and sand, accumulate in the separator tanks or vessels and must be removed to prevent irreparable damage to the separator’s fire tube. However, removing the sand is a costly process resulting in lost production and man-hours. To address the costly replacement of separators due to sand buildup and improve the efficiency of their separator preventative maintenance plan, Noble Energy created a sand measurement method using intrinsically safe optical gas imaging cameras, specifically, the FLIR GFx320.
Municipal wastewater operations require significant energy to operate, but the biogas produced solely through anerobic digestion of sludge isn’t typically enough to offset the electricity and heat load demand at plants. Advanced anaerobic digestion technology, however, can change the equation so wastewater treatment plants can get closer to energy neutrality and in some cases even generate an excess.
Over the past 10 years, DC Water has become the harbinger of the modern water utility. It’s often unconventional approach to tackling age-old problems usually elicits one of two responses from other utility professionals. The first response is one of resignation — if only I had the budget that size permits, I’d be able to do similar things. And the second is one of awe — there’s no way I have the amount of gumption to convince regulators or customers that I have a better way.
Recently, Ohio Governor John Kasich issued an executive order allowing the Ohio Department of Agriculture to set requirements for storing, handling and applying manure as well as nutrient management plans in an effort to reduce nutrient pollution and algal bloom growth in Lake Erie. The order is set to affect 7,000 farms across 2 million acres.
Pop quiz. What is the first goal of any cold email? To get it read. Makes sense, right? So what’s the primary goal of your first sentence? The surprisingly simple answer is…to get the second sentence read.
Challenged by QSR and fast food chains, Rich’s Burgers-N-Grub looked to streamline operations and speed food orders to get lunchtime patrons back to work and keep customer loyalty high.
Potable reuse of wastewater has gone by many different names, some of them unflattering, like “toilet to tap.” Despite the clear benefits of water reuse, this so-called “ick factor” has slowed the adoption of technology that can transform wastewater into drinking water.
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