Hallopello Blog

It’s a good thing this blog post was written by a man. If it were written by a woman, she would be vilified among every feminist and mom (both stay-at-home and working ones!) circles. But instead, this blog post is lauded among techies, especially ones that think “omg this describes me to a T[-shape]”. Women have actually… Read more: Full Stack of Baloney

These images were originally published last year in my internal IBM blog, but I thought it would be nice to share it externally, after a recent conversation I had with my designer buddy Tracee. This is the dawn of design at IBM. There is not only a new IBM Design organization, but also a new… Read more: Design Thinking and Doing

I admit I became interested in watching Halt and Catch Fire when I was flipping channels and I caught the guy saying at the beginning of the first episode that he was from IBM. I almost felt like they must have gotten an ex-IBMer as a consultant to make fun of IBM and amplify the… Read more: Don’t let your daughters watch Halt and Catch Fire

    I never fully understood the problem I had with “Lean In” until I read “Outliers.” The basic message I got from “Outliers” is that you owe your success to a million different factors (many of which are predetermined to throw you onto a success track). So many women will read “Lean In” and… Read more: You can’t Lean In if you don’t have someone to hold you up

I remember way back when IBM Connect was called Lotusphere, there would be two big surprises that everyone waited for…who was going to be the guest opening general session speaker, and at which theme park the big party was going to be. Nowadays the guest opening general session speaker is still a surprise, but there… Read more: From IBM to Scott Adams

I’ve been wanting to write about my experience as one of those “elusive” female software engineers, but I haven’t actually had that many experiences with discrimination as a female software engineer than I have trying to become a designer-slash-developer. I think part of it is the culture of the company I work for (IBM), and… Read more: You don’t have to be hot to be a female software engineer

It’s natural that people who have a common background tend to stick together and form an immediate bond even if they just met. This is definitely the case with anyone who has ever worked at IBM. The culture at IBM is…special. Ok, for the most part, people don’t wear suits much, but I do remember… Read more: On being an IBMer

This really hit hard for me the other day when I tweeted about a 16-person conference call I was on and someone I didn’t really know replied and wondered if we worked at the same company. Turns out we did, unfortunately. I’m not saying it’s like this all the time where I work. In fact,… Read more: Meeting Infographic: Who is really on your conference call?

I never realized how easy it is to patent something, until I started working for IBM. There is a really great program there that rewards employees for patents filed and articles published. It benefits the company because it can keep continuing its reigning championship of “Most Patents Awarded to a Company Ever”, and it benefits… Read more: There are no new ideas, just new patents

I just can’t resist feeding a little gremlin when it is close to bedtime, if he says something like this: And after feeding him, I absolutely have to give him more food, if he does this:    

In any job, there is usually “the way” that things are done. You can’t usually get around it, it’s just how people do things. Sometimes it’s not worth worrying about because you’ve already conditioned yourself to take the pain of extra steps (like before I found out how to escape from text editing mode in… Read more: That’s the way the process crumbles

The “women having it all” debate isn’t new. Even before Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article, even before I had my own blog post about it, there was this: When I was a freshman in college, I took a class called “Introduction to the Visual Arts” that was your typical “easy humanities requirement”. We had to do a project… Read more: You can’t have it all, but you can try

Last month’s internal IBM comic I did was a salt-on-the-wounds knock on what really happens in hour-long conference calls. Even if you don’t work at IBM, I’m pretty sure you’ve encountered similar things. Here’s a video that’s proof of that: David Grady: The Conference Call

There are just some places you don’t even try taking a toddler. Like Carnegie Hall. Or a restaurant that doesn’t have crayons. But there are places that you can’t avoid taking them, like to church. A few weeks ago the letter from the pastor in the church bulletin was a reminder to everyone that church… Read more: “Judge not lest ye be judged”

IBM has some “Transition to” programs to help employees prepare for the next phases of their lives or career, like the “Transition to Teaching” program, which helps employees become teachers by funding the education needed to gain credentials. IBM recently announced a special program called “Transition to Retirement” that would guarantee employment through 2013 for eligible… Read more: Helping employees transition to life from work

Ah, golf. Whenever I see golf, I’m reminded of lazy Sunday afternoons when I was a kid and there was absolutely NOTHING on tv. Nothing. But sometimes golf gets interesting. Like that whole Tiger Woods drama. Or the recent news regarding the US Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club and the female CEO… Read more: What I think about the green jacket

My favorite pencil (since the days of architecture studio in college) is the General “DRAUGHTING” pencil. The lead is dark and soft, which allows for such variation in shading. I do some sketching with it, but usually use a lighter pencil if I know I’m going to ink over it. It’s a pencil that just… Read more: Horses are hard to draw

Internally at the company I work for, we use our own product called Connections for doing social business. What exactly IS social business? Don’t let people catch you saying that Connections is “Facebook for the enterprise”…because I often describe it to non-corporate people that way and it is just frowned upon. Basically, it’s…well…it’s LIKE “Facebook… Read more: Being “social” in a big company

Working from home sucks sometimes. I love the flexibility and the fact that I don’t have to dress nicely (although you could argue that I never dressed nicely to begin with :P), but sometimes it’s lonely when you’re alone at home. I used to work in a group where everyone sat together in a big… Read more: Working from home

Here is the comic I did for IBM’s internal news website for February. We are celebrating Watson this month so the editors thought it would be appropriate for me to do a Watson-themed comic. And of course, nothing is funnier than inanimate objects having thoughts and a voice! Although, Watson already technically has a voice… Read more: Poking fun at Watson, because it can’t poke back

In an earlier post, I said I was going to tell you about how there’s really only one downside to being a designer who can code. Well, here it is: Ok, so no one has really said that to me out loud, but I think it’s pretty obvious that’s what people think. Otherwise, why would… Read more: The downside to being a designer who can code

There’s this woman I see regularly at this place I go, and she is always very grumpy. No, I’m not talking about looking in the mirror, sheesh. This woman is just always bitter, always looking down at people with a stern look of disapproval. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile or laugh with… Read more: Being true to your character

Everyone says that stuff never translates well in IM or email, and that a phone conversation or face to face is better because at least you can hear voice inflection or see facial expressions. But sometimes even those don’t translate well. I wasn’t actually clipping my toenails, but I might as well have been, since… Read more: Yes, that’s exactly what I do all day

I always wanted to do political cartoons, so any chance I get to do something like it, I get excited. The company I work for started this new intranet series last year which featured a monthly internal comic strip. I got the chance to do one for this week. Every year we have to get… Read more: Business Conduct Guidelines: Certification Complete!

I had a rather interesting email thread go on at work that I wanted to illustrate, but it seemed too boring once I thought it through, so I just decided to draw a picture of what I thought was really happening through email: Ok, maybe it’s going a bit overboard comparing my situation to the… Read more: This is why email is terrible

Product development is truly a difficult process, especially when it involves a big team of people. Everyone has their distinct roles, and people are constantly inventing methods to keep those roles in check and make sure that everyone is working toward the same end goal. “Agile development” is one of those methods that is in… Read more: How to Really Be Agile

It’s tough creating anything that is to be consumed by others. Whether that is a painting you make, or software you write, or a sandwich cut into the shape of something to make it more palatable to your kid, the beauty of it is definitely in the eye of the beholder. Anything you make is… Read more: Beauty (or offensiveness) is in the eye of the beholder

A debate that I see pop up every so often is “should designers know how to code“. If you Google that, you can read all the blog posts for both sides. Here’s my answer to that question: Why not? I know, it’s such a cop-out answer. But really, it’s up to a designer to decide… Read more: Should designers know code? Sure, why not?

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a working mother. When I was growing up, my mom stayed at home with us. She didn’t start working until we were all safely in elementary school, and even then, I only remember a handful of times when she didn’t pick me up… Read more: Plight of the working mother