When Steve Long-Nguyen Robbins was growing up, his mother routinely told him, "Long, you walk on a path cleared by others, so it is your responsibility to clear the path for others." Her insightful guidance and self-sacrificing example are the forces that drive Robbins's corporate work around diversity and inclusion today. His goal is unwavering: to clear the path for others and recruit more "path makers" --to honor his mother and to make a better world for everyone. In What If?, Robbins provides twenty-six inspiring, lively, and sometimes deeply personal stories illustrating diversity and inclusion concepts. He offers insight and practical advice on how to reconcile unity with diversity and reframe our organizations for competitive advanges. He adds tips and suggestions for putting keylearning into action in your organization, ending each chapter with questions, an activity, and an assignment to inspire you to be more open-minded and inclusive and to discover how the ideas presented in the book might apply to your daily life at work and at home.

Proven techniques, best practices, and tips for writing effective user stories, leveraging user story mapping, and expert interviews to deliver high value to users Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook Key Features Learn how to write and implement effective user stories to improve product development Discover techniques to gather requirements, prioritize, and refine user stories Handle stakeholder expectations, communicate user stories, and incorporate user feedback Book DescriptionThe Art of Crafting User Stories is a must-read for product managers, UX professionals, and product developers dedicated to creating meaningful digital experiences. This book provides a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to empower you to master the techniques for creating user stories that drive effective product development. This book takes you on a journey from identifying and capturing user needs, goals, and perspectives through user stories, to crafting impactful stories for design choices and organizing tasks efficiently. You’ll learn how to define the problem area, recognize user personas, and develop user scenarios with the aid of real-world examples, practical tips, and exercises designed to help you develop your skills in crafting user-centered experiences. Moreover, you’ll gain a thorough understanding of user stories, their role in Agile development, and how to use them to plan and manage products effectively. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to improve the quality and efficiency of your own products by applying the hands-on practical skills to create compelling digital experiences that resonate with users and stay relevant in the market.What you will learn Leverage user personas in product development for prioritizing features and guiding design decisions Communicate with stakeholders to gather accurate information for writing user stories Avoid common mistakes by implementing best practices for user story development Estimate the time and resources required for each user story and incorporate estimates into the product plan Apply product frameworks and techniques for user story prioritization and requirement elicitation Benefit from the experiences, insights, and practices of experts in the field of user story mapping Who this book is forIf you're interested in learning about user stories, as a product management method in Agile development, this book is for you. It's suitable for anyone involved in software development, including product managers, product owners, Agile coaches, designers, product analysts, and developers. Although prior experience with Agile development is not expected, a basic understanding of software development will be beneficial.

This book positions the concept of Storying as integral to leadership in qualitative research, drawing on a wide range of studies and perspectives by diverse, minoritized leaders. Presenting stories of leadership, resistance, diversity, and cultural wealth, these chapters highlight “problems of practice” from Latinx, Black, and BIPOC administrators, special education teachers, EOP community college students, and parents, including those undocumented. Crucially, the book showcases where “leadership in place” is exemplified through storying, arguing that “storying” is more empowering in qualitative research since it acknowledges the identities and reflexivity of both the researcher and the researched. This significant aspect of research methodology not only addresses cultural historicity but also fosters authentic representations of participant identities and lived experiences. The chapters directly and innovatively address these power dynamics and show how they are re-negotiated within spaces that are culturally relevant, socially situated, and historically constructed. They demonstrate how, through storying, the limits of textual interpretations can be traversed. This unique volume contributes to the growing literature on the largest minority group in the United States and is highly relevant to those with interests in educational leadership, race and ethnicity, research methods, and qualitative research.

This book offers an innovative framework and set of pedagogical pathways for deepening college student learning through critical engagement with place. Though the what and how of teaching and learning rightly take center stage in research of best practices, this book argues that the where of education deserves increased attention. Drawing from interviews and case studies with college and university educators in the United States and Canada, Learning on Location highlights pedagogies-in-action and identifies programmatic models for embedding location-based learning within specific courses, majors, curricula, and campus-wide initiatives. Chapters provide a mix of theoretical framing and practical application, with three key practices grounding the text: writing on location, walking on location, and engaging the civic on location. This resource is an invaluable guide for higher education faculty, leaders, and practitioners seeking to enhance student experience through attention to location, support identity-conscious student success, and use reflection and praxis to move toward more inclusive and equitable learning experiences. Supplemental resources—including example assignments, discussion questions for reading groups, and more—are available at www.centerforengagedlearning.org/books/learning-on-location.

This practical book offers a multifaceted view of cultural inclusion from the perspective of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It provides a road map for teachers to ensure increased participation in arts and culture for children and young people with SEND, defining a series of characteristics for good practice. Chapters explore spaces as diverse as galleries, museums, theatres and performance venues and include a variety of case studies, highlighting the experiences of young people and the organisations who partner with schools. Cultural Inclusion for Young People with SEND offers a compelling call to action and is an essential resource for those who have the power to improve and support the development of future provision for children with SEND.