Great article on core77 -"The experience imperative"
I'll make this list into my new desktop background. It reminded me of a SCAD ID alumni who worked for huggies or was it pampers?... Anyway he went out on his free-time, on his own dollar, to do contextual research outside of work (with real babies!). Long story short he ended up managing the research team for the brand (If you where in Jon Kolko's studio 1 you might recall this story). It's kind of sad that to get the job done required that much sacrifice but I see now why it had to be done that way.
A lot changes when you go from school to the work place. It's funny but last night I had to actually work at home to get anything done/think. The designer inside of me has been kind of beaten down for various reasons, some are due/multiplied by my massive inferiority complex. So for me this article is just an affirmation I needed to get my head back in the game.