January 2008 - Posts
I think that an application has done its job when it delights you. Sometimes it's very very simple and that scores brownie points, IMHO.
Check out the message I received from Plaxo (I changed some info for anonymity):
This cracks me up.
While designing applications, we attempt to pull apart the ingredients in the secret sauce of good apps. Is it the code? The platform? The screen flow? The copywriting? The graphics?
I think it's all of the above and the magic happens when the balance of those things are contextually relevant. The Plaxo message works because its wit speaks to the type of folks who use this app. We're likely techy or in the techy friendlly and we are extremely sarcastic. But this message wouldn't work in MS Office. MS Outlook is the application who should be seen and not heard, you use it all day long and it just needs to work, not trade smarmy remarks with you.
I have been observing user interviews during a project that we're partnering on. The interviewer is amazingly skilled, he's able to get out of his own way--he doesn't project his own thoughts or ideas into the interview. He's listening and calmly tailoring the pre-set questions based on the interviewee's responses. This is a skill I admire, I personally get performance anxiety and overcompensate by giving them the answer I want to hear.
Anywho, by interviewing five or so different type of users now, we've exposed such a wide array of needs that hadn't even crossed my mind before. Now we're able to understand what will be contextually relevant to these users. For example, we found that the support manager truly needs to be one step ahead of bugs, he needs a platform like blogs to communicate upcoming fixes proactively--before users run across them and get frustrated. And since this site is self/service & support type, the users of the site need to feel like they have a relationship with the site owners. So the application attitude should be "we're here to help, here's how to dialogue with us".
So many applications are built without fully understanding who will be using them. When you know who the users are and have discerned their needs, then you have metrics to measure a successful design. Simple, but not easy!
I have some strangers living with me. Well, they don't live with me, they live about 5 feet from my house in my hot tub decking. I generally wouldn't mind, however, they smell, break down my hot tub with their little gnawing teeth and keep having babies. That's just rude behavior.
Mice just don't scare me, I don't scream like a girl when I see them or anything. I have a soft heart and wrestled with the thought of killing them...although I knew I'd have to deal with them one way or another. You'd think that my cat would help me out here, but she doesn't like to deal with things like mice or flies. I would say she's tenderhearted like me, but she devours spiders like crunchy afternoon snacks...and well, she is a cat and they do like to hunt. So, I think she's just elitist and that this a job more suited for outdoor toms.
So, I got some bait (after 4 agonizing trips to home improvement stores to find the most humane bait) and set out to put it in the bait box, but the box that Terminix left me last year apparently requires PhD to open it. Or a key. That's what I found out after calling them, anyway.
Well, so in making the call to Terminix to figure out how to open the box and they convinced me that they would be better equipped to deal with this problem than me--plus they will inspect all the spaces around the house that mice might have broken into. I have to say that it didn't take much to convince me that red-blooded hands look better on someone else. What can I say? I live in a paradox of eco-thinking and luxury-protecting. I'm not proud of it and quite honestly, this ties my human guilt muscle into knots.
On to the delight part. . .
So, I told Terminix that I would be interested in their service if they could tell me when the soonest that someone could come out--because I wanted to get this done ASAP. The gal I spoke to told me that she needed to check on the technician's calendar and that she would call me back in 5-10 minutes. I received a call about 5 minutes later that the other gal who runs the technician's calendar was out to lunch, but that she'd give me another call in 20 minutes or so. She called me back shortly and we got everything setup for a technician to come out on Monday. Easy schmeezy.
Here's what delighted me about this experience:
- The gal at Terminix didn't have the answer for me. But, she promised to have an answer for me within a timeframe and her attitude was one of urgency. She understood that my time is important and that made it okay that she didn't know.
- When the Terminix gal couldn't get the answer in the timeframe she promised, she let me know. This told me that she cared about my expectations.
- Because I had confidence that she was working on it, it was not painful to wait for an answer. I had confidence because she communicated with me.
- And ultimately, I have to admit that I have major relief in not having to kill whiskered things myself. That's my own thing and I'm paying a good amount of money to live in the illusion that it's not me who's harming furry creatures. Terminix knows this and so do I--and we're both okay with that.
The Terminix gal knows how to serve people. DELIGHTFUL!
The hot tub hotel
One of my favorite blogs is Logic+Emotion and in reading David's post about Customer Experience Resolutions, he states that "...the best results come from a culture focused on serving people" . Wow. Hallelujah. Woo hoo! Someone said it out loud.
Anybody who is or who has been in the front lines is intimately aware of this. Sales & marketing sets expectations, the Tactical team, where PM often sits, is the face to implementing those expectations. While in the front lines, if one doesn't have the support he/she need in the sales > creative > development > testing > ops > tech support departments, we let down the customer. And each other.
My job, as PM, is to serve people.
-->I serve Creative by clearly identifying the customer's requirements.
-->I serve Engineering by delivering them specs, redlines, comps, wireframes and any other deliverables they may need.
-->I serve QA by including them at the beginning of project, delivering specs and making sure they aren't squeezed at the end of the project.
-->I serve the Site User by ensuring the site delights them.
-->I serve Ops by ensuring that they get proper setup information and fair warning about shipping.
-->I serve Management by creating weekly project reports.
-->I serve the Product Team not only by implementing their product, but with clearly written bugs and clients' product suggestions.
-->I serve my entire company with each completed project launch.
I serve each customer by making them look good. What does that mean? When a customer gets kudos(from their customer, boss, co-workers, grandma, kids, cat, etc) about his/her project you know you've hit the mark. Simple, not easy.
I am constantly in service and you know what? It feels good.
It goes the other way too, I need people in order to serve people: Creative delivers the design, Engineering delivers the code, QA delivers a clear conscience, Ops lays the foundation, Management sets direction and the Product team innovates. It's all reciprocal--and that feels good too. Like a team, a good system, comrades...good folks.
Google's informal motto is "Don't be evil". Who would you be evil with? People. Same concept.
There are lots of tools that can help one serve people--email, websites, project status reports, file sharing, ticketing systems, bug systems, etc. Those are just tools, though. Attitude is the foundation of it all. Well served people makes good business.