One of my all time favorite books. I definitely need to read it again the upcoming months. There is no other book that changed the way I perceive the world more than this one. For those who read the book and take the advice by heart know how much it will change the you.
A lot has been written about user interfaces in software and online services. About face 1, 2 & 3 are probably the best books in the field. These books give you some insight in the psychological effect good and bad interfaces have on users. But most info is about common mistakes, best practices and technical aspects of the interface. So lets forget all this.
Lets go back to the basics of the interface. Its soul purpose is to communicate. What would an interface of an online service look like and how would it behave if you model it around the best practices found in How to win friend and influence people.
Today I was at High Profile’s New media Congress 07. An event for event organizers about new media. Most talks were about blogging, online video and online event participant registration and some hints about flickr, twitter and mobile internet. It is amazing how low tech this branch is, these parties still use a fax to confirm your registration.
As an event organizer you provide the services to get an event together. For me it is much like the travel agencies. The hook you up to a hotel in Italy and arrange the flight for you. The way the travel branch has developed in last couple of years is totally different though. All you want from these agencies can be done online. When will this happen in the event industry? Looks like a perfect blue ocean to me.
Users of a service don’t care how it all works. All the code, the logic, data, css and html, they don’t care. What they do care about is what it does for them. People love to involve themselves emotionally in a product. This involvement and the way it changes their lives is way more influential than the product price. If you really want something you’ll pay for it no matter what. People even take proud in the fact that they don’t know a thing about how a service works as long as it does what it’s supposed to do for them.
With commodities people go even further when a service is very important to them. They are willing to take two extra steps to make sure the service will be available to them again in the case something goes wrong as soon as possible. You probably also have an insurance for road service. Two extras to make sure you don’t have to understand anything about your car, but it will be available to you any time any where. Just to be sure.
Do you like your butt huggers in your car?
The Web 2.0 expo is great. There are lots of interesting people and it is always great so see some familiar faces. The thing that is missing though is a good social network that will help me find interesting people to talk to. At the moment i’m at a talk about the openSocial. A Google platform to tie almost any social network together. This sound like a nice idea and we’ll definitely use it to mash up some of our services.
What strikes me, is the fact, that such a great conference organizer as O’Reilly, still has the same old fashioned ideas about a conference. They try to create value by putting loads of speakers on stage. Most of the people in the room are developers, so they are used to participate and create. One thing you can’t do here at all is participate. Not even time for one question.
All these social networks are about connecting people together and share your data. So why not help the conference participants to connect, by setting up a network, so they can create something together. Or at least meet.
Help, i’m over budget, over time, i have no idea how long it will take till launch and my guess is that is probably won’t work the way i want it to. To make it even worse, the only things the junior project manager of your contractor is nagging about, are your out-off-scope-features. The vision and the mindset you have don’t line up a slightest bit with the responsibility the project manager has. You want a kick ass service that will rule the world, he only has to make sure the company he works for doesn’t spend to much time on your project.
There is a not so simple solution though: your own in-house tech team. Two weeks of pizza and beer before the launch, will guarantee you they will do the over time. Give them a percentage of your company as an extra incentive to create a rock solid service. Do some partnering with other start-ups. They have the same mindset as you. They’ll give you some excellent feedback and although you might not fully understand their service, you can do the same for them.
We call it tough love. Instead of asking; ‘What do you think about my service?’. You should ask, ‘Is there something that you would change?’, or ‘What don’t you like about it?’
The main skill we look for in a developer is they way helps us think the service through with the available technology as a basis. Is it easy to create, might there be a better way? Is this a nice solution or is it the best solution? Even simple features can have a big impact and will force you to make some tough decisions. In the end you should have a package without loose ends and can’t be gamed or fraud with.
This should also be the role of the project manager of the contractor, (together with the interaction designer), but his role will change dramatically at the end of the project. He will push to the take no as an answer, just to protect his boss’ money.
Monday, at midnight, Boris, Patrick, Lennaert and myself leave to Berlin for the web2.0 expo. A 6 hour drive at night. It should be a perfect opportunity to discuss some business. If we can stay awake we might even come up with a new strategy.
Last time we came up with a new strategy, the elevator decision strategy, we actually were in an elevator. This strategy gives you just enough time to gather all the information and come up with an intuitive answer. Besides standing up you add an extra time constrain.