Good Experience Design

Quince Pro is for Real

2010-03-01T18:01:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to drop a quick line to say that the newest rendition of Quince is now officially launched/live at http://quince.infragistics.com.

With this comes a redesign of the free, community Quince UX patterns library as well as a number of new features like the corkboard and annotated pattern examples.

The Pro version let's design professionals create private design libraries to store patterns and design examples to facilitate team collaboration creating consistent experiences.

To learn more about all this, you can check out Craig Shoemaker's post and video introduction or just go and start poking around for yourself.

I hope y'all think it's as cool as I do--I'm really glad to be able to work on cool products like this one.

Enjoy!

New Design Jobs at Infragistics

2010-02-24T10:31:00.002-05:00

It's that time again. :) We're expanding our Design team here at Infragistics with some interesting and challenging spots that call for some specialization in interaction design that is not standard.

Who is Infragistics? Among other things, we make Quince, a RIA design patterns tool, which we just updated to enable folks to have their own private libraries and annotated examples. We've also been in the software biz for over 20 years doing UI tools and component for devs.

We have a vibrant Design team consisting of a gaggle of IxDs and visual designers who collaborate together to design awesome stuff.

So here are the open spots with more info. Feel free to email me with portfolio, CV, etc. at ambrose [at] infragistics [dot] com or use the Apply buttons on the linked pages below. (Hint: Emailing me is better. ;) )

Developer Interaction Designer - focused on the holistic developer experience, with a special focus on API design as well as dev helps like design-time support and help integration.
Senior Dev IxD - same as above, only with more experience. ;)
Information Designer - focused on empowering people to create beautiful evidence.

Thanks for listening!

Thoughts on Thoughts on Interaction Design

2010-01-23T18:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry, couldn't help myself with the title. I just finished Thoughts on Interaction Design by Jon Kolko. For me, just finishing a professional book says something--most of them don't hold my interest enough to push me through to their ends. Of course, it could be that it was only 150 pages, too.

In any case, after reading the first two sections, I felt like just buying copies for my co-workers because it pretty much expounds the way I think and feel about interaction design at this point, which due to its relative newness to mainstream product development and other factors is often misunderstood. Even I must admit to coming to this understanding as a journey myself, so I sympathize with the confusion people face, especially given the shifting terminology among those who more or less fill the same gap in the (software) industry.

There was only one part of the book I really didn't care for--the guest essay by Justin Petro. Maybe it's because I can't personally relate to the negative experiences so much, having come to IxD through a different path, but that essay just smacked a little too much of narcissism, whinging, and perhaps even a bit of arrogance--the designer as some kind of superior being. That sort of thing just doesn't seem helpful, certainly not if you want other disciplines to take us seriously.

In terms of content, I only mildly disagree (FWIW!) with the contention that behavior is our medium/what we design/shape. I guess it's no coincidence that Robert Fabricant and Jon Kolko, both top folks at frog design, share this idea about what we do. If you consider the medium as the thing the designer directly shapes and expresses himself through, I don't see how you can say it is behavior. We design things--things that involve and influence behavior to be sure--but to say that we design behavior or that it is our medium is too strong of a claim.

Human beings are free, reasoning creatures whose behavior is of that same substance--of their own volition--and the best we can do is influence it. True, we can in a sense dictate the specific interactions to some degree that people have with our designed things, but even then, people are free to either do or not do what we imagined we are inducing or inviting them to do, and often (maybe always) what they actually do--as conditioned by their context and individual nature--will at least be at some variance with what we hoped or intended.

That's why design as rhetoric, which is discussed in the book, may be a better way to talk about what we do as it relates to behavior. Even so, I found "design as rhetoric" only a partially fulfilling idea. Acknowledging we are in a way trying to induce some kind of particular response or behavior, the rhetorical element is only a part of what we do in design--we also understand and analyze, synthesize, imagine, and create, among other things. If I had to choose one main activity, it would be synthesis as the primary (differentiating) activity of design.

It also seems to me that speaking of design as a shaper of behavior or rhetoric puts the emphasis on the wrong place for most practical industrial or interaction design work. I guess I align more with Christopher Alexander's approach in Notes on the Synthesis of Form and A Timeless Way of Building--that what we design should fit, not so much change or shape, the way people already behave or want to behave, and it should only be rhetorical if put to ends that align with the good of those being designed for.

I thought Section Three, while it is always fun to philosophize (no, I really think that!), is a section I feel comfortable telling folks they can skim over, unless they're really into the theoretical aspects of design, because I think it is unfinished. To say that design is poetry or language and to delve into particular theories of language is interesting and inspiring in some ways, but it's easy to say these things without taking the effort to draw the necessary lines that would help the average designer to design better. I would have loved Uday to keep going and illustrate a design language, its various concrete parts (more than fleeting references to icons and buttons), and show how consciously developing such a language has (or at least can have) meaningful, practical impact.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the idea of language in design. I just have yet to see a good, full-fledged implementation of the theory, either based on patterns or otherwise. Most discussions of language in design seem to stop just before they get useful or only develop part of a language (usually just a vocabulary).

The last section was the one I most enjoyed, chiefly the essay by Ellen Beldner, partly because her content was just so crunchy but also because of her style and unexpected off the wall comments/footnotes. I laughed out loud a couple times reading it.

So overall, I think that Jon's done the profession a service by publishing this book to help people think more clearly about what interaction design is all about. Even if I disagree on some details, the overall message and explication is extremely valuable and is a great starting point for further refinement of the discipline of interaction design as well as just generally helping people to come to a better understanding of it. Whether you are an interaction designer or you have to work with them, this is a worthwhile read.

Process is Pedagogy

2009-09-24T11:59:00.004-04:00

More thoughts stimulated by ongoing discussions on IxDA discussion board...

Process and methodology are not bad. They are a form of practical pedagogy.

That smart, talented people are key is axiomatic; saying so doesn't add much to our collective wisdom.

We need both because even smart, talented people do not start out knowing how best to do things, and even when they know, they can get so busy and focused that they forget important things.

The critical question is how can we share and build up our collective experience, knowledge, and skill in ways that are practical and effective.

This is where process, methodology, and techniques (and formal education, of course) come in really handy, and I think that's why we tend to spend more time focusing on those and discussing those--not because we don't know good people are important.

Saying you need "great designers" is just not enough.

UCD vs. Design Again?

2009-08-29T23:11:00.001-04:00

This is a direct copy of a post I just made over on the Interaction Design Association email list. I wanted to post it here to pull it out of the weeds as a kind of open letter to folks in UX and Design.

----

Jared, Andrei, Charlie, et al,

I'm writing as someone working full time in the software industry for over 10 years and a hobbyist/wannabe for most of my life. I came up through the ranks with no formal computer, science, or design education. The only degree I hold is in history and humanities. I was a developer and architect for most of my career.

So why the heck am I presuming to speak up amidst you juggernauts of usability and design?

Because I'm someone who really cares about making great software and making the software industry in general better.

Look, I'm here because it seems pretty obvious to me that the best way to make software better is through a focus on people and good design. The last 8 years of my career have been a steady enlightenment in that direction that all started with a rather silly incident involving some terribly amateurish visual design. (I guess my humanities background predisposes me, too.)

Anyways, the point is that from my perspective (i.e., not having much vested interest in UCD, Usability, HCI, Design, IA, and so on), you're setting up an unnecessary (and damaging) dichotomy. It's not understanding people OR designing. It's both.

Even software devs (those arch nemeses!) have figured out that involving the actual people who will use their software in the design process helps them to make more successful software. They also have figured out that being able to iterate and try different things helps them come to better solutions. These two principles underly what is broadly known as Agile. And if you want an amorphous term, man, Agile beats UCD any day!

The way I see it, the people advocating UCD/UX and the people advocating Agile both see the light--they see the way to make this stuff better. They're coming at it from different directions but essentially marching to the same drum. In the last few years they've been sidling up to each other and saying, hey, we can learn from and work with each other and achieve our common goals.

Now you got folks coming alongside, saying, "no, you silly people don't get it, it's Design!" Well, of course it's design! It's never not been design. You say, no Dee-sign, with a BIG D. We say, okay, what the heck do you mean by that? And you (IMO) have slowly been articulating it in ever clearer ways.

Now, I have gone from more skeptical to almost a believer in Dee-sign, but still, I don't see it as some magic or something antithetical to Agile or UX. I see it as complimentary. Because all along we've known we gotta do good design--that's what the frak we've been trying to do. So you have a different background and discipline, and maybe it's better. Yeah, I think so.

So again, from my perspective, you have the UX folks coming in and helping the somewhat floundering software developers do better in understanding people and you have the Design folks coming in and helping the somewhat floundering software developers do better in design.

Awesome! More, smart, educated, passionate, and talented people marching together. Now what heck are we arguing about??

Bill Buxton in Princeton – A Review

2009-04-23T11:49:00.001-04:00

I, like most in the (software) design industry, was pumped that Bill Buxton was coming to my neck of the woods for a talk. I wager it’s the most popular talk ever put on by the two groups that sponsored it (PhillyCHI and Usability NJ); there was a waiting list and the “large auditorium” at Princeton’s CompSci building was packed.

I’ve only begun to dig into his book, Sketching Experiences, so I don’t know for sure how much of the talk reflected that, but in talking with colleagues, it sounds like there was some overlap (as should be expected!). In any case, enough with the intro..

Overall, of course, Buxton makes for an interesting presenter. He has a lot of personality, and it comes out. And regardless of the particular topic, when you have someone of his caliber—his amount and quality of experience in the field—it is bound to be interesting and have little gems here and there.

I took away four main themes:

Learn From the Past
Think About the Transitions
Keep It Simple/Lo Tech
Make Way for Design

Learn From the Past

He demonstrated a 1984 Casio touch screen calculator watch—you trace the numbers and signs on it, and it tries to recognize them. The explicit point was that we should be more diligent in finding and using the research that folks have done in HCI and Design and apply that to what we do.

I also wonder, though, if the state of technology also have exerted an influence on the up-surge of awareness of the value and importance of design in software and devices. I think the two (tech advancement and design presence, along with business acumen to buy into and fund the potential) have worked together to make the iconic good UX products happen when they did.

Think About the Transitions

This was something he mentioned at MIX. He reiterated that we need to spend more time thinking about and representing the how we get from state to state in our designs.

It’s a good point, but it left me wanting more. It’s one thing to criticize the state of the art; it’s another to show how it could be better. I want to see how he thinks it could be better—in the context of building software interfaces, which was the context his criticism was made within.

Keep It Simple/Lo Tech

He showed a few examples, mostly videos, of how folks have utilized simple, lo-tech stuff to prototype and communicate ideas design ideas. He reinforced the idea that you need to keep your design work lo-fi at first, while you’re discovering the design, to both enable you to do many alternatives but also to leave holes for others to creatively critique your designs.

In having done sketching now, both literal and metaphorical, I am a fan of the idea. I have found limitations though, so I think there is a happy medium and one needs to use judgment as to when to move from sketchy media to more domain-specific media.

Make Way for Design

He is an advocate (among others recently—Don Norman comes to mind) for raising the visibility and impact that those with a design background have on organizations. He talks about the three pillars of business, technology, and design, and how he feels they should be relatively on equal footing for truly successful products to happen in our space.

This one makes a lot of sense to me. Even being the relative n00b in the design world that I am, I see that there are distinct ways of thinking and approaching things. I also implicitly value the non-quantifiable/aesthetic/emotional as an integral part of being human, so it just resonates for me to have this sort of enshrined in the way we organize ourselves, our businesses, and our products.

I’ve seen, however, (not with Buxton personally but with “Design” folks in general) a sort of arrogant tendency that is not welcome; this sort of “if you don’t get it, you don’t get it, and it’s not my job to help you get it.” I think that although we may not be able to quantify something, we can still intelligently craft and use language to communicate about it.

One of the things that I think Designers need to work on is better working out that language amongst themselves, and, if they want to be equally valued with peers from other backgrounds, they also need to learn to establish and use that language outside. There will always be competing concerns, and folks need to be able to dialogue about them to come to the best solution. This is core, IMO, for Design to come into its own as a “pillar” in its own right.

In any case, as I said, all in all it was a good talk. Good tidbits; good themes, and certainly a stimulant for further, good discussion. Thanks for coming out, Bill.

[FYI - they videoed it, if you’d like to watch it.]

Make Prompt Buttons Active

2009-04-03T11:35:00.001-04:00

One of the things that I’ve picked up in my efforts to become a good designer is the recognition that more often than not, it’s really the little things—all the little things—that can really make or break a good experience.

Sometimes, in fact, the little things bug you so much that when they get fixed, you notice, and you’re really thankful, and you just can’t hardly believe that such a little thing seems to matter so much.

I had one of these experiences just now. I recently switched back to IE (after going with Chrome and then Safari 4 beta for a while). I figured I’d give v8 a try to see what I think. I have noticed it is faster than Safari (of course Safari 4 is still beta), but anyways just now I went to do something I’ve done soo many times in all these tabbed browsers, I just wanted to “close what I was looking at.”

Of course, sometimes this means close just this tab, and sometimes all the tabs are related enough to want to close them all. In IE 7, it would prompt you with a warning that you were about to close all tabs. This was annoying to me because I never felt comfortable checking the box to always close all tabs because many times I’d just want to close the one, not really catching the fact I had the others open in that window. Of course, that’s why they made the prompt, but the problem is that I then had to Cancel the prompt and then go target the little bitty X button to close that one tab.

Well, no more! In IE8, the prompt looks like this:

What’s that you say? You mean you give me my options right there now? Who’da thunk it?? This is soooooooo much better than forcing people to “Cancel” and then go target a tiny little button. I think you can derive a general principle here (and I think it is in the Vista style guide, too).

Consider if in your prompts you can provide the meaningful actions directly and make the buttons (or link buttons) reflect those actions.

If you can, then do that—don’t make people cancel and then do the action they wanted to do in the first place.

Hope this helps.

Interesting Visualization on the Credit Crisis, Except...

2009-02-21T00:46:00.001-05:00

Ran across this little video story that explains the credit crisis using pretty good visuals to accompany. I certainly (think I) understand it better having watched it; however, there was one bit that really burned me up:

Why, you ask? Because of the underlying idiotic cultural assumptions made with this visualization. You have to remember--even though things like this flash by in a few seconds, the creator of this thing put significant thought and effort into "what would a high-risk homeowner look like?" This is, by the way, compared to the previously shown normal/low-risk homeowners. The differences?

The man is fat. Clearly anyone who is fat is higher risk, no? We're talking about higher risk of default, folks. Last time I checked, "are you fat?" is not on any applications for mortgages. ... Yet. Yes, I am fat, and I take offense. I have excellent credit and what I think would count for a pretty high moral code... The creator of this visualization is buying into cultural stereotypes here that fat people are lower on the social totem pole. Bite me. There's a lot to bite...
They're smoking. Again, this is in the same vein. I don't smoke, not because I'm better than those that do but because I just never got hooked on it. I consider myself fortunate (not proud) in that respect. But does smoking make you more likely to default on a loan? No... Again, the creator of this piece is showing his cultural prejudice.
What really caught my eye (and ears) and made my blood temperature rise, though, was that this family has four children while the less risky family has only one child (and a dog, of course). Not only that, the four children are crying while the one is happily swinging between Mother and Father's arms. Clearly, not only are the parents with only one child less risky but they must be better parents, too!

This is just ignorant, moronic, unthinking, social bigotry at its finest. The folks profiled by this visualization are what America runs on--salt of the earth types who aren't consumed with self image, who value family enough to have larger ones, and generally are some of the most dependable and hardworking people you'll meet. The government actually provides incentives to have children because, despite the mushyheadedness of some like Pelosi, supporting couples to bear and raise children is about the most time-proven policy in history--it's good for society. Building strong, large families is a cornerstone of society, not a sub-prime risk.

Some other, better options more in line with reality and what lenders actually care about:

Someone just coming out of jail? I mean, I seem to recall they do ask if you've been convicted of a felony on mortgage apps.
Someone standing in a line at the unemployment office? Surely not having a job would be considered high risk for a loan.
Or how about the same one-child family in chic designer clothes, with unnecessary H2 and Lexus SUVs, buying a McMansion they don't need in the "nice" part of town? I think folks drowning in debt, no matter how affluent they seem on the outside, would be high risk.

It wouldn't be hard to dream up some good, realistic visualizations like this rather than let your prejudices be your guide. Just take a look at a few of the mortgage applications to see what they ask about or even do a little research to determine factors that affect credit scores in general.

This fellow Jarvis might be a good motion and information designer, but he clearly needs to get his head on straight when it comes to social issues.

One Would Expect More From Mercedes

2009-02-19T00:54:00.001-05:00

..especially from a "hip, new" Web community targeted at 20-30-somethings and trendily called "Generation Benz."

I got an email a few days ago saying my account would be deactivated due to inactivity to make room for others who really want to participate. Sure, let me give my scarce time to provide you with a free testbed for your marketing. (You know that annoying line of commercials for the new, smaller SUV? They tried those out on us a while ago. I said "nuh uh," but I clearly was in the minority.)

It's a good idea, trying to get feedback early on, but really?!?, on the Web you have to "make room" for more people? Seriously? I didn't realize database space was so scarce that my little user account needed to be closed.

Anyways, I truly didn't care because their site is one of the less usable sites I've visited in recent memory and because I'm not really that interested in it. I'm not that much of an MB fan. :)

I would have just let it go, but then I get this in the mail today:

Really?!? You couldn't actually send a simple form email and replace my name in the right spot?

Dear Moderator @ GenerationBenz.com, you really need to work harder on carrying the classy MB brand and experience on to your "cutting edge" community Web site. It's a shame, really. One would expect more from Mercedes.

iPhone + Pandora + FM Transmitter = Audible Joy

2009-02-16T23:50:00.001-05:00

On the drive home Friday I had one of the moments of joy you rarely get when dealing with technology. You see, I'm something of a mobile luddite. Until last month, I stodgily refused to get a "smart" phone. I did actually try a couple (LG XV 6600 and a Blackberry [old one]), but unlike others who either really have to have that mobile data connection or really just love punishment, I decided that all I really need is for my phone to be a phone. I didn't even have a text plan, even though some of my friends liked to txt me and cost me money occasionally. :)

Well, I've been keeping my eye on the iPhone since it came out. I expected the hubbub to die out over time and to hear the "real" story of what it was like to have one. But everyone I talked to who had one said they love it--not just like it, but love it. Their faces literally brightened up when talking about it. Sure it has such and such an issue, but who cares!

I actually became more or less sold on it about six months or so ago--after the 3G came out, I waited again and talked to folks about it. And they were even happier. Unfortunately, like many I suppose, I was stuck in the last half of my two-year contract with Verizon, so I still had to wait. I was even going to give the Storm a chance, but Verizon blew that.

So anyways, I couldn't take it any longer. And since I had a good excuse (to be able to keep up with email during my 4th son's birth), I went ahead and signed up about a month early. I've been a proud iPhone owner (and proud father) ever since and continue to be very happy with it overall. But on Friday, I had a particularly delicious experience.

You see, I hadn't really yet taken advantage of it as a music player much. I listen to a lot of audio books in my truck, so the dearth of good music on the radio doesn't bug me usually. But Friday, I was in a mood, a mood for "Gold Digger" by a certain Mr. West. Those who don't know me well probably assume I only listen to classical or something (which I do, especially choral--like Orff), but I like a little System and some Luda when I'm feeling pumped up (or want to get that way). I customized by car stereos just as much as the next guy growing up. :)

So I grabbed my iPhone, tapped on Pandora (which is just amazing in itself!), typed in "gold dig," and it prompted me with auto complete. I picked it, and Pandora created a station for me based on that. Then I just plugged my Monster FM transmitter into the phone, tuned over to it, and blam, I was getting my fix of window-shaking bass (okay, not window-shaking; my truck stereo is factory...)! Within a few seconds, I trumped what people pay Sirius for, only better!

And then, as if that weren't enough, the wifey called, and Pandora automagically paused while I took the call with her coming over the speakers via the transmitter. After that, it was a seamless resume in Pandora. Wow. I was shocked it worked so smoothly.

And there's more! One thing that's not so great about music in the car is that you have to wait for a song to finish or just deal with not finishing it when you need to get out. Thanks to Pandora on the iPhone (with its built-in speakers), I was able to take my music with me. Only glitch was that it pauses when you unplug the line out, which would be a nifty feature if, say, it accidentally disconnected. I guess it would be hard for it to know accidental vs intentional disconnects, so I'll forgive it that one. ;)

So what did they do right?

The iPhone itself is emblematic of good service design--the kind of design that doesn't just look at making a great product (a an awesome device like the iPhone) but also at the entire experience summed up as a complete service--the wireless 3G service for good internet connectivity, the integrated iTunes store for expanding the audiovisual experience, and probably most importantly, the app store.

It reminds me of when I was a lad. The Nintendo had been popular for a while, and my mom was going to give us a game console for Christmas to replace our aged Atari 2600 (viva Asteroids!). I was sold on the Nintendo--had played Super Mario Brothers at friends' houses, Duck Hunt, Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!, and Zelda, among others. Great games! But my brother had done some research; he told me that technically, the Sega was a better game system. I still don't know if that was true, but he sure thought so! He finally convinced me, an unfortunate decision--the only decent game I remember on it is Double Dragon.

The point? Well, the point is that I think a thriving third party community is essential for the true success in any kind of platform-like service (game console, operating system, development framework, etc.). This has certainly been proven true with the iPhone as well. It wouldn't be as good as it is were it not for the thriving third-party community that has sprung up through their app store. Apple gets it and is actively marketing it ("there's an app for that"). You can have the best technology, the most technical functionality among your competitors, but if you don't successfully stimulate third parties, I think it will just wither and die.

I guess it's sort of an extension of (a precursor to?) the whole crowdsourcing idea, though maybe under the more traditional capitalist banner. However you slice it, having a closed platform is a bad idea. Encouraging extension, adaptation, and participation is essential to surviving in the platform world. How that extends to other, less-platformy solutions will require thought; we shouldn't just add it because we can, but if the question comes up, should we make this X open or proprietary?, chances are that you should make it open.

And yet there seems to be more to it than that. You need to have some quality controls so the system doesn't get flooded with garbage. Having style guides is a good idea. Having a review and approval process to make sure the extensions conform may be a better idea. It depends, but if your success depends on overall high quality UX, then surely some quality control is warranted because it is unlikely that people will blame the particular extensions. When people get a blue screen in Windows, they don't blame device driver vendors--they blame Windows. I tend to think just having a review process will axe a lot of garbage that might otherwise surface--many people won't bother making and submitting stuff if they don't think it will fly.

On the other hand, the folks at Current.tv did a presentation last year at UX Week, and they advocate a publish then filter approach. If I recall correctly, they segregate the unfiltered stuff on a separate site and then have a dedicated site for the higher quality, filtered stuff. It's a good hybrid approach if you can get critical mass.

But I digress, I think the key things here are the quality of the phone device itself, the quality of the built-in services that compliment it, and a rich, quality controlled third-party ecosystem that extend the solution further than they could ever do on their own while not degrading the experience too much. Pandora works well in my scenario because all of these things are in place, and of course Pandora is just awesome on its own, making for a just darn good experience.

There's an Elephant in My Menu Bar

2009-01-31T15:38:00.003-05:00

This little guy looks so friendly, don't ya think? He's the Evernote icon in the OS X menu bar. Evernote is one of those software makers that seems to get good experience design. Apart from being just a darned useful thing, it's one of those that just makes you feel good using it. Good visual design. Good usability. Good experience.

Not only do they support Mac and Windows natively (for those who use both--this is a big win), but they also have a Web interface and a mobile interface. Actually, it's the mobile one, particularly on iPhone, that I think is probably what makes this a killer app to have. You can snag photos of anything and catalog them in your notebook. Since it makes photos searchable, this turns your iPhone into a universal archive device. As they say on their site, Remember Everything!

I'm actually considering buying the iPhone case that has the close-up image enhancer they recommend. (And I'm not one to just plop down money on stuff like this on a whim..)

If you haven't tried Evernote, do.

Dominos Pizza Delivers Online Experience

2009-01-03T18:31:00.000-05:00

I just love ordering from Dominos these days. They have what I would almost call an immersive online ordering experience with Live Preview of your pizza as you build it. The one thing I don't care for is having to click "Price your order" to find out the cost, especially when it fails, but overall it is great.

But what really takes it over the top for me is the confirmation pizza tracker. I don't usually sit there and watch it, but it's there if I want to look. They not only give you the time and steps in an appropriate heat-thermometer bar, but they tell you (real or not) the person's name who is working on the order.

I don't know if this idea is their original or borrowed, but it really comes off well and sees the ordering experience through all the way to delivery. And in my experience, the food is always piping hot when it gets to my door. End to end. Nice.

You Don't Know Me?

2008-12-30T12:27:00.001-05:00

I was almost awakened this morning (just woke up) by a call from an 866 number. I answered.. twice (I guess their auto-call system had to switch over to an available rep).

"Hello, may I speak to Mr. Little," says a female rep.

"This is he," comes my stock reply.

"Hi, I'm Sally, calling on behalf of Verizon Wireless. We'd like to help you renew your Family Plan with us. We've just expanded our service to the new National plan [means nothing to me--I thought I was already on a national plan] and have extended our service to the Mobile Web 2.0 [ah buzzwords, and for only how much more per month?]. I see you're on the Family Share Plan 1400; we can renew you for that for only $80/month plus the usual extra fees, and you can get a new phone with the latest in wireless technology! So to get started I just need to confirm some information with you..."

I usually try to be polite with telereps. They're just doing a job and, these days, are lucky to be employed I guess. So although I could have just interrupted and told them what I really thought, I just waited for her to let me into the dialogue.

But just in this initial intro, so much is wrong, from a good experience perspective.

First, a little bit of background. My plan is up in February. They have been spamming me about getting a new phone early since before Thanksgiving. I swear in one week, I got at least five identical emails about that.

Over Thanksgiving while visiting the in-laws in New Bern, NC, I went into the VZ store to see what kinds of phones they have.. to see if they have anything that is nearly as attractive as the iPhone. I looked at pretty much the whole selection while waiting for a rep, only to find out that the most likely candidate, the Blackberry Storm, was out of stock and wouldn't be in till the next day.

So I came back the next day, and found out then that it was supposed to be after 2p. The fella said he'd call me that afternoon and gave me his number. He didn't call. I did; he didn't even respond to my voicemail.

So I was back on my own. After doing a bit more online research, seeing some comparative YouTube videos (it was obvious even in a foreign language which phone was better) and talking more to my buddies who have iPhones and still love them after long usage (most folks just tolerate their mobile devices, but I can't think of anyone I've talked to who has an iPhone that doesn't gush about it, even died-in-the-wool techie geeks), I decided to go ahead and make the switch to AT&T to get the iPhone. So I contacted VZ to tell them I intend to cancel and ask how to properly end the contract (so as to avoid weird fees and such). That rep was helpful and suggested I check out another phone (the Optima, IIRC), but the point is that at this point Verizon has it on record on my account that I intend to cancel.

Yet they still called me today, acting as if this were the first interaction we've had about the fact that my contract is ending and that I can get a new phone.

It got me to yearning that mythic idea of the general store back in the "old days." You go in and the folks minding the store know you by name, probably know your family and inquire with sincere interest how they are doing. They know me, and they care.

Obviously in this day and age I don't expect this level of knowledge and concern from VZ, but man, at least they could read the notes on my account and interact with me in a way that is straightforward and honest about our current relationship, without the high-pressure, ignorant sales tactics they slammed me with this morning.

Something like this:

"Hi, Mr. Little. I know that <the rep in New Bern> was checking on the Blackberry Storm for you, and I see that you contacted us to find out about canceling with us when your contract is up in February. Did you have a chance to check out the Optima?"

I'd respond, amazed and slightly touched that they actually took the time to read my account history, "Yes, and since then I've decided to definitely go with the iPhone."

Then they could say, "Okay, well, we're sorry to hear that. It was good to have you as a customer for these last five years. We hope that someday we'll have something to offer to bring you back. Have a great new years!"

I don't think what I'm suggesting is beyond reason, even for the monster megalith that is Verizon. Nothing above requires any more knowledge than what the reps have at their fingertips. They need to empower their reps to interact with people on a human level and not just read sales scripts that abrasively assume that you just want to confirm your information and renew with them.

Good experience design involves all aspects of the experience that your customers have with you, including treating them like real human beings and enabling your reps to act like real human beings, too. Some companies get this, but they are few and far between.

Instead of my leaving VZ with a bad taste in my mouth, they could have me leaving with a desire to come back once they get their technology to where it should be. Missed opportunity, and I am, clearly, just one of many, many people they are using this tactic on. If you're hemorrhaging customers as VZ doubtless is, that's the time to crank up the good experience design.

Mac Blogging Tools

2008-12-29T12:48:00.001-05:00

Trying out the Blogo blogging software. I tried MarsEdit, Mac Journal, and Ecto (for Mac), and I wasn't impressed with the experience. I love Scrivener for general writing on the Mac, but the HTML I get when copying and pasting just doesn't work for me. I'm using the full screen editor now, and it's not as good as Scrivener, but it is still a great feature to have.

The other tools (for Mac) were more or less effective, but I just felt they had a humdrum experience. Blogo has a nice, different, more Mac-like experience, IMO, as if thought were put in to make the experience more specific to blogging and not just a hefty HTML publishing experience.

The UI is simple and focused. I like that. I think I may like it better than Windows Live Writer, which is my favorite on Windows. We'll see!

UPDATE (16 Feb 2009): Blogo was promising; however, it had a few too many bugs and some strange usability issues (around creating and managing multiple posts at once), so I switched back to Ecto (even paid for it ;) ). It's not a particularly OS X experience, but it is effective for my needs.