Ok I admit that I have been harping on this surprise in a service theme in the last few posts, but I had to write this one since I just realized a great example. Woot! No, literally, I mean Woot!
Surprise plays such a big factor in the success of woot.com that it literally drives the user community. Of course, there's some awesome economics involved also, but just the surprise factor makes it a sticky website. Linking back to my previous post just what kind of surprise theme does it follow? "Anticipation", if you ask me. With a strange mix of suspense ;).
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Parc Forum
Just fresh out of the talk by Andrew McAffe at the PARC forum who talked about the whole concept of enterprise 2.0, what it means and what difficulties it face. I liked the fact that his was a candid analysis of where we stand. His point about strengthing weak ties because they are a big source of the most novel and most non-redundant information was excellent.
He identified enterprise 2.0 as "an emergence of structure" as opposed to "imposition of structure" which is in tune with how the web has evolved from procedures and workflows (form-filling, approvals etc.) to community based and lossely structured software. Finally, the acknowledgement of challenges was heartening where he talked about prospect theory and the 9x rule. Bottomline : The new offering must literally be 10 times better than the existing solution, else it is not widely accepted.
http://www.parc.com/events/forum/ Check for the slides of this talk to be put up soon!
He identified enterprise 2.0 as "an emergence of structure" as opposed to "imposition of structure" which is in tune with how the web has evolved from procedures and workflows (form-filling, approvals etc.) to community based and lossely structured software. Finally, the acknowledgement of challenges was heartening where he talked about prospect theory and the 9x rule. Bottomline : The new offering must literally be 10 times better than the existing solution, else it is not widely accepted.
http://www.parc.com/events/forum/ Check for the slides of this talk to be put up soon!
Friday, February 8, 2008
This is not Surprising
Of course, some already thought about thinking of a service in terms of a script & how film can be used as tool for experience designer.
Jeff Howard, whose blog I follow fairly regularly has a few entries of his own which you can read up here and here.
Jeff Howard, whose blog I follow fairly regularly has a few entries of his own which you can read up here and here.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Surprise in a Service 2
Inspired by my previous post, I am actively thinking of "scripting" services. In a way, service design is exactly that, but I wonder how it'd be to think of it like an out and out writer. What would be the "acts" of a service? The plot points, the catalysts,the protagonist? (I know the antagonist would be the customer care...hehehe...).
I am going to start by making up my own service genres. This won't be based on subjective feelings but more on universal experiences. For instance, something like "good service" doesn't qualify as a service genre, but something like "surprsing service" does. To add to the genres, I'll go with "regular service", "slick service", "thrilling service"...get the drift?
Clearly I am coming up with them based on films and/or video games. To elaborate on my point, I think "Ocean's Eleven", "The Italian Job", "Mission Impossible" , "National Treasure" can all be termed "slick flicks". Whether you like them or not, is another matter. The intent is to make it slick.
Put simply then, what genre of service would you intend to design?
I am going to start by making up my own service genres. This won't be based on subjective feelings but more on universal experiences. For instance, something like "good service" doesn't qualify as a service genre, but something like "surprsing service" does. To add to the genres, I'll go with "regular service", "slick service", "thrilling service"...get the drift?
Clearly I am coming up with them based on films and/or video games. To elaborate on my point, I think "Ocean's Eleven", "The Italian Job", "Mission Impossible" , "National Treasure" can all be termed "slick flicks". Whether you like them or not, is another matter. The intent is to make it slick.
Put simply then, what genre of service would you intend to design?
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Surprise in a Service
Recently I was surprised with a government service; pleasantly. When I had visited the same office in person, I received some pretty rough treatment and was somewhat assured of being left in the dark for atleast a month. But, things took a completely different turn when they mailed my documents way before time...surprise!
Twists in films is fairly common (Seven, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Shawashank Redemption). Would you use twists in your service? What kind of twists?
How do you script a service design twist ? A pleasant one hopefully! I wonder....
Twists in films is fairly common (Seven, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Shawashank Redemption). Would you use twists in your service? What kind of twists?
How do you script a service design twist ? A pleasant one hopefully! I wonder....
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Mr. Azim Premji@SAP Labs, Palo Alto
I was quite excited about this address by the Wipro owner and one of the top thirty entrepreneurs of all time (Business Week).
Fact : The speech started a good 20-25 minutes later than the scheduled time (I had gotten my colleague from Israel to attend it, but he had to leave since it got quite late). I don't want to be sarcastic about this whole typical "IST" thing, so I am just stating what happened. It was unfortunate and really wish it had started on time.
Anyways, the speech content was a summarized bullet point list of Mr Premji's lessons in life. It was plain to say the least. "Lesson number one is..." ....& it went on till "Lesson number seven..". There were some very valuable points in there and the man's achievements and contributions are truly phenomenal. Quite simply, he deserves every little praise he gets.And he speaks well too, just not 'attractive well', I guess. His style of speaking seemed honest and crisp. The enormity of his experiencing are humbling.
I was most interested in his take on design. He kept mentioning "listening to your customers is the key", but no mention of design efforts (read user research). Another theme of the speech was the social impact corporations make (again no mention of design).
Mr Premji seems a firm believer in "technology as a liberator". His stance on viewing all things from the IT perspective is slightly unsettling (for me as a designer). And doubly so because he is one of the leaders of India in the software industry. He talks about all the right things, but a 360 degree view is lacking. His emphasis on science and engineering degrees is also a bit conservative to the point of being obsolete.
What he has done is inspirational, but its never always about technological determinism.
An experienced stalwart, but a somewhat incomplete 'visionary'.
Fact : The speech started a good 20-25 minutes later than the scheduled time (I had gotten my colleague from Israel to attend it, but he had to leave since it got quite late). I don't want to be sarcastic about this whole typical "IST" thing, so I am just stating what happened. It was unfortunate and really wish it had started on time.
Anyways, the speech content was a summarized bullet point list of Mr Premji's lessons in life. It was plain to say the least. "Lesson number one is..." ....& it went on till "Lesson number seven..". There were some very valuable points in there and the man's achievements and contributions are truly phenomenal. Quite simply, he deserves every little praise he gets.And he speaks well too, just not 'attractive well', I guess. His style of speaking seemed honest and crisp. The enormity of his experiencing are humbling.
I was most interested in his take on design. He kept mentioning "listening to your customers is the key", but no mention of design efforts (read user research). Another theme of the speech was the social impact corporations make (again no mention of design).
Mr Premji seems a firm believer in "technology as a liberator". His stance on viewing all things from the IT perspective is slightly unsettling (for me as a designer). And doubly so because he is one of the leaders of India in the software industry. He talks about all the right things, but a 360 degree view is lacking. His emphasis on science and engineering degrees is also a bit conservative to the point of being obsolete.
What he has done is inspirational, but its never always about technological determinism.
An experienced stalwart, but a somewhat incomplete 'visionary'.
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