User Rating: / 1
PoorBest 

An amazing revelation occured to me yesterday.

After three weeks away in a secret ninja-style training camp and two days of back-to-work happiness, it suddenly dawned on me that for a service leader, it's less about the broken technology and more about the customer experience.

At one point on the job Monday, one customer's husband was telling me over the telephone, 'it's A----, sir. You're supposed to.... ." Amazing. That's something that we all need from time to time. A kick in the pants to remind us that in the grand scheme of things, the customer is not only the most important part of the business, they are the ONLY part of the business that matters. Even giving them a way to show the path to the right thing is helpful for both you and them.

Now for some folks, being the only part of the business that matters means they can run over the brand and the employees like spoiled children throwing a tantrum. That's not the way this works. Even spoiled children need to experience the reailities of personal responsibility. But, exposure to that reality doesn't have to be a painful experience, just a positive one. Making sure the customer understands that you've aligned with them. That you've assured them you will offer a solution to meet their needs. That you've acknowledged them as the most important person in the room. The alternatives should be presented in a way that shows how the customer has the power to decide. That's the power of this approach. Choice. Control.

User Rating: / 1
PoorBest 

Usability is an increasingly important domain for many technology companies for a variety of reasons. Users are exposed to a growing array of user interfaces which greatly affects their satisfaction with each of them and at the same time, adjusts their expectations from the companies offering the product or software.

Here's a powerful blog post on usability and in particular, mobile (smartphone and tablet) device usability from a local central-MA company, uTest.com that we've blogged about before.

User Rating: / 2
PoorBest 

As a kid, my mother used to encourage us kids to turn our chores into a game. Like the youngsters in Disney's Mary Poppins, we were quickly transformed from grumpy grudging slaves into happy-go-lucky singers. Its true that getting people to help solve tough problems can be as simple as making it a game.

I've read how simply identifying the objects, animals or famous persons in images as a way to earn points is used to populate certain CAPTCHA tests or help image databases and their search algorithms. The Economist (Game not Over) writes about a compelling method of unfolding complex protein molecules as an online game. In a contest with commercial software, gamers proved they are better at solving complex problems than computer programs.

It seems that humans can take two steps back to then take ten steps forward, a strategy that the algorithm wouldn't easily consider.

I can see how the gamers are motivated. As well, none of the winning gamers are scientists. This is consistent with my experience with brainstorming and group problem solving. It often doesn't need professionals to solve since the truth inherent in Occam's razor, when confronted with two solutions to a problem the simpler one is more likely the correct one, can guide the amateur as well as the professional. Clearly, for complex problems, making it a game puts all the fun into the exercise of the human brain, that marvelous instrument!