And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
- Steve Jobs
I have a credit card with PNC bank. The worst part of online banking experience is poor latency. The credit card balance information I see at my website/mobile is delayed by 2 to 3 days. This breaks the whole experience!
Further online transfer to this account is also delayed by 1 day. So there is no concept of instant transfer.
Results: card gets rejected at multiple places because it’s a prepaid credit card and I don’t exactly know the balance. And I use it less and less 
which is also not working for the bank.
In times of improved experiences like scanning check thru a mobile device, my experience sounds like the 80s banking experience
Scenario: Users need to know how far behind they are in their savings. They may also like to fix this by an immersive experience.
Scenario:
I lost my password for the demat trading site I use. My short term or long term memory failed me. Ok I give up and tried the ‘Forgot Password’ to help me out. And I see this.
I have 2 questions to the brazen designer/developer/ideator who came up with this…
1. What is a GRID?
2. Where will it be (if I already have it?)?
3. Have you read – ‘Don’t make me think’?
I gave up and wrote to the company asking them to help. Wearing the designer cap I thought about this quickly.
Key issues in this design:
1. Why are there radio buttons for each step? Because someone wanted to write a code that works for ‘EVERYONE’ under the planet without any context
2. Someone please define GRID and URN (Imagine my dad trying to sell his shares when the market opens…)
3. Track my password? Will it be sent by post and I have to follow the Fedex guys?
Quick Redesign Suggestions:
1. Forgetting a password is an old problem and it has simple direct solutions. Don’t reinvent the wheel unless you have strong reasons (user research data)
2. Users may be new to your site, not to the web. So follow the standard solutions (Security Questions -> reset password (or) Send new password to registered email)
3. If you still want to go with your method, follow a simple wizard and keep Step 1 as default selected. For users returning from Step 1 or 2, show a different page with the next step
4. Avoid technical jargons like URN and GRID.
I understand something like Share Trading has to be secured. Agreed. But it should not drive me nuts.
P.S. Selecting Step 1 and Clicking Submit threw me an error “Sorry We cannot solve this issue right now!” :O
I am the sum of the following:
1. My parents and their love and affection
2. Habits I cultivated from my childhood
3. The schools where I studied
4. The teachers who taught/inspired me
5. Society, its expectations and patterns of that time
6. Books and magazines I read
7. Friends I had and the influence they had on me
8. Physical and mental activities – games, quizzes, extra curricular events, dramas and theatre I participated
9. Important events of that period – World war, Radio invention etc.,
10. Crises I faced – sudden demise, sudden change in societal position
11. Ventures – small time ventures in business, leadership positions I assumed
12. Games, Sports and Arts – I played, excelled and passionate about
I have been reading this wonderful book Linchpin – by Seth Godin. Just wanted to list down all the nice pointers he has for any human who works and the importance of passion and quality in work
He starts questioning the curriculum and methodologies at schools. And how schools have not really adapted to the needs of the workplace.
What should they teach in Schools?
1. Solve interesting problems
2. To Lead
School should stop questions like ‘When was the war of 1812?!’ and rather help students to answer questions like ‘What should I do next?’
Leading is a skill, not a gift. Schools can teach Leading easily, as they figured out how to teach compliance. Leadership is worth far more than compliance.
And he has quite a lot of interesting tidbits on performance on jobs
The more value you create in your job, the fewer clock minutes of labor you actually spend creating that value.
Our economy rewards artists far more than any other economy in history ever has.The job is not your work, what you do with heart and soul is work.
And the most important point of the book – the linchpin, the employee who is indispensable
Does every organization need linchpins?
> Orgs that are centralized, monopolistic, static, safe, cost-sensitive, and far-flung should hire drones as cheaply as possible
> If you are producing tires for Hyundai, then hire cheap drones, that you can scale, replace and disrespect
Degrees of Freedom:
- Trains have only 2 options – Go or dont go. Cars have many options; go anywhere; orgs have infinite options, endless degrees of freedom. So every decision, micro decision matters. In the face of infinite choices, its natural to put blinders on, ask for a map, beg for instructions, repeat the same choice as last time.
- Linchpins are able to embrace lack of structure and find a new path, one that worksGeneral Charles Krulak’s law: The closer you get to the front, the more power you have over the brand
What is needed to excel in today’s work environment? This is something similar to the T-person that top companies talk about.
Depth of knowledge is not enough, because internet knows more than you do. Depth of knowledge combined with good judgement is worth a lot.
Marissa Mayer at Google is a linchpin. She applies artistic judgement combined with emotional labor. She solves problems that people haven’t predicted, sees things people haven’t seen and connects people who needs to be connected.
Depth of Knowledge is rarely sufficient, all by itself to turn someone into a linchpin. Ford was saved by Allan Mullaly who was an outsider while GM was bankrupted by an insider Rick Wagonor.
Orgs that can bring humanity and flexibility in their interactions with other human beings will thrive.
On Teams and interaction
Don’t tell the whole company what to do. Instead build a team that figures out what to do instead.
Every interaction you have with a coworker/client is an opportunity to practice the art of interaction.
Being an Artist in everything you do
Annie Leibovitz – gifted photographer was asked to photograph celebrities. But she took it to the next level and the rest is history
In everything you do, it’s possible to be an artist. Not on demand, not in the same way
as each time and not for everyone. Its impossible to make art for everyone. Art for everyone is mediocre, bland and ineffective.
Whom should you work for
Its ok to have someone you work for. But the moment you treat that person like a boss, someone who is in charge of your movements and output, you are a cog, not an artist.
Optimism and worth
The easier it is to quantify, the less it is worth.
Optimism is the most important human trait, because it allows us to evolve our ideas, to improve our situation, and to hope for a better tomorrow.
Importance of Shipping it today
The only purpose of starting is to finish.
Greatest Shortage in our society is an instinct to produce. To create solutions and and hustle them out the door.
….
I will continue this in another post when I am done with the book. When possible grab this book. Its a must read for anyone doing an emotional work.
A recent form that I designed/redesigned. I still see this to be heavy for the user. I have been asking few questions with business. I am still not able to reach out to the users.
Questions to business:
1. What is the purpose of this form? (or) Why would the user use this form?
2. Who are the target end users of this form?
3. What are the next steps after the user submits the form?
4. Is this form needed at all? Can users check the status online with their order number?
Form Specific Questions
1. What is the format of Order #? Can you share an example?
2. How many states do you serve?
Very often I meet people who don’t want to give a decent customer service. There comes a form! tada!…
I am starting to feel a microsoft , within google software.
Lately Gmail is the victim I suppose. I get random error messages which doesn’t tell me what happened and what does it expect me to do. Eg., I have been composing this email using the language tool for more than 30 mins on an important assertion and all of a sudden, gmail throws me a message “Your connection is lost. Login again”.
Where did all the customer centeredness go? thru the window? Just because they are growing big, and just because they are throwing N number of new features into Gmail doesnt mean they start treating me like a bull ___. pardon the language. Frustrations build up over time. I am still and will be a fan of gmail, because I Trust it.
Wish they don’t fall a prey to becoming BIG and sacrifice usability..You have for long been known for all the good and simple stuff people need. Getting people to start instantly, ease of use, zero learning curve, speed, and helping people to finish their job quicker. Never get out of these basic blocks to tread into some new territory…
On the other day i visited a nearby temple and there was a nice nadaswara kutcheri going on. The way the person played the miruthangam (percussion instrument of south india), was stunning. My 2 year old kid was spell bound by the players’s agility in using the instruments and the music….These instruments have been invented atleast 1000′s of years back and they still did not necessiate an innovation…Why?
Because they serve the purpose very well. They are supposed to create good music by interacting with them and they do it well. They are simple but serves the purpose. They require a basic skill to interact but rewards accordingly. They exploit all 10 fingers to the maximum usage. Learning curve is high but when you master it, you can create wonderful music and have an emotional and engaging relationship with the instrument itself…
This actually is true with most of the music instruments. I am sorry to part ways here…So why doesnt this happen in real world products. Few products blur this interface like Apple iphone or Blackberry. But there is a huge scope in many products and services for improvement to create an engaging experience.
In today’s Industries innovation has become a needless buzzword. Everyone wants the ‘new’ in everything they interact or use. So the product makers are pushing the envelope and creating so called products and services slowly killing the experience and complicating life…
we demand simplicity..and why is it so difficult to achieve?
