The 2009 FIRST LEGO League competition is behind us. As a coach, it has been an amazing experience of the good and the not so good. We learned tons, especially about how to deal with frustrations spawned from having to use a very poor development environment, i.e. LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT software. Following my mother’s advice, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all, so I’ll focus my energies on how your users’ emotions dictate their perception of the quality of your software.

• Don’t make me feel and look stupid
• I need a dependable buddy
• Grow with me
• When you piss me off, say you’re ‘sorry‘
• When it’s time to part ways, don’t get angry

(more…)

That is, only if and when the market conditions are right. Such as living on a small island, where choices are limited and the only other option is to gamble and drive 30+ minutes for the chance of something better. Or, how about at a niche market, where no competition exists and one can getaway with offering the bare minimum. In these situations, mediocrity can thrive, at least until:
(more…)

This is a personal story and a reflection on the separation that exists between a company’s online and physical retail stores. Given current economic conditions, companies have to be more customer focused and look to continuously integrate many facets of their businesses, including creating a linkage between their customers and suppliers. Through this, they can create a continuous cycle that delivers exceptional customer experience which will become a key competitive advantage as the world continues to become flatter and cheaper. Now to the story and reflections…
(more…)

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains and sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”
Steve Jobs

We all know a bad design when we see it. We not only remember them, but also share our experiences with others. But, it is the good designs that we admire and hopefully remember the most. Maybe it is the gorgeous look and simplicity of use of the iPod, or the one-hand-slide action of Motorola’s PEBL, or new and ingenious packaging like HP laptops, or some new online experience. The unforgettable designs are multi-dimensional. The best designs influence and enhance many aspects of our lives through interaction with those products/services — from our buying experience, to the delivery and packaging, to installation and use, to other products/services that complement it, to customer support and maintenance, all the way through end-of-life and disposal.

Design is the trendsetter. It is the translation of an idea to the final product. It has incorporated itself into every aspect of our lives, and became the ubiquitous element in our lives. “You can have any color you want as long as its black.” was Henry Ford’s manufacturing design revolution that triggered mass production. Today, design is yet again at center stage with the green revolution: good design is sustainable design. Good design delivers maximum impact to the customer with minimum impact on the resources of our planet. Good design contributes to the triple bottom line: economic, social and environmental.
(more…)

I am a WSJ (Wall Street Journal) reader. I find the articles insightful and interesting, which makes it an enjoyable experience, especially with my morning coffee. However, I can’t say the same thing for their customer service experience. So, Mr. Murdoch, I hope you are reading this post and will take this customer’s recommendations to heart as you are developing your strategic plans.

I almost posted about my WSJ customer experience couple of months ago. You see, their Online Journal and Print Edition are two very different organizations, and they don’t share any subscription information at all. So, early this year, when I re-subscribed through WSJ Online which also gave me a print subscription, their Print Edition group had no idea. This wouldn’t normally be a problem, except I kept getting letters for subscription offers, which didn’t make any sense to me. Unfortunately, they also sent a letter accusing me of taking advantage of their good will for continuing my print subscription and urging me to re-subscribe for something that I already paid for! This issue was finally resolved when I got in touch with their print subscription service representative that admitted she doesn’t receive any notice from the Online WSJ group regarding the print subscriptions offered through their promotions.

Today, I ran into a different issue with WSJ services group. Guess what, for every new WSJ account, you need to create yet another user account to manage it. I actually called up their 800 number as I thought they could update my user information with the new account number, but no go… It is bad enough that I have a spreadsheet to manage my accounts/passwords, but now I have 3 different user accounts for one site and one is no longer valid???

When I asked how I can provide customer feedback and suggestions for their Website Services group, I was told that they would be happy to pass my feedback along. However, they don’t have any mechanism to submit it directly to them. Lack of customer connection is in my top 10 list of how NOT to innovate!

This is quite different than my UPS delivery experiences. I always enjoyed using UPS and their online tracking services. Yesterday, however, I was introduced to a new service from them, which has apparently been around for the past 6 months. It is an automated voice message that they send out when the package they are delivering requires a signature. The service today cannot give a specific delivery time (sometime between 8am-7pm). However, with the latest technology advances, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an updated service integrated with their SMS messaging to give a 1-3 hour delivery window within the next 6 months.

Thank you for listening. For more on the importance of quality of your customer service and dangers of siloed organizations, please read my previous posts. If you happen to have one of these siloed customer service organizations, please take action today and put a strategic plan in place with specific milestones to fix it. How well you service your customers can be your strategic differentiation or a sign of your deteriorating brand.

• Innovate with quality
• Strategy 101: Revisiting Low-Cost Leadership with Dell
• Good, Bad and Ugly: Organizational Silos

Technorati Tags: WSJ, Wall Street Journal, customer service, Murdoch, UPS

No doubt you have seen some technologies, products or how people are using them that made you wonder: what were they thinking?. Well, technology gone wild is about those cases where the technology and resulting products do more harm than good, and where the cost is greater than benefits.

• technology is clearly misused, misinterpreted or misapplied either by people or technology/product itself;
• technology has unintentional side effects, usually due to poor implementation;
• technology is used where it shouldn’t be used at all, basically an overkill;

TechDirt recently had a post: When In Doubt, Blame It On Technology. Apparently, in UK people are blindly following GPS directions, even if it leads them off the cliffs, or in some cases “right into the path of a speeding train”. Maybe it is time to rephrase the saying to would you jump off the bridge if your GPS told you?. Turns out authorities are starting put up “ignore your sat nav” signs at places, but how about adding a warning to GPS unit that repeats every 5 mins “use caution and common sense following directions”.

About the Google map directions mentioned in the comments section, it really does instruct to swim across the ocean: Swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3,462 mi

Frankly, I like GPS technology and Google maps, and rely on them heavily when traveling. However, I also recognize the imperfections of the technology, like with Spring being the season of sprouting road construction work all around the City. At the same time, we need to build technologies for the lowest common denominator of our target users. So, how do you build automatic problem prevention in to your system? How about in the case of GPS, provide warning signals to mark railroad crossings, cliffs, or map areas of high uncertainty, and incorporate latest road conditions in regular map updates. Either way, thinking about our lowest common denominator target user will surely lead to development of better products.

Technorati Tags: technology gone wild, GPS

When it comes to product development, think of a three-legged stool: scope, schedule and resources. Quality should be the foundation that you build your business upon, not the façade that is applied at the end. Remember, “Churn, Baby, Churn” by Guy Kawasaki (Rules For Revolutionaries: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services)? We are all allowed to deliver a crappy product initially, “… but this doesn’t mean you should stay crappy.”

But, what defines quality? At minimum, it should be defined from the eyes of the customer. I recently found the following quote on the Internet. Although this quote is very widely used, its origins are a mystery to me. I would appreciate if you let me know any pointers to its source. But, I digress…

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.” Willa A. Foster or William A. Foster

As I said before, quality should be defined from the eyes of the customer; it is about having happy, or better yet, delighted customers. It is not only about delivering to the needs and benefits of the customers, it is also about the product’s conformance to those specifications, and especially how the product handles the cases of unexpected conditions. How many times you have had an application unexpectedly disappear on you without a sign? How about if you had a question for customer service, or really needed to get in touch with customer support to fix a problem, how many hoops did you jump through to make that happen?

Thinking about quality from the perspective of the customer starting at the very beginning of your product development cycle will also result in a better product design. Yet, so frequently, quality is an afterthought, and just becomes a checklist item instead of a philosophy of the development organization. Unfortunately this can result in a very poor customer experience from their first interaction with your product or service, leaving a poor first (and lasting) impression of your company.

I recently attended the NWEN. During the speaker sessions, one of the discussion points was the three-legged stool that the VCs utilize for their funding decisions: management, market development and technology. The reality is that the technology is becoming less consequential in their decision as the cost of acquiring technologies has fallen, thanks to globalization. Think about this, IF the technology is no longer a differentiation factor, and cannot create the barrier to entry for your competitors, what would? How will you build and grow your loyal customer base, which has more choices of products and services than ever before?

Your marketing, your brand and how your customers relate to your brand are now key to your success. In its simplicity, brand is defined as a promise, reputation and idea, but brand is the sum of your customer’s experience with your product, service and your company. Creating that initial ‘Wow’ factor is about having that insight into your customer needs and wants: great first usage experience that consists of usability, functionality and its interaction with the greater ecosystem. However for loyalty to occur, you need to be consistent in everything you do. This initial ‘Wow’ factor needs to spill over into the long-term satisfaction, so that not only they purchase more products and services, but also become your word-of-mouth advocates.

Yes, the first impression is important, but it should be built on the quality foundation to deliver the lasting value. And remember, the customer needs and expectations continuously change and evolve, so stay close to your customers to continue to deliver that ‘Wow’ factor. One final note, everything matters, so ensure you are focusing on quality on every possible touch point with your customers: from initial purchase all the way through the end of life for that product. Innovate with quality!