Musings on innovations & such...

HTML5 for mobile - Comparing JQueryMobile and Sencha Touch

2011-12-22T00:53:00.001-06:00

I have been playing around with some HTML5 / JS frameworks that allow creation of mobile web sites and can be integrated with platforms such as PhoneGap for creating mobile apps.

The two frameworks that I have tinkered around with are JQuery Mobile and Sencha Touch. Here is what I found...

JQueryMobile

Summary: Easier to learn framework with a strong focus on mobile web / apps. Has a larger corporate backing / partners, and is integrated with Adobe Dreamweaver CS 5.5.

Pros:

• Much easier to learn as compared to SenchaTouch

• Newer version has good basic themes and themeroller makes custom theming easy

• UI controls appear better focused on mobile devices e.g.

- By default labels are above the text input boxes which preserve real estate on mobile devices

- iPhone style Flip switches work out of the box and allow text on both sides of it Ref: http://jquerymobile.com/demos/1.0a4.1/docs/forms/forms-switch.html

- Placeholder text for dropdowns works as expected (broken in Sencha touch)

Cons:

• Less Object oriented / more web site programming like when it comes to wiring events etc. For non-trivial applications, it may almost require using another framework such as backbone or Knockout

• Rough at the edges, Transitions may flicker and sometimes are not smooth

• Some UI controls do not work very well (Fixed toolbars that are overlaid everytime on vertical scrolling make the UX very flaky)

Sencha Touch

Summary: A more robust OO style architecture with a strong focus on mobile web / apps.

Pros:

• True MVC style architecture

• Takes a SASS based object oriented approach to theming

• Much smoother / flicker free transitions than JQM

• Nicer iPhone style theme and icons (better than JQM's, IMO)

Cons:

• Steeper learning curve, changes from Sencha 1.x to 2 in coding styles etc. do not help

• UI is more oriented towards web design than mobile design e.g.

- Form style UI layout with labels on the side of text boxes

- iPhone style Flip switches (Toggle in Sencha world) require .css changes (https://github.com/tomalex0/SenchaTouch-Form-iosToggleField/commit/0b7de60782...

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Remembering Steve Jobs

2011-10-18T23:15:00.001-05:00

This is an excerpt from an article originally published here

1. Do what you love.

Jobs once said, "People with passion can change the world for the better."

2. Put a dent in the universe.

He once asked then-Pepsi President, John Sculley, "Do you want to spend your life selling sugar water or do you want to change the world?" Don't lose sight of the big vision.

3. Make connections.

Jobs once said creativity is connecting things. He meant that people with a broad set of life experiences can often see things that others miss. Connect ideas from different fields.

4. Say no to 1,000 things.

Jobs was as proud of what Apple chose not to do as he was of what Apple did. Why? So he could put the "A-Team" on each product. What are you saying "no" to?

5. Create insanely different experiences.

Everything about the experience you have when you walk into an Apple store is intended to enrich your life and to create an emotional connection between you and the Apple brand.

6. Master the message.

Instead of simply delivering a presentation like most people do, he informed, he educated, he inspired and he entertained, all in one presentation.

7. Sell dreams, not products.

Your customers don't care about your product. They care about themselves, their hopes, their ambitions. Jobs taught us that if you help your customers reach their dreams, you'll win them over.

See genius in your craziness, believe in yourself, believe in your vision, and be constantly prepared to defend those ideas.

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Let's play "Catch the image slider"

2011-04-09T18:53:00.001-05:00

I recently encountered this image slider that changes the location of controls on every image switch. Now, maybe there are good reasons for making it this way, but it almost seems wrong to me. Then again, what do we know ;-)

You can see this in all its glory on the Best Buy's Magnolia section (assuming they still have it). That's professional Interaction / Interface design for ya!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Electronics/Magnolia-Home/pcmcat139900050002.c?id...

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Et tu Apple - Someone was asleep at the wheel

2011-04-07T23:46:00.001-05:00

I recently changed my AppleID password. When I logged in, Apple wanted to store my birthdate and a secret question. That's great, but when I try to save it, I get this error about not entering the birth year....but, there is no place to enter birth year.

And we thought only blue screens of death were bad ;-)

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Product Designers vs. Backoffice Guys, who's got game?

2011-03-13T03:31:00.001-05:00

In one of my recent class at ID, the professor asked

"What are the coolest product innovations in the last 10 years?"

In a few minutes, the class came up with this list....Google, Social Networks, Smartphones, Dyson Vacs, Single Cup Coffee, Oxo Good grips, Web Services and Tablets

"What are the coolest business model innovations in the last 10 years?"

In about half the time, the class came up with twice as many names....Amazon, Zipcars, Netflix, Dell, iTunes, Outsource, Crowdsource, Freemium, eBay, Redbox, Craigslist, Jetblue, Microlending, Cloud computing, Adsense and Peapod

Couple of observations...

Business model innovations seems to be where the action is (I know, its obvious)
A number of product innovations often are part of business model innovations (Google)
All the business model innovations listed appear to be enabled by the internet (Shaun's awesome observation)

"So why is it that more innovation is happening in business models instead of products?"

Commoditized product features - iPhone / Android / Blackberry - similar capabilities
Limited product differentiation with technology, branding, design, pricing = Limited competitive advantage
Blurred customer segments - 60 year olds buying Scions - Products alone offers uncertain marketing plan
Product copycats - Means product innovation is not enough

On the contrary, the business model innovation offers...

More levers to pull...pricing, delivery, entire user experience and of course product innovation
Sustainable competitive advantage - Netflix or Redbox (actually better yet, ask Blockbuster or Hollywood Videos ;-) )
Network and platform effect (Think iPod without iTunes)
Services that were seemingly impossible in the past (Thanks DARPA for the internet)

Every day, we encounter some problem and think 'there has to be a better way', but often a lot of our thoughts gravitate to building a better mousetrap. To me at least, it was a profound realization that businesses strategies are not balanced adequately if they do not address a business model design.

Real world example...What if a Windows/Nokia phone handset (whenever it debuts) was not offered as a mobile device for purchase but rented instead .i.e. instead of buying a $150 - 200 handset (Android / iPhone), what if Microsoft/Nokia offered a comparable handset for an additional $10/month with free upgrade to a new device every 12 months.

So, who's got game - product designers or business strategists / back office / ops guys...Maybe a combination of both.

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Unhelpful Error Messages anybody..

2011-01-20T17:24:00.001-06:00

There is probably a profitable opportunity to re-do error messages for business software. This is a message that popped up on my colleague's Excel when she tried opening a file. I wondered what a DDE error is (but was too lazy to Google it).

Technology enables so many things, but graceful error handling appears to always take a back seat to new features.

As always, when there is a need, someone figures out a Solution. Look Ma, what Google found me for 'error message software'....(although, it looks like this one only translates numeric error codes)..Here is a link to it

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UX and Software...

2011-01-04T01:33:00.001-06:00

"...all of those things are great, rational reasons to pursue what we pursued. But none of them matter if the product is harder to use"

"Focus on what really matters: making users happy with your product as quickly as you can, and helping them as much as you can after that. If you do those better than anyone else out there you'll win."

"Changing people's behavior is really hard."

"...focused on making the user do almost no work at all, by automatically editing and categorizing their data, reducing the number of fields in their signup form, and giving them immediate gratification as soon as they possibly could. We completely sucked at all of that."

"...design was exceptional, but if other, stronger forms of lock-in are in place first, design alone can't win a market, nor can it keep a market."

As someone trying to solve a problem or create a new experience, I have found myself making some of the same mistakes that this article talks about.

Is there a dichotomy in the thinking of the designer / developer and the point of view of a user that secretly creeps into our creations? Don't we all sometimes find it hard to maintain perspective on what matters to the user, and more commonly, maintain the sanctity and integrity of that context througout our design process?

A common example of this can be found in a large number of enterprise software applications, where ease of learning / access and ease of use often take a backseat to the rather engineering driven linear approach. It is almost as if some of these solutions were created for robots and not for humans.

While the emergence of design consciousness and its economic benefits do seem to be making inroads everywhere else from Mobile phones to the government, enterprise software as a category seems to be a laggard, with some notable exceptions such as the SAP design guild.

We certainly do live in interesting times. Here is the link to the article...

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Spiderman PJs on Southwest Airlines = Happy Employees

2010-12-03T00:17:00.001-06:00

On a recent flight, the air hostess announced if Mr. Smith would ring his call button. When he did, they said that his hotel had called, they have found his Spiderman pajamas. Everyone laughed as the forty something Mr. Smith turned red. His colleagues who were sitting next to him high-fived each other and the hostesses who made that announcement. Eventually, the air hostess brought a crown made out of peanut pouches and coffee stirrers for Smith's boss who had requested for this joke. I had just witnessed the happy / proud employees of Southwest Airlines.

So the next time Smith & his boss flies, guess which airlines they would rather be on.

Image courtesy: http://www.retroist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/spider-mans-socks.jpg

In a time where everything is getting commoditized and as internet eliminates the market inefficiencies (price comparisons engines, reviews etc.), what else can matter in a buying decision? Isn't it true that whether we look at products, services or experiences, often the logical comparisons are not significantly different, it is the emotional ones that weigh in - consciously or at a subliminal level. After all, we all do business with people or brands that we like (when given a choice).

Does this mean that likability is the unassailable core competency in itself? because a lot of other strengths (technology, business model, new offerings) can be begged, borrowed or stolen. And if this is true, than how do we imbue the notion of being likable in our organizational DNA? How can likability be institutionalized / made viral (in a good way) and spread through every client touchpoint?

Maybe the most direct way for a business to be likable is to have likable employees (who often tend to be the ones that are happy showing up for work). Will this mean that happy employees are one of the most valuable asset? After all what better way is there for a business to make emotional connections with customers than to have employees that take pride in their work and will do whatever is needed for a company to succeed.

Maybe that is why happy employees can make emotional connections and spread likability in ways that would otherwise be unimaginable at 30, 000 Feet.

Southwest & Spiderman PJs rock!!

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Disconnected UX = No Sales / Lost Opportunity

2010-09-28T17:24:00.001-05:00

So you get an email about some cool little gadget that will work with your phone,

and you click the link to land on this page....

Which offers you no video demo or photos of how it works. Essentially the navigation offers you these choices...

- Specs | Support (Top right main links)

- View specs
- View product documentation
- Buy it Today
- View compatible BlackBerry smartphones

Key Message: "Our product does something cool, just buy it "

No video or an image of the product in action. The benefit is buried in the text (breaks the "don't make me think" rule). This video link is somewhere else and not connected to the main sales pitch page.

Let's check Apple's Keynote Presentation Software (I don't know if there is an iPhone presenter).

Clear, Simple, Direct

- Video on the left, product in action image on right, key benefit "Crowd pleaser"
- Five main benefits with images on the viewable area
- Additional info in the bottom scrollable area

Key Message: "You can do cool things with it and its easy to use"

In my opinion, both Apple & RIM have some cool technology stuff. What strikes me as interesting is how differently their messages are constructed.

In today's rather short attention span world, your prospects may get turned off by a disconnected user experience so quickly that they may end up spending more time blogging about it than reading your product manual ;-)

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Washing feet at Niagara Falls

2010-09-26T23:17:00.001-05:00

I saw this rather unusual sign on the restroom wall at the Floral Clock, Niagara Falls (on the Canadian side).

I wondered about the reason behind it. Who is washing feet in a bathroom sink at Niagara Falls and Why? Now washing sand away on a beachside where a shower is not working or missing can still be imagined, but at Niagara Falls...hmm

It was later that I realized that it may be related to the ritual of ablution common among some religion, and that is when I realized that perhaps Niagara Falls does not have a praying room facility. So, visitors to Niagara who want to pray probably come over to Floral Clock, and decide to wash their feet before prayer as well.

It is always interesting to see how often seemingly unusual things almost always lead back into Anthropology. Would the visitors be better served if there were directions & phone number to nearest public praying facilities for various faith instead. I wonder in what other ways can one address this.

Oh well, but you have been cautioned, don't wash your feet at Floral Clock ;-)

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Look Ma, No Directions!

2010-09-26T23:14:00.001-05:00

The last thing you want when you are doing 65 MPH down an interstate is probably this.

Especially when you need to change the destination address & you know that your exit is probably going to pass in the next few minutes.

You know, this could be the GPS' blue screen of death ;-)

Note for engineers / techies (including myself) : Design for Use

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Bad Product Design Advertisement

2010-09-26T23:13:00.001-05:00

You know they did it bad when they have to put up instructions on how to use an alarm clock.

And for something like this to come from Sony is sad.

http://innodesk.posterous.com/bad-product-design-advertisement

Clearly confused

2010-09-26T23:11:00.001-05:00

Err...so is this magazine free or is it $25 for someone in the US?

And in case you did not know, you can use your mouse to click through the choices ;-)

Techie Post: Using .Net Colors class with Silverlight

2010-09-26T23:10:00.003-05:00

Every once in a while, the skies seem dreary & life is miserable. That is when I turn to my ultimate euphoria...programming.

I am playing around with Silverlight / C# to access some XML over the web & wanted to bind it to a few UI controls. One of the strings in the XMLDocument is color & I thought this would be really easy, I should just be able to do this:

lblStatus.Background = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Blue);

But, Silverlight does not like this. In the non-Silverlight .Net world, this would be just fine. I really did not want to write my own little conversion between String values of Colors to RGB; And that is when I stumbled upon this little gem (Thank you Pencho Popadiyn & Google). Pencho has written a class that serves as a converter (using user defined implicit conversion in .Net - who knew these things existed)...

Anyways, it works like a charm...More details & the source code here...

What will we build?

2010-09-26T23:10:00.001-05:00

What's Up:

Bandwidth
Internet Access
Mobile Devices
Online Interaction (social / gaming etc.)
Computing Capabilities
Mashup & other web integrations

What's Down (not working):

Healthcare Information Access
Learning new stuff
Positive Community Action
Conservation & Environmental Action
Managing my contacts

So, the question is...What will we build?

What not to do with something really good...

2010-09-26T23:09:00.001-05:00

So the next time somebody shows you something that looks really great, do this...Do Nothing!

Really, just appreciate it in a mild mannered way (or applaud it a lot, depending on your style), but do not discuss about whatever else it can be or how it can be so much better.

From a first hand experience of being on the other side of the fence (i.e. the guy who thinks he may have the next cool thing), nothing kills the potential of a fresh (& nascent) new idea than some discussion on what else it can be, especially when you may not have a direct sweat equity in it.

Ideas are like little babies, yes...they may grow up to be something great (& you can talk all day about their career options), but their mother would rather have you just appreciate how cute & cuddly they are, and maybe play with them a little.

Also, at the cost of sounding all gooey, such discussions inadvertently take away the euphoria of creating something cool & refreshing.

Having said all the above, constructive criticism, vigorous intellectual debates & a large dose of left brained analysis is very very important, but it has to wait for the right time in the conceptualization process. Often, these input can prematurely burden the evolution of a concept with more food for thought, & potentially delay a finished version of the prototype itself.

Like Steve Jobs said, "Real Artists Ship". Be the real artist or find one & let 'em ship.

Prototype, Love, Iterate, Peace ;-)

Get it done...even if it ain't perfect

2010-05-02T02:14:00.002-05:00

Summary: Optimization can be the enemy of getting things done.

Is optimization an enemy of getting things done? We have countless things that we want to do & sincerely believe that we are not procrastinating....but we want to combine that work with some other work (but we never get to do the combined thing because something else crept up).

For instance, I will open a stock account & start investing after I have researched the market & understood it well. But, I don't have time to go through the learning curve (& I am not smart enough to hire a financial advisor), so nothing gets done. While that does not mean that I should jump headfirst into investing without any research, but the result is status quo.

On the contrary, if I opened an account & maybe invested a minimal amount...ahh.. Now I am going to read up, learn, research etc. because now I am invested (as in committed). So, for now...I am having a productive day with just a very simple plan of writing stuff down with very basic priorities & doing whatever I can get done...It may be slow, time consuming & sometimes wasteful / expensive....but its getting done.

:-)

The future of app development (Force.com)

2010-01-20T01:21:00.007-06:00

Confession: This post is probably a year or so late, it is just that I have not had the opportunity to play with Force.com earlier.

Summary: Force.com is revolutionizing the way we do application development & the future belongs to such platforms that are cost effective, agile & offer a low barrier to entry.

Ever since Amazon introduced AWS & EC2, I was interested in Cloud computing. Eventually, Google App Engine really made me want to play with these offerings. However, the learning curve to all these platform appeared a little too steep to me, largely because it expected me to play all (or most) of the roles from SysAdmin to Web Server Admin to Db Admin to developer etc.

Enter force.com...a platform offering from Salesforce.com that offers you a set of pre-built business objects for customization & allows you the flexibility to create your own custom ones, generates a UI for them all & allows you to create your own).

So, basically the developer uses (or creates) business objects, tweaks the business validations, rules, UI, leverages the force.com infrastructure for access control, authorization, security, scalability, data migration, web service integration etc. & can offer a fully functioning business application to the users.

I was able to create a fully functioning web application with a custom Asp.Net UI front end (using force.com generated web services) in two days, from learning the force.com environment, toolset, some APEX programming to importing data into the custom business objects that I created from scratch.

I am usually a skeptic to new vendor offerings that purportedly make our jobs easy, but Force.com certainly seems to have found a balance between technology flexibility, agility & ease of usage in a cost effective way. This can be revolutionary.

Can they even see your site

2009-12-30T21:30:00.008-06:00

Simple, useful & rather interesting way to look at how well is a given site visible without scrolling (on different resolutions). I tried my website & some others to see how well were they visible (& the results were surprising - try CNN).

Maybe it also has to do with my computer's native resolution & screen size (I am running 1920 X 1200 on a 24.5 LCD Panel). In any case, here is the official version from Google itself & the Google labs link

'Google Browser Size is a visualization of browser window sizes for people who visit Google. For example, the "90%" contour means that 90% of people visiting Google have their browser window open to at least this size or larger.'

My 10 yrs old toothbrush

2009-12-03T00:36:00.004-06:00

In the fall of 1999, I brought an electric toothbrush. I paid about $80 for it...I thought it was a little too much for a toothbrush, but I was young at that time ;-). It was a Braun product & I use it till date. I did not think much about it...it just sat on my bathroom sink. While looking at this video & listening to Dieter Ram talk about design, I realized how deeply embedded are the notion of design in that product.

For a technology product to last that long & be so integrated in your life that you don't even think about is probably the ultimate milestone of good design. It never ceases to amaze me how deeply some people think about these things. Thank You Mr. Ram, for making things around us usable, useful & integral.

What would 'online search' do?

2009-10-21T10:33:00.005-05:00

This article on Google Music caught my attention. So, if you are another online search service, how do you compete with Google? How do you entice folks to use your search engine over Google? Google gives me great search results (well, within reason) & I like other Google products (Gmail, Blogger etc.). So, why would I use a Bing, Yahoo, Ask, Cuil or anything else?

This seems to be so much more of a marketing problem than a technology or product problem. Let's look at another similar situation - Before Starbucks came along, maybe Dunkin Donuts or McD were the market leader for Coffee. What did Starbucks do? Ditto with Dell/HP vs. Apple. By fragmenting the market & targeting specific segments - typically the underserved ones, these companies have redefined their product positioning & often have created completely new markets.

Let's try that idea with Google. Does Google search work really well for everyone (as in insanely amazingly well) - or does it just work good enough? What if there were search engines targeted to different user groups - When kids search for "Mario" are they really looking for "Mario Tricoci Hair Salons & Day Spas".

Similarily, when a caregiver is looking for information on diabetes vs. a student researcher vs. a pharmacist, are they interested in the same set of information. Today, every user either sifts through the tonne of results that they get - less likely, or we keep on refining our query to a more specific term. What if I don't know the term - which is especially true for technical trades - programming is one of them. Try finding information on "parameterized URL" without using that term.

I guess there is probably an opportunity for online search engines to focus more sharply on under served user segments - and google music is probably a step in that direction. It will be interesting to see what others will do. Interesting times, I guess.

Open Source BI On the Cloud

2009-10-16T10:12:00.011-05:00

I was reading up on the BI solutions & stumbled upon Rightscale. It is an interesting offering - a combination of open source software (Talend, Jaspersoft, Vertica) running on Amazon's Virtual machine infrastructure.

So, what does this mean for an average customer - Well, I think the answer is stereotypical "It depends". If you are a small business that was not even thinking BI because Oracle, SAP, IBM & Microsoft licensing scared the bejesus out of you, this could be pretty interesting. Especially, if your business has a Franchise model & your data is not tightly regulated (HIPAA, SOX, DOD don't mean anything to you), this may be a cool tool to offer to your franchisees.

You can do an enterprise agreement with these guys, integrate local data systems (if they are not integrated already) & pretty soon each one of the "Lube & Oil Change" Managers (who are willing to spend $50 a month) can have a BI solution to look at & answer questions like who is your most profitable customer that has not returned in the last 6 months.

The part I like about the emerging technology landscape is that it continues to lower the entry barriers for competitive edge between the big guys & the small ones. In the end though, all these are beneficial only to those that are a well oiled machine to begin with. Yep, no amount of BI is bringing back the customer who got her car back with grease marks on the hood.

Yahoo BOSS - Someone was thinking blue oceans

2009-09-21T19:26:00.004-05:00

I am intrigued by the thinking that must have gone into Yahoo BOSS. Essentially, it is a way to offer Yahoo's search infrastructure to start ups & developers for customized search options. What I find cool is that this strategy can enable a number of custom search engine based offerings & fragment the search market against the search titans. Their search service usage chart sure supports the validity of the idea.

Read more on this here....

Yahoo's BOSS Website

BOSS vs. Bing

UX/UI for dummies screenshot

2009-09-08T14:12:00.011-05:00

Hotmail was the first free email service back in the early days (remember Sabeer Bhatia). It had a huge first mover advantage & is now Microsoft owned. However, when you put on your usability glasses, it seems that some basic things that one would notice seems to be amiss.

Just take the two search boxes...Two??Yes, really...see the screenshot. It makes me think that there was no thought put into what was getting developed. Is it not a fair assumption that most of the modern browsers have a little search box on their top right corner? Why would Hotmail users would want to search on Bing after logging into their Hotmail account?

But what if we wanted hotmail users to try out Bing? How do we increase the adoption of our cool new search engine? Well...maybe we can offer one search box, but two search results - side by side - one from the user's emails & other from the web; Now you've got my attention. I(the user) is thinking...Hotmail is pretty cool - Gmail cannot do that for me, nor can Yahoo. This is so cool. & maybe I will click a hyperlink & you have introduced me to your cool new search engine - in a Permission Marketing sort of way. Here is how GMail does it today...

Another issue that I ran into recently. I received 6 exact emails for Azure trial from Microsoft & yet Live/Hotmail did not think it was spam (while it sometimes flags my regular emails as spam). Again, it seems to me that its the little things that matter & that is where Apple & Google sometimes (well most of the times) have an edge over Microsoft.

Its the people, stupid!

2009-07-31T09:09:00.008-05:00

How many times have you encountered this?
"Yes, I know what you are saying, but I can't do that. I am not sure who should, but that is not my job."

I recently had this experience & was thinking about it. Here is my 2 cents worth for someone making a statement like this...
1. I (probably) understand what you are asking for, but I really do not care to get involved in it.
2. I work for an organization that does not care either or has failed to communicate / empower / train how an exception should be handled.
3. I am pretty happy with where I am in my career & have no interest in going anywhere (Or I am dating the CEO's relative, & this working hard / smart crap is not for me).

Notice how all the three start with "I".

It does not matter if it is a two person company or a Fortune 50, in the end, everything in a service or experience can boil down to the person you are interacting with.

Hire smart, train wisely, empower empathetically.

Its the people, stupid!

Good to great - HSBC India Branch Locator

2009-07-18T18:37:00.007-05:00

Now it sure is good to have a branch locator on your website, but it would be great to have branch timings or telephone numbers, unless HSBC expects their customers to know where the branch is & not visit it or call them...

I ended up visiting their branch twice because the first time I went, it was closed. They sure don't make it easy for someone to make a deposit.

It is funny how many businesses make it hard for their customers (probably without realizing it). Reminds me about the book "Good to Great".

Recession...What Recession??

2009-05-28T14:15:00.006-05:00

We are in recession, it has hurt our businesses, our service & sales revenue are down. What do we do now??

Despite of all the grim news about recession, it amazes me that how many businesses continue to offer poor customer services & sub standard products.

Here are two recent experiences.

-Happy Anniversary...
Here is an anniversary mailer from my cellphone service provider, congratulating & thanking me for the business. They offer me a free ring tone or 25 bonus minutes for which I will need to login to their website & do something explained in the next two pages.

By the way, the stuff is free **AFTER SERVICE CREDIT**. Seriously, free ring tones after service credit that will take so much time & effort.

-Customer Service...
I just got my car serviced from my local car dealer. When I picked it up, I noticed that there are some scuff marks on the side door that did not exist earlier.

He says, sure let me get someone to take care of that for you. I stand there for 15 mins while he himself cleans another car, runs around getting new customers in & so on, but nothing for the scuff marks.

So, is it really recession that is responsible for lost business?

Maybe recession is a great opportunity for customers, as it will probably kill or rectify substandard businesses. Maybe recession is just the smaller half of a much bigger problem (& any amount of stimulus is not going to cure the other part).

Thanks!

Love is in the air

2009-05-18T12:44:00.005-05:00

So how do you make a boring 13 hr flight interesting? Simple, let folks have their first date on it.

Air New Zealand's idea of combining dating / social networking with flights seems like a really interesting way to attract new customers.

The only part that I am not sure of is...what do you do when you don't like the person you are sitting next to. Maybe this is a better idea on an Amtrak instead.

See something, Do something!!

2009-04-02T02:33:00.001-05:00

I was driving down the interstate at 1 in the afternoon & it was a bright beautiful sunny day. To my surprise & dismay, all the lights were turned on.

I called Google411 (1-800-466-4411) & got connected to the local city municipality. They told me that lights are the responsibility of the Tollway Authority & were kind enough to give me their number.

On calling Tollway & I got transferred to the Engineering department, who told me that maybe they were testing some circuits (but she promised to check just in case).

The entire thing took 5 minutes.

Moral of the story: Sometimes, it is easier to fix something than to complain about it (granted this is one of the rare experiences where I got connected so fast).

Thanks!

My First Silverlight App

2009-02-19T20:37:00.000-06:00

Silverlight is Microsoft's alternative to Adobe's Flash. It allows building RIA (Rich Internet Application) using ASP.Net (C#, VB.Net).

Check out my first interactive "Google Suggest" inspired search example with Silverlight here

P.S. You will be asked to install Silverlight Runtime, if you do not have it installed.

Thanks!

Get out of my way / Just the fax Maam!!

2009-02-11T21:48:00.000-06:00

The #1 rule for every product & service design should be....

"GET OUT OF USER'S WAY"

unless the intent is to be in user's way such as safety devices etc.

On a recent business trip:
-----------------------------
Car rental: We try "to make it" harder
15 mins to the car. | 10 mins to return it & get a receipt.
Both times, there was only one person ahead of me.

Airport Cafe: Tequilaria
20 mins / 2 reminders to get a $7.50 beer. | Another 20 mins for a lousy sandwich.
& they were not busy.

Flight back: Southwest
Thankfully, on time & pleasant.
------------------------------

"Just the Fax M'aam" (JTFM) is a line Bruce Willis says in Diehard - the airport one. JTFM points to the inherent simplicity of an intent.

Are we making it hard for our customers, patrons, clients, users to get to what they are buying from us? For a number of businesses the purity of intent appears to be sorely amiss.

Why are so many businesses failing to deliver on such basic values? How can our businesses stray away from their core value proposition, its Raison d'être?

Should we all embrace the JTFM philosophy. Don't be fancy, don't be sexy, don't be anything else, unless you get your JTFM in place.

Thanks!

Quince - User Experience Explorer

2009-02-06T18:49:00.000-06:00

Infragistics recently launched Quince, a user experience pattern explorer.

Conceptually, it is pretty similar to Adobe Kuler, but in many ways...I find it better.

To begin with, it is a reminder of how advanced the capabilities of Rich Internet Applications (RIA) have become. I also like different options to search & visualize.

I guess, maybe they are different kind of user experiences, and probably comparing them is not fair. In any case, Quince is a clear example of where Silverlight is headed....

Perhaps, it also indicates the upcoming entry of typical .Net/IT programmers (non Flash types) who were limited to business app programming into more interactive & UX developer/designer roles.

Unfortunately, it may also mean a fair amount of fancier UIs, hopefully with reasonably well designed UX.

We all better pay attention to Quince, lest our users Wince ;-).

Thanks!

Book Review: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

2009-01-17T20:21:00.000-06:00

Let me begin with a confession...I really like Malcolm Gladwell's way of writing & if you get the audiobook, his way of narration is even more persuasive. In short, I am his fan. However, Outliers did not really impress me very much.

The author's basic premise in this book is that no individual has succeeded merely by their innate qualities of intellect, hardwork & whatever skills / knowledge / personalities they had. There are other factors at play which can be as incidental as when these folks were born, to where & in what type of demographics, cultural factors & all kind of things imaginable. In short, while success needs the essential ingredients of qualities mentioned earlier, circumstances do dictate who succeeds & when.

Frankly, I felt that reading this book was sort of a waste of time because it leaves out the current times. It does not attempt to describe what all this means in today's tectonic shifts of technology, innovation & design. In some ways, it leaves the reader grasping to translate the meaning of his conjecture to something meaningful.

So, if you like the Malcolm Gladwell storytelling style (which often gets fairly anecdotal in this book), give it a read, but otherwise there are probably better use of your time (like reading blogs :-)).

Thanks!!

In some ways it is an excerpt of things that he observed

Windows on a Mac - Virtualbox (Techie Post)

2009-01-12T01:35:00.000-06:00

Okay...I like my MacBook Pro, although there is a lot that I will need to learn about using it effectively. Anyhow, the need for having a Windows environment on Mac had me look at Parallels, VMWare Fusion & Virtual Box (Free for personal use).

After some research, I figured I might start with VirtualBox to get a sense of what would the experience be like. VBox is a SUN virtual machine that is available for free.

I have been using Virtual PC for a few years & am pretty happy with it on Windows. However, VBox is supposed to have the ability to use a Virtual PC image (.VHD file). Apparently, the latest VBOX version 2.10 has this feature broken, but the older 2.06 works with .VHDs.

After some back & forth copying of .VHDs, I was able to use them with VBox, but it would give me a registry error every time I started it (something like 'The registry is corrupted & was restored from a log').

I searched & found that I can convert my Virtual PC image (a .VHD file) to a VBox image (a .VDI file). Unfortunately, after many trials using the vboxmanage convert utility & QEMU, it just did not work.

I figured since I will be using Windows on a Mac on a pretty regular basis, I might as well create a fresh fault free VBox native environment. So, I ended up installing Windows Server 2003 on a VBox image, allocated it 20 GB diskspace & 2 GB RAM (My MacBook has 4 GB) & it works like a charm.

It has MS Expression Studio (Adobe CS4 type MSFT version), Visual Studio 2008, Adobe Flex Builder & SQL Server Express Edition for now, but it runs faster than my actual Windows machine.

Summary: VirtualBox is a good product, if you would like to start afresh (Atleast for now).

Grass on the other side of the fence...

2008-12-29T01:58:00.000-06:00

I write this post from a newly acquired Macbook Pro. This is my first Apple product & it took me 15 mins to start using it for the kind of things that I usually do.

The funny thing is that I also ordered an HP dv7t notebook running Vista 64 bit, & it took me much longer to get some of my stuff working on it, & I have been working on PCs for about 20 years.

Apple Rocks (& I am sure there are things that stink about it & I will probably know about them in a little bit ;-)).

Have a great day (I am having one!).

Gmail Theme on Mainframe

2008-11-20T12:01:00.000-06:00

Google has introduced the new themes. My favorite one is this...

You can tell I am a Geek from the past era ;-). Now only if it can start accepting my RACF ID, but I guess that will be another long COBOL project ;-)..

Thanks!

Beyond Good Enough-Pictorial

2008-11-14T09:22:00.000-06:00

The last post on this subject was a little too texty, so I figured its time for a more visual representation of it.

So, here is a visual of the same. Hope this completes the picture.

Beyond good enough...

2008-06-29T22:50:00.000-05:00

My apologies for the silence. I was in the "get busy living" mode.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, my last two posts on this subject tried looking at the two sides of the fence. From an old school marketing perspective, one can say that good enough products are intended for the lower end of the customer segment in the western as well as emerging markets.

However, with that definition it is hard to visualize where does cheap chic fit in? Are the people shopping at IKEA just the lower / middle income groups? What about at Costco / Target / Kohls? Is an average Apple customer a very affluent person?

The point is that customer segments specifically from a price point are blurring, & that is diminishing the saleability of mediocre products. The sales number may not indicate that, but in the mind of the consumer, some of today's market leaders are loosing a battle.

McDonald's decision to eliminate trans fatty acids, Microsoft's change in life cycle policy to support XP till 2014 & shopping experience between Target & Walmart are all indicative of a more aware & assertive consumer.

Okay...so what does a business do? How do we get out of the mediocrity & into a segment where our business / product / services are beyond "good enough"?

I am not a marketing / strategy guru & some of this may sound fairly cliched, but it is surprising how few organizations have internalized it. Here is my "Do or Die" list...

1. "Design Or Die" for the user
Not for the press, not for the marketing guys, not for anyone else but for your user. Products, Services or whatever in between you have...make sure that "it just works" for the user, otherwise do us all & the environment a great favor & go out of business.

2. Differentiate Or Die
Read about the DHL layoffs...In a UPS / FEDEX world, I never did figure out what was DHL's unique selling proposition. They may be a little cheaper, but price is rarely a strategic differentiator. So, unless your cow is purple, "yer business is a knockin the pearly gates anytime".

3. Innovate Or Die
So you are in an economy that is not doing well & not sure what to do. Well, figure out a way to offer cheaper day care, help someone improve or enrich what they are trying to do...Innovate a service or a product to ride the price sensitive wave. For a while, price may be a pretty good tactical advantage. ;-). Unless you want a Chinese manufacturer to eat your lunch, Innovate, Patent, Sell & Repeat.

4. Passionate Or Die
In the "Only the paranoid survive" spirit, I think we all need to realize how easily replaceable our products & services have become. The truth is that more than ever, we all need to be passionate about what we do, & offer a zest & zeal that is not easily replicable, or be ready to get Outsourced.

I will end my thoughts here for now. Most of this is really what I have understood from reading Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, the Heath brothers & a lot of other thought provoking authors.

Thanks!

The contrarian Viewpoint...."Why Good enough is not.."

2008-06-21T22:31:00.000-05:00

Trying to play devil's advocate here....

The companies I cite such as MSFT are doing incredibly well for their size. They have billion dollar blockbuster products such as Sharepoint.

The emerging markets such as China, India, Russia & Latin America probably represent a huge market where good enough products / services with affordable prices should really do well.

So, if the Wal Mart model of optimizing efficiencies, cutting costs & selling stuff still looks promising, then where exactly is the "good enough" segment shrinking?

Also, if you consider the "flying geese" model of Macroeconomics, we will never run short of markets for good enough products.

By the time, these emerging markets become picky about products & services, Africa will be developing as the next "emerging market".

So...Why is good enough not good enough? More thoughts in my next post.

Thanks!

Why good enough is not good enough?

2008-06-16T09:06:00.000-05:00

So what is common between Microsoft & American Automobile manufacturers? Both of them command a significant percentage of market share but seem to be loosing ground in the minds of consumer (just my opinion...numbers could probably tell a whole different story).

The common factor is mediocrity. The overall experience of ownership or usage of these consumer products is mediocre or good enough. It's not the best, not the worst, just good enough. Office works pretty well for some, not so well for others, but it works somewhat. The same logic applies to the Taurus's of the world.

These products may not be the tops in efficiency or style or experience or usability, but they are all good enough. Well apparently, good enough is not good enough & the middle segment is shrinking. Why??

1. Technology - It turns out that a few years ago, you had to be a Linux guy to use it, but today with an "easy to install & use experience", Ubuntu is a compelling alternative to Windows (same for Open Office).

These type of products are creating a migration from the middle segment to the bottom layers (especially true for developing countries / price sensitive segments). On the other hand, Toyota Prius is creating a migration to the upper segment with superior technology (Yep, 20K + for a compact car)

2. Design - Is expanding the top & the bottom segments by making the products more appealing, usable & hip. No longer is design expensive (IKEA, Target, Toyota Scion) & thus a mediocre product or service experience is just not selling very well. No points for guessing Apple, but others include Volkswagen & Nissan.

3. Innovation - is another reason why the middle segment is shrinking. Products & services better suited for our needs command a premium way over the good enough category (Yep...$90 for a Braun Toothbrush..who would have guessed?). This limits the economic incentive to be in the mediocre products category (unless of course, you have very high exit barriers).

4. Too much crap - Straight out of the Dan Pinkerton world, Asia, Automation & Abundance have made some of us rethink about what do we need (& how much of it). Although, this mindset of not buying too much crap is expanding organically, but it is a segment which seems highly averse to buying mediocre products.

5. Changing Lifestyle - As the migration to cities gathers steam, we will have smaller spaces to ourselves, & thus would want less stuff (in which case, mediocre products are probably out). Same applies for multi tasking...Blackberry is a great example of this.

I am sure this list can go on & on with internet, wisdom of the crowds, better access to reviews & ownership experience etc., but the point is....

Good enough is not good enough.

In the next post, my thoughts on what can we do to get out of the "Good Enough" category.

Thanks!!

iPhone & Mimique...Open Source can be so empowering?

2008-06-09T15:13:00.001-05:00

So what can one possibly design that will compete with iPhone. After all, who can build it sleeker, simpler & sexier than Apple? & even if you had the beans to do a better design, can the engineering part of building a cellphone make this endeavor, a daunting one for a design company?

Enter RKS design with Mimique on Open Source Google Android...

This is a good example of how open source empowers ideas that looked too tough just yesterday. If Mimique was conceived a year ago, it would have to live with limitations of Windows Mobile or other commercially available smartphone operating systems (or they would have to shell out a fair amount in embedded operating systems just to get a basic working phone out of the door), but with Google Android available, the entry barriers into the smartphone world are lowered to a point where better designs & products become viable.

So, the question I ask myself is...What was impractical & not viable yesterday, but is feasible today? Who is monitoring the change in the "business as usual" assumptions of your business? Can such individuals, groups or companies be the game changers of today (& are we part of that mindset)?

Food for thought, aye?

Cool & Useful (Product Heuristics)

2008-06-06T07:30:00.001-05:00

What do you do if your product or service is not loved by customers? What determines that the stuff you buy actually gets used? Where is the line between shelfware & wonderware (okay, I made this term up, but you get the idea).

Here is another one of the heuristics / rule of thumb (okay, rule of thumb & a finger) that came out of one of the rants on what can we make that folks would love.

Hope this makes sense.

Thanks!

Duct Tape - Saving the world from bad design

2008-06-01T13:26:00.000-05:00

Nothing screams end user innovation like Duct tape (a.k.a Duck Tape). It is possibly one of the greatest American innovation.

As it turns out the Universal remote that I ended up buying a year & a half ago, did not really work with my Satellite Dish (& eventually was just tossed under the bed like "Jessie, the Cowgirl" in Toy Story).

This setup was just a little complicated for the family as it involved a few steps in a strict ritual just to watch Cartoon Network (& no one even tried to get to XBOX / Wii / Wireless Media Player).

Duct tape to the rescue (okay, clear packing tape for the nitpickers)...& boom, now we have stepwise instructions for how to use this setup...Follow the numbered instructions & just add water ;-)..& duct tape slays the multiple remote dragon.

Duct tape really is a classic example of products that empowers us in a simple & straight forward manner (passes the "no manual required" test). Perhaps, the opportunity lies in ideas that allow us to make sense of our world (let's me duct tape stuff) or eliminates the need for duct taping my world (seamlessly integrated stuff / iPhones etc.).

If you can think of a product or service that does one of these, you may have the next duct tape on your hand.

Thanks!

P.S
While Harmony by Logitech etc. exist for $100+, it will probably take an Apple to expand this market (Yep, iRemote). There may be an opportunity here to create an easy to use / train Universal remote. Yep, I ain't writing no friggin Macros (& if it is has more than 3 buttons, don't even bother).

Of course another version of this product could be MS Remote Server 2009 64 Bit Enterprise edition (plus 5 other versions with 3 different licensing models). Remember "Home Server" (Almost nobody does).

Integration Next - Google Android's Compass

2008-05-31T12:10:00.001-05:00

After my last post on this topic, I was reading on Google IO & here is a Google Android demo that shows exactly what I was talking about.

The compass feature actually overlays a real image stitched to give a 3D view impression, & moves as the phone is moved.

While I did not know about this feature in Android while writing my earlier post on this subject, I am pleasantly surprised (& a little taken aback) at the timing.

Either this is a weird coincidence / fluke or I am really good at seeing the future ;-). What do you think?

Thanks!

Integration Next - Physical Objects, Digital Information

2008-05-29T23:05:00.001-05:00

What would integration of future be about? What will we want to tie next? While the integrations of past focused on tying systems together, do products like IPhone & Wii signal a new breed of integration?

From manual to automated, from batch to real time, from disjointed to seamless, from general/business like to personal....this is old news.

Is the next integration challenge centered around adding digital markers (for information or capabilities) that can leverage the power of internet to seemingly undigitized physical objects?

Navigate to Gabriel Miller's website & browse to the third image for project "WNDR" to see what I am referring to. Here is a screen shot from the same website..

Location aware devices such as GPS enabled mobile phones combined with a 3D awareness of their physical orientation through accelerometers means that devices of the future not only know where they are, they also know what direction are they facing in & exactly what are they looking at.

Does this mean that the future integrations can overlay a digital map over everyday physical things? Would these devices have the smarts to recognize that they are pointed in the direction of a restaurant & pop up reviews on it?

Would such an overlay of a 3D virtual map over physical world change the way we do things? Would it make auto-navigation a reality? Imagine a car or a plane that travels on a virtual highway without any human intervention.

Or would these be tied to the Visual Search idea that Like.com / Riya.com uses? That way, maybe I can just take a photo of the restaurant I am considering to dine in, & get back the results / reviews on it.

Imagine being able to translate Japanese into English almost near real time, just by using the camcorder feature to preview things from my web enabled cameraphone. It can just overlay English text over Japanese text on my camera screen.

I don't know what the future holds, but I suspect some of it will be headed in this direction. Maybe Live.com & other Google wannabes can change the battleground & fight the search battle in real world instead of on a computer screen. Maybe that is why Google came up with Android.

(Or Maybe this is just another conspiracy theory..who knows).

Good Night!!

The New Opportunities

2008-05-27T23:30:00.001-05:00

After reading the businessweek's innovation section, Seth Godin, John Thackara, Paul Polak, Prahalad / Hamel & Porter, and after attending some really thought provoking conferences in the last few weeks, I wanted to clear my head & summarize all these thoughts.

After all, what should a business do about sustainability, design, innovation & such. How should their products, services or platforms map to these lines of thinking? Can we describe this in a way where it may make sense in a few minutes.

Here is my attempt with a thousand words...

In a perfect world, future wealth creation attempts will have to be firmly entrenched in all of these four quadrants to attain any kind of viable & long term competitive advantage.

However, since we live in an imperfect world, the economic inefficiencies of the market & other external factors will contain how far this competitive advantage / threat will go (& 'business as usual' will work just fine for some of us).

Disclaimer: As a high level diagram, this is intended to merely foster thoughts. It is not attempting to "be all, end all" (for that you may want to read some of the fine authors mentioned earlier).

Thanks!!

Greenwash me with design!!

2008-05-23T20:33:00.000-05:00

Recently, I had an opportunity to hear the CEO of a major consumer packaged company talk about design & innovation. He went on & on about how he somehow realized that their company needed design to be competitive & serve as a differentiator versus other products.

Everything sounded really impressive, till he started talking about their baby diaper business in the emerging markets.

We are not competing against Kimberly Clark, he said. We are competing against cloth in India & China. Our bottom of the pyramid strategy is developing products that are targeted for these markets.

Someone asked what about sustainability (since disposable diapers do not exactly biodegrade). His response was something to this effect....Yes, we are very concerned about sustainability & realize that we need to pay attention to it.

What is it that we in the west do not understand? Is it too hard to fathom that we cannot fight nature? Why is design & innovation only expected to serve the ROI interest (in a myopic sense)? Doesn't Katrina tells us anything about the power of nature?

Wouldn't a CEO stand in front of an audience & say that he decided to do the right thing (even if it meant that he sacrificed some profits)? & I do believe that sustainability is a profitable endeavor, if one thought through it.

Companies like Patagonia inspire me for they want to do the right thing. Check them out, if you have not. Meanwhile the rest of the world is only interested in making more money, even if it is at the cost of something that is invaluable.

Have a good weekend!!

Why automation / online ordering will not outsource humans?

2008-05-20T17:41:00.000-05:00

As you can probably tell, I am a big fan of online stuff (which is why I don't have a paper version of my little diary).

Anyways, on a recent trip to San Diego, I tried ordering pizza from Pizza Hut & got into the online v/s human interface issue.

Apparently, Pizza Hut cannot find the Hilton San Diego Resort that I was staying at (& so no Pizza Hut food for me).

Note the address of Hilton on their website...

Here is the disconnect...Note the message from Pizza Hut website...

They can't even find the Hilton. Well, I ended up calling the hotel who recommended me Mountain Mike's (& that is where the Pizza came from).

I am not sure what is the issue, but here it is...

Book Review - Out Of Poverty

2008-05-08T23:00:00.000-05:00

Out Of Poverty by Paul Polak

The author begins with a brief introduction of his farming experience with strawberries in his early years & ties it back to how hard farming as a business is.

The first chapter offers his 12 step common sense & direct problem solving philosophy & gives an insight into his simple but measurable approach.

He then opines the three myths that the west seems to suffer from about poverty eradication (Charity, Increasing national economic growth & getting large multi-nationals to set up businesses in these countries) in the second chapter.

Author does a strong criticism on why massive global efforts such as UN's Millenium Development Goals with significant investments have failed as well as dissects CK Prahlad's "Bottom of the Pyramid".

Chapter three covers why the author thinks the only way to eradicate poverty is by improving the agricultural income of "less than an acre" farms in a businesslike / market driven manner, & introduces 'Krishna Bahadur Thapa', a poor Nepali farmer who is revisited almost in a case study like manner in the rest of the book.

Business & design challenges in serving the "base of the pyramid" are covered next as he discusses affordability, lower initial investment, faster time to value & offers successes such as Treadle pump, cheaper drip irrigation kit etc.

The author highlights how underserved some of these markets are. He then discusses design issues & a "don't bother" trilogy about how not to design products for this customer base.

In an essay like manner, chapter five 'from subsistence to new income' continues with the 'Thapa' family & their status quo situation. It touches upon why it is important to boost the income of entrepreneurs like him & also includes a brief historic overview of grass root enterprises.

"Affordable small plot irrigation" continues with the "Thapa" story & how the entire drip irrigation idea came to fruition. This interesting discourse demonstrates how ideas from frontline are nurtured, tested, prototyped & implemented.

The author discusses this topic in context of other countries such as India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Zambia etc. & highlights the need for solutions in this space.

Chapter seven is almost a product development / marketing lesson for these entrepreneurs, where he highlights how these farmers can get the "most bang for their buck" by growing crops that are labor intensive & timing them to market for maximum returns.

He also talks about other innovations such as "Monsoon Tomatoes", fertilizers / manures from animal & human excreta, crop rotation & integrated pest management. Channel management, marketing / distribution & strategies to move up the value chain are covered next as he talks about day to day challenges with access to marketplaces, market inefficiencies, lack of knowledge & information on alternatives for trading the produce items.

The author explains how to create channels & mutually beneficial parties to market & promote products & services for this segment.

He cites few pertinent examples such as decentralized (on site) processing of Brazil Nuts to organic Pineapple trades where other non profits have achieved success.

Slums are covered next as the author talks about Dharavi in India. He discusses their socio-economic impact & how they can be potential incubators for new opportunities. He cites an example of Neerja International, which trained Jaipur slum pottery manufacturers to create blue pottery & has successfully commercialized it. He elaborates on how these entrepreneurs can be supported.

Chapter 10 transitions from social aspects of sustainability to the environmental impacts & makes a case for how poverty eradication assists with sustainability in terms of biodiversity, global warming, population growth, health & education, and espouses the author's grander vision of how other seemingly unrelated problems that we face today are related to poverty.

"Taking action to end poverty" is a call to arms where the author suggests what we all can do for poverty eradication. He discusses macroeconomic & global policy level changes to ensure fairness of UNDP assistance & to prevent corruption / misuse of funds.

He also explains what we what we all can do as individuals, poor people, institutions (Universities, Not For Profits), Multi-Nationals, Designers & introduces his next organization, D-Rev or design revolution.

The final chapter ends on a bitter sweet note as it informs the reader of sudden demise of "Krishna Bahadur Thapa". In a case study like manner, the author does a comprehensive job of explaining just how incredible is the economic success of the "Thapa" family as it moves out of poverty. He acknowledges that while this is not typical, it is exemplary & inspirational of what others below the poverty line can strive for.

Criticism:

1. Author does not cover how he made the transition from being a psychiatrist to creating IDE. This makes it harder to understand how one can participate in this cause, even if one wanted to.

2. While the book is a great food for thought, it seems to be more focused on the destination rather than the journey. At times, it reads more like a journal which may be intentional, but this inconsistency gives the reader, a rather half baked impression.

3. Author's disagreement with major organizations such as the UN feel like a rant at times, as he only criticizes them without putting forth any concrete suggestions for bigger issues such as infrastructure (development of roads, bridges, dam development, power generation, healthcare & educational programs).

Conclusion:
An inspiring book that makes one think about the greater good that can come out of poverty eradication & how we can all be a part of it.

Here is a link to the publisher's website

Recyclable Versus Sustainable

2008-04-02T15:36:00.001-05:00

Here's a lesson that I learned recently...

Recyclable / Biodegradable is very different from Sustainable.

Y'all are sayin...What!! It ain't right.

Oui, Mon Ami...Let me give y'all an example.

Paper bags are probably better than plastic because paper is biodegradable, it will rot, compost & go back to Mother Earth. Correct.

Yep, technically correct but flawed. It takes a lot more energy & resources (think wood, water & whatever was expended to generate power for the paper mill).

So, it's recylable but it ain't sustainable!!

So, the next time a Wal-Mart Missy asks y'all for Paper or Plastic, whatcha gonna do?

Y'all tell 'er none (Yep, we are gettin our own bags).

Anyways, in the same spirit I discovered that cut flowers that we buy at our local departmental stores are not sustainable & in general are bad for the environment.

Y'all don't think so, tell ya what...see my fancy presentation with flowers & all...

Yep, dis brother ..he ain't no stupid

Google's Custom Time - What a great concept!!

2008-04-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

Google introduced a concept that is just brilliant..custom time - the ability to predate your email.

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html

Advantage:
- Get away with forgetting birthdays
- Submit stuff late (the document that your boss wanted before quarter end but was delayed in the email type stuff)

& it is perfect for some Jobs ;-)....predate the (a for xxxxx) fruit company stocks that you received as part of your executive comp / bonus etc.

How does this work?

Let's say you wanted to send out a prank email to your boss...

Now today is 4/1/2008, but with custom time you can predate it to 3/31/2008 & send it now.

Then you call your boss & start discussing it as if he/she must have already received it & read thru....

Your boss is gonna say...I did not get that presentation from you..

You are like..but I sent it yesterday..

He's like..when..ohh..I see it now, I swear it was not there yesterday..

You are like "uh..hunhh!!" (American way of saying slacker / duh!! at work).

See...how you can embarrass folks.

These guys at Google are brilliant I tell ya what...What innovation, creative thinking, out of the box, blue sky strategy. MSFT can never think this way..

If only I can be a product manager for this custom time stuff. I mean what is in a date / time (right!!)..

I wish someone from Google can read how highly we think of them.

Oh well...I should quit fooling around & make something of this day!

Thanks!!

Why weather.com sucks?

2008-02-12T13:48:00.000-06:00

Because, they have proven that they are not free, their price is your annoyance.

We are all surrounded by so much crap that just to be free is not enough, actually its almost a given for a lot of things esp. on the internet.

However, when free is not enough for a product / service that someone desires, something is really really wrong in that offering?

I am often at weather.com finding out what to wear / be prepared for etc. However, they just lost me to wunderground.com with their annoying dancing lady ads of getting a low mortagage from a particular company.

These ads are such a pain to ignore while you are reading, that they do get noticed (albeit to probably get an adverse effect). These ads have annoyed me enough to not even try them out.

Maybe we should all start a list on delicious or something of these annoying websites (or I need to get some browser plug-in for kind of crap).

Thanks!

The Microsoft UX (or "We suggest you don't ask us. Test it yourself & find out if it works!")

2008-02-01T16:01:00.000-06:00

What do you do when you have a question & cannot find an answer? Read the Manual (Of course we all do that, don't we)

Well, What do you do if the manual does not have that information? Search Online, Google, Ask the company or something..

Well, this post is about my experience with asking the company (Microsoft, in this case).

Recently, I had a question about compatibility of Exchange 2003 & Sharepoint Server 2007 Outlook Web Parts. I Googled but really did not find anything worthwhile other than some passing references. For some reason, MSFT does not have this documented.

So, I sent out an out of the blue email to the pertinent Product Managers & actually got a response (Yay!!!). He was not sure if there are any issues, but politely requested that I should test it out before asking such questions.

Now for an Open Source product I can probably take this answer (although they are probably much better documented in some cases), but for a commercial product, ummm.....No!

I was tempted to ask if he would like the same answer from his car company. How about the Pharmacy? I find this unfortunate because Microsoft has some really great products, but in an experience age....I think they have a pretty long way to go...

I guess the fundamental (albeit cliched question) we all need to ask ourselves everyday is....

Have we done enough to make our customers successful? What is your answer today?

Happy Halloween!!

PS: CC Image courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/90316702@N00/14187704/

Why Design & Innovation is the next frontier?

2008-02-01T16:00:00.000-06:00

Okay..Maybe far too much ink has bled on this topic, but this post on businessweek had me thinking. Yes, we seem to be talking more & more about design & innovation, but why now?

Hmm..Maybe Wal-Mart is loosing customer to Target because they have redesigned the end user experience. Maybe the american auto manufacturers are loosing to imports because they are not usually associated with innovations (or perceptions of it) in areas from quality to fuel economy. Or maybe Microsoft is not considered hip by a college student because the design & visual experience of an apple just makes it look clunky.

For these iconoclastic companies, the realization that design & innovation can be a competitive advantage has probably struck home, even if, a little late.

Do you love your grumpy customers?

2008-02-01T15:57:00.000-06:00

Have you ever worked on something that was cool, sounded logical & solved a genuine business problem but still heard these...

"I / The users won't do this / It will never work"

"This is too complicated"

"Why can't I do it my way?"

Well...I have & most often then not, my first impression was my business user was just a PMS case (no offense, ladies) or someone having a bad day.

But if you think about it, all the progress in the world has happened because of folks who are lazy, grumpy, complaining & generally irritating (well..the jury is still out on this one, though). We tend to filter out too much because we either take it for granted or some things are just not an inconvenience to us.

I have tried this several times, that if I can filter out all the noisiness & focus less on their personality, there is almost always an underlying issue or an opportunity.

This may sound stereotypical, but older folks & kids (I guess, including teenagers) are usually in this category & they are the idea mine that we all need to be looking for. Actually, I think newly landed immigrants fall in this category too, because they can pinpoint things that we take for granted.

In my opinion, if you are an innovator, inventor, solutions guy or somewhere in there....listen, watch, smell (I know..Yukk) & feel for the underlying message. There is some serious money to be made (not that I have made mine) from these folks.

Love those grumpies!!!

Team players & team spirit

2008-02-01T15:48:00.000-06:00

Recently I attended a fairly interesting session on Design Planning. The professor was talking about how he always ended up with folks that had bad personal hygiene & worse social skills every time he asked for team members who have been on three or more successful (read highly innovative) projects.

It bothered him, this trend of rather socially / team challenged folks & their connection with successful projects. Ahh!! he realized after a while. These guys had figured out that meetings were a waste of time & the only thing that happened in the name of teams was some deadweight folks would watch the computer screens while these socially challenged folks would work. The team spirit that was supposed to assist & accelerate the effort would instead hamper it.

This lead these guys to adopt rather unpopular postures so that they would be left in peace to continue working in Skunkworks mode on these projects (& thus they made them successful). The question that this raises in my mind is....who failed these guys? Is it not the responsibility of the senior management to ensure that people with similar skills, motivations & like mindedness are selected in a team?

Borrowing a cue from the military, the team truly is as strong as the weakest link in it. So, ask yourself for your next project...are you the weakest link? If not, who is? & Can you do anything to make them worthwhile (or get them out of your way)?

Sometimes, I am not sure if we have taken this team thing a little too far. Do really great things actually come from team players?

Goodnight!