I use my smartphone for…
Posted: April 16, 2015 Filed under: Technology Leave a comment| Research | Entertainment | Payments | |
| Calendar | Shopping | Music | Identity |
| Texting | Scanning | Task list | Scanning |
| Camera | Weather | Reminders | Voice to text |
| Address book | News | Maps | GPS |
| Internet | Photos | Voice mail | Fitness tracking |
| Phone calls | Filing cabinet | Flashlight | Video calling |
| Social networking | Writing | Alarm clock | Games |
| Reading | Bookmarking | Travel management | Blogging |
That is more than what I do with a laptop computer. Less than eight years ago when the iPhone was launched, we thought it was a phone. Read this Asymco post about how this applies to the iWatch.
Life’s Too Short
Posted: April 13, 2015 Filed under: Change, Technology | Tags: service design 1 Comment
Portland has awesome street art and signage that complement the city’s reputation of being quirky, diverse, and progressive. This billboard caught my attention.
All photos by Mark Baker
The exploding world of mobile apps has set a new benchmark for how technology should work. In our daily lives, there is an app for every purpose: to check the weather, get sports scores, catch up on news, read a magazine, share updates with friends, book travel reservations, shop, or track workouts. One of my favorite examples is the Amazon mobile app with its ability to dynamically scan a product or barcode.
As apps have gotten increasingly easier to use and more refined, the same progression cannot be found in the traditional software that most businesses rely on. There is usually a distinct difference between applications written from the ground up after approximately 2008 and those written earlier. Earlier applications (think airline websites, like United) have lots of functionality on single screens, require training to use, and come from a “one size fits all” mindset. Even programs that have received a “face lift” can’t compare in terms of ease of use, personalization, and multi-functionality.
New approaches (Uber, an interface to a ride service, is a perfect example) are proliferating, but lots of traditional services can’t get from here to there. Unfortunately, I think we’re going to be stuck with the legacy of these systems for some time.
Life is too short to stick with outmoded technology when there is something new and better available. Consumers will continue to gravitate to the tools they find more accessible and efficient. In an upcoming post, I will address one of the fundamental toolsets that will help us get there: service design. This holistic approach focuses on the user experience when designing process, tools and service. Stay tuned.
Ossifying Ourselves with Diversity and Variety
Posted: April 9, 2015 Filed under: Technology 4 CommentsMark McDonald from Accenture used the phrase “ossifying ourselves with diversity and variety“ during his presentation at Fusion2015.
Ossifying: To become set in a rigidly conventional pattern.
I had one of these experiences at the conference. My colleagues Tom Lenz and Clare Jones joined me there. We all bring slightly different perspectives, so there is great shared learning when we can aggregate our thoughts and observations. At this conference, we decided to use OneNote in a shared OneDrive folder so we could each take notes and share them in real time.
Clare mostly typed on an iPad, as Tom did occasionally, too. I used a stylus to test the recently released ability to draw or write within OneNote. I also took pictures of key slides or the speaker with my phone or tablet and added them into the note. This often created a mess—different text boxes, overlapping type with handwriting, misaligned oversized photos, etc.
Mark McDonald is both a passionate speaker and he talks fast. Having difficulty keeping up, I decided to resort to handwritten notes, the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper. Then, I had to find a way to get these into our shared folder. Here is the process I developed:
This whole situation was far more complex than anyone had intended. Was our quest for real-time notes and the diversity and variety of methods necessary? No. Perhaps our desire to always use the latest technology has become too rigid of a pattern. Perhaps a simple approach (pen and paper note taking, with everything gathered and shared at the end of the conference) would have been satisfactory. We may have even distributed the notes on paper (gasp!).
In our efforts to leverage technology 24/7/365, we need to be careful what we wish for. The latest and greatest isn’t always the shortest or fastest distance between two points.
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