Well, it’s official. I have parted ways with EMC to continue my user experience career on the consulting side.

Onwards and Upwards
On Monday I started with Roundarch, a top notch digital consulting firm with clients including HBO, Motorola and the U.S. Air Force. Needless to say, I couldn’t be more excited about my new venture. I already have my first assignment and a whole lot of learning curve to absorb over the next few weeks. Once I am up to speed, I look forward to working on some of the coolest digital projects out there, from RIAs, to mobile apps, and beyond. Time to take my skills to the next level.

Change is good. Try it, you’ll see.

The Problem
Last week I was perusing PetSolutions.com hoping to find replacement parts for my aquarium filter. I was successful in completing my task, but stumbled onto a comparison chart for all 50 + filters and their specs from my filter’s product detail page. The chart was a big, ugly result set. My first reaction was, “Whoa! That’s quite a table of information you have there.” I marveled at how unappealing it was, at the shear volume of content displayed in the chart, and how unhelpful it was in comparing the differences between the different filter models.

Next, I tweeted a sarcastic comment about how awesome the UX was and @bobpotter came back to me with a question…how would I make the chart? Well, the least I can do is respond to Bob with a thoughtful answer since he took the time to acknowledge my tweet. :)

As I look closer, there are so many ways to improve the user experience for this display.

The filter comparison chart is an aggregate of the specs. for over 55 different filter models. There is no way to select products to compare them or to filter (no pun intended) the filters by criteria such as capacity, flow rate, etc. The Item # and Filter Name columns are both hyperlinked which leads me to believe they link to two different destinations, but they link to the same product detail page. The item number seems extraneous in the context of influencing a purchasing decision; so do the inlet and outlet hose sizes. And the breadth of information presented in such a small font size makes wading through the sea of information even more difficult.

Summary of Issues:

The Solution

To remedy the issues above, I offer the following recommendations. First, allow the user to select which filters they’d like to see in a side by side comparison chart highlighting the key features for each one. A simple tick-box could be displayed on each product page to allow the user to add selected filters to the comparison chart. Another suggestion would be to revise the ‘sort by’ options on the filter category page to include more relevant options such as aquarium size. Ideally, the catalog of items on this site would be served well by a faceted navigation system. This would allow users to remove unnecessary noise from their search results so they can quickly find what they need.

Summary of Recommendations:

I’m sure there many more ways to enhance the ux for the comparison chart and the overall site. These are just a few ideas on how to get things trending in a more useful direction.

Last week, the 10th annual EMC World conference took Boston by storm. As the biggest technology event of the year for EMC’s customers and partners, the EMC.com team pulled out all the stops to create a digital experience that helped fuel the energy and excitement happening at the show. When all was said and done, the site went live in nine languages with 124 assets, 30 page updates, 21 new promos, 14 new pages, 12 press releases, 7 social media releases, and 6 new page designs.

What’s gonna work? Teamwork!
The EMC web team was simply amazing. They accomplished extraordinary feats of digital excellence under pressure cooked deadlines, and did it with a smile. Everyone amped up their game and the result was an experience that exceeded expectations. The team’s fabric–a woven blend of skill, talent, and dedication–were the perfect threads for success. I am proud to have been a part of this amazing collaboration and even prouder of my teammates!

Building a Social Media Newsroom
One of the key deliverables for the EMC World presence on EMC.com was creating a social media newsroom to highlight all the activities happening around the event. The requirements were simple. Build a rich experience that can harness heavy volumes of syndicated content from various social media channels and display that information in an elegant an engaging way. The requirements were clear, but the journey to fully realizing this experience was quite the opposite. We iterated through several prototypes, endless bug fixes, encountered IP blocking, cross-browser compatibility issues, formatting challenges, and everything else in between. But in the weeks leading up to the launch, everyone forged ahead ‘believing’ that we could pull this off. And that’s exactly what happened. A social media newsroom was launched, complete with an interactive rich media collage of the latest blog posts, tweets, and videos from the show.

If you believe, the impossible becomes possible

Murphy’s Law IS REAL. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. When you accept this and adjust accordingly, the sky’s the limit. If you truly believe in what you are doing, it will become a reality. The web team moved mountains for the private cloud. Within weeks, EMC.com was transformed into a living breathing example of collaboration at its finest. Congratulations to the entire EMC web team for your  stellar performance of the Journey to the Private Cloud on EMC.com!

CC

Examples of great teamwork

Homepage
Social Media Newsroom
Private Cloud page
VPLEX launch page

I just finished reading the book Linchpin by Seth Godin and wanted to share my perspective. First off, if you haven’t already discovered this amazing gift, get yourself a copy straight away.

The Net Net
Linchpins are the rainmakers. They are highly creative and adaptable to change, and don’t stand around waiting to be told what to do. Linchpins find ways to make things happen regardless of obstacles. They believe they CAN change the world and do so regularly, and they have a profound effect on the people around them. I am fortunate to know some linchpins personally and can attest to the fact that they are truly amazing people. Real shining stars who can’t fit in if they tried.

Parallels
Throughout the book, Seth encourages us to expend emotional labor in everything we do. To care about the work we produce and to create art by making genuine connections with other human beings. I see user experience practitioners as the linchpins of the digital age. By expending emotional labor into the experiences we create, we are changing things for the better and hopefully making people’s lives easier. Without proper consideration given to the experience of actually using and interacting with a product, the most cutting-edge technological innovations will fail.

Reciprocity is Dead
Society typically operates in the ‘tit for tat’ model. You do something for me and I’ll do something for you. Seth challenges us to give gifts without any expectation of getting something in return. I can tell you based on personal experience that true giving is the ultimate reward.

We Are All Artists
Seth also balks at the notion that only some people are creative. He says that everyone is capable of being an artist and creating art. An artist can be a chef who cooks a meal as if he were making it for his own family, a teacher who spends extra hours with a challenged student because she genuinely cares, an amusement park worker who pulls out all the stops to make a crying child smile again, or a singer who’s voice sends chills down your spine. The common thread between them is the emotional labor they invest into their work.

Draw Your Own Map
One of the biggest takeaways from the book is to plot your own course. Don’t do things to satisfy the expectations of society. Stop trying to fit in. Instead, find out what it is that you are truly passionate about and make it your life’s work. And don’t let fear hold you back from sharing your gift with the rest of the world, i.e. keep the lizard brain in check at all times.

Some parting words of advice: Get the book. Read it. Change your life. Change the world.

Lack of Innovation = Frustration

It is always unfortunate when innovation dies in the dev queue. This is not the fault of the developers per se, rather it’s a lack of cooperation and alignment from the product team to work in concert toward a common goal. The waterfall approach is still the dominant methodology for web projects in my organization. The problem is there is way too much overhead. By the time we have working code in production, it is 18 months later and the ‘magic moment of greatness’ is gone.

To be successful, we need to:

The Proof
Innovators, like 37signals, constantly put new stuff out for the world to use. They risk it all and reap the rewards by hitting the market first while the other guys are left behind in staging. The best way to improve your product is to get it out there so people can use it and tell you what they really think. They will find the flaws, make suggestions, and help shape the next version of your product into a better one.

Next

We need a disciplined push to get things live faster. The longer it takes to execute on our ideas, the less chance we have of solving the original problem. Let’s accept the energy of the the ever changing digital landscape and harness its power to work toward introducing new things to the market as often as we can. Because that’s where the magic happens!

Simplicity

K.I.S.S. A design should be clean and functional, no need to overcomplicate the experience with too many choices. Less is more. And it creates focus in your favor.

Meaning

Create meaningful experiences that make a difference in people’s lives. Good design can transform meaningless, mundane tasks into enjoyable (and productive) activities.

Beauty

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My goal is to create beautiful experiences, both visually and emotionally that instill a deep sense of user happiness.

That’s my view…what about you?

This post is inspired by some recent run-ins with common hotel user experience challenges. Let’s get things started off on a positive note, shall we?

The Courtyard Marriott is enjoying huge success with the recent redesign of their hotel lobbies. The new spaces are hip and inviting, truly functional hotspots for their target market (the business traveler). With an uptick in revenue and market share along with overall customer satisfaction, The Courtyard case study goes to show that refreshing your brand through key customer/user insights can yield great results.

Hold the elevator, please
One common experience shortfall in many hotels is the elevators. For starters, the control panel usually needs to be studied in order to operate efficiently. At a quick glance, most look like a soduko puzzle waiting to be solved. There must be a better way to display the numbers so they are easily scannable. Yes, people read from left to right but not bottom to top. Right?

And those open and close buttons…they are so cute. But without fail, I always manage to accidentally close some unsuspecting guest in the doors while intenting to do just the opposite. Oops, sorry about that!

Elevators should also have sensors to detect full capacity. The idea being that when the capacity trigger is set-off, the elevator descends to the lobby in ‘express’ mode. Thus, avoiding the unpleasant experience of getting on at the 43rd floor and with the elevator full at 39, we still have to stop on every floor–the WHOLE way down. If one more person were to shimmy their way in, a claustrophobia outbreak could have  ensued. Not to mention the visible displays of discontent, i.e., swearing, sighing, and sweating. Alright, that was just me, but I couldn’t have been the only one viewing this as a poor experience!

Where is my room again?

Hotel key cards are ubiquitous and for the most part very easy to use. The one thing they don’t do however is include your room number. So you can have your key and even your spare but still be SOL if you can’t find your room.

During my last hotel stay in NYC, I had to call the front desk (from the wrong floor) to confirm my room number. My mistake was taking the keys out of their little white envelope (numbered) and placing them in my wallet. This seemed like the logical thing to do. The only step I missed was not making a note of my room number.  This manual step needs to be eliminated. I’m thinking micro-thin LED display or something along those lines. For a less ambitious solution, how about simply writing the room number on the card in washable ink so it can be reused. Simple, but effective! Note to self, pack markers for next trip.

Look, don’t touch

So I don’t know about you, but I love checking out my room’s mini bar when I stay at a hotel. It’s fun perusing the quality and variety of the refreshments that are stocked. Sometimes they pique my interest and I indulge. But most often I am just checking things out. During my last hotel stay, I ended up being billed for two beers and a nip that I didn’t open or drink. What I did do was pick up the bottles and look at them. The front desk clerk explained to me that the mini-fridge has a built in sensor that automatically charges you for items ‘moved’ from their original location. The sensor works based on the assumption that if something is moved, it is consumed. And that my friends, is a true ux fail. Consumers should have the freedom to ‘touch’ the items they are considering for purchase. When I go into a clothing store, I don’t get charged for sliding the wrong sized shirt out of the way so I can get to what I need.

To sum it up

Just because things are broken doesn’t mean they need to stay broken. We should take notice of companies who are already raising the experience bar by listening to their customers to redefine their brands and their businesses. As consumers we need to heighten our awareness of the experiences surrounding us and be active participants in changing things for the better to make a real difference. In the end, it’s all about quality.

“The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.”

Maureen Dowd, New York Times

EMC’s recent issue of ON Magazine celebrates 20 years of the Web through a series of knowledge packed interviews and thoughtful perspectives collected from some of the web’s ‘beautiful minds’. From its co-inventors, to today’s tech visionaries and social media rockstars, EMC poses the following three questions:

• How has the web changed your life?
• How has the web changed business and society?
• What will the web look like in 20 years?

The Blogging Corps at EMC have also responded to these questions with their own unique viewpoints on the web, how it has changed their lives, transformed business and society and and how it will manifest itself over the next 20 years. Jamie Pappas, a fellow EMC blogger, has kindly invited me to continue the conversation.

How has the web changed my life?

Let’s just say the web put me on a path with destiny. Before discovering the web, I used to avoid computers like the plague. They seemed clunky and boring and I didn’t see any value in the technology. My first job out of school was a marketing gig with a web hosting company, NaviSite. It was there that I discovered the internet, data centers, and the power and potential of the connected web. Suddenly everything became so clear. This is what I wanted to do!

Today the web is an integral part of who I am. I leverage it for almost everything and what an incredible resource it is. The web has streamlined the research process and has given me a wealth of information at my fingertips with ‘always on’ accessibility. It has simplified and electrified my life simultaneously.

I have built my career around the web and it is truly a labor of love. The web is my passion and my purpose. It has changed my life in so many positive ways; most importantly it is an endlesss opportunity to learn new things and the springboard to push the envelope of my true potential.

How has the web changed business and society?

The web was one of the original disruptors. It fundamentally changed business, forever. From bridging the global divide and providing the necessary reach to discover and target niche markets, to selling products online and enabling team collaboration and productivity through virtual interfaces, the web has enhanced business opportunities exponentially. The shear volume of available information is a competitive edge to anyone willing to harness its collective power. It’s no longer about how big your advertising budget is. Small guys can now eat the big guys for lunch…all it takes is an idea, an internet connection, and the willingness to nurture client relationships so they become an extension of your sales force.

When it comes to how the web has changed society, I like to think of it as the great equalizer. The web has given a voice to the common man. It empowers us to do things we never dreamed were possible 20 years ago. It connects us with each other and allows us to share our thoughts and ideas. Can’t get a publisher to review your book? No worries, publish it yourself and use a web app to do it. So, you want to be a singer and don’t have any connections in the business to get you a recording deal? Not a problem. Record a demo in your home studio and release your own album! Wish you had the time and money to take some college courses? Well, say no more! You can go to college online and some universities even offer up part of their curriculum for free. The web gives society at large a leg up. The are real opportunities ready for the taking.

The web has also changed society by freeing us from ‘physical’ location. The web is the universal connection point to everything, so as long as you have an internet connection, your location becomes secondary. This allows us to work with people in different geographies and time zones. It also enables us to work from remote locations, because the information we need to do our jobs is available online, not sitting in a folder on our desks at the office. And the benefits of the mobile web are just starting to be realized.

What do I think the web will look like in 20 years?

I think in 20 years the web will reach a level of maturity that truly blows our minds. As the web transcends from a stationary experience to mobile, I see it being a core technology component to the majority of things that are manufactured…meaning everything will be accessible and controllable through the internet. Maybe we will be able to use our handheld devices to turn up the heat in our house before we get home. Or it will be possible to start heating up dinner in the oven that was just a cooling chamber minutes before you adjusted the temperature with your iPhone.

The symantec web will be key for delivering highly curated content to users. Searches and their results will become highly relevant. And the signal to noise ratio will become disproportionate in our favor.

All information will be in the  cloud.

Websites, particularly the coveted home page, will become a formality and possibly disappear.

The most accurate prediction I can make is that I have only scratched the surface. The next 20 years of the web should be a wild ride and the possibilities are overwhelmingly limitless. So get in, sit down, and hang on!

I’m tagging Edward Newman to keep the conversation going. So Mr. Infrastructure, how has the web changed your life and what do you think it will look like in 20 years?

In response to Mark McAulay’s post “UX – what the hell is it and who’s responsible?”, here are a few more (hopefully) thought provoking ideas around user experience and why you should care.

What is UX?
Simply stated, user experience (UX) is the practice of designing things that make sense. Be it a website, a hotel lobby, or a mobile app. A user’s experience is everything that happens as a result of interacting with something and is based on a single instance or multiple touch points. What follows is a lasting impression and perceived value of that experience.

A good user experience leaves users feeling, well good! Some examples include:

A bad user experience leaves users feeling lost, frustrated, and not likely to return. Some examples include:

Who owns UX?
We all do, silly. :) Everyone should be invested in the experience, be it developers, designers, business stakeholders, and even the users themselves.

User experience designers evangelize the user centered design process and are fierce user advocates. They lead the charge by facilitating the knowledge around UX best practices, and focus solely on designing with the user in mind.

Visual designers contribute to the experience by providing direction on imagery, visual consistency, typography, and the like. And while developers might place some focus on the end-user, they need to be concerned with system performance and the technical complexity of the back-end processes needed to drive the presentation layer.

So in essence, UX people are driving the train but all of us are responsible for contributing to the creation of viable experiences.

Why you should care
User experience is about making things the best they can possibly be and it applies to everything! Why settle for some half-assed excuse of an experience if it can be fun and fulfilling? This is the digital age and we are all in the driver’s seat of our own experience. Instead of avoiding bumpy roads, why don’t we focus on fixing them? We might even discover some new paths along the way.

Everyone has endured a poor customer experience at one time or another.

Maybe it was when you called that 800 support number and ended up in a labyrinth of voice prompted hell.

Or possibly, it happened when you were checking out at the grocery store; when just as you started loading your items onto the conveyor the cashier told you she was closing her register.

And the same goes for the web. Have you ever clicked on a link, only to feel mislead and confused once you reached the destination page?

These experiences are nothing more than obstacles getting in the way of what we are trying to do. The world moves fast, and none of us need our time wasted by poorly designed interfaces or lack of consideration.

Imagine if the internet was transformed into an interconnected world of first class service. Where every site that you visited rolled out the red carpet and made you feel right at home. When as soon as you arrived, there were clear signs directing you toward your goal and the fastest way to get there.

Mark Hurst’s new post, “short course in customer experience “, talks about two core ideas for designing good experiences:

1. Treat the customer as a human being (i.e., listen to them).

2. Look at the experience from the customer’s perspective (i.e., empathize with them)

The web has brought much needed empowerment and influence to consumers. To be successful, we as designers need to create experiences that treat others as we wish to be treated.