It’s Time For Forever Web: Forever Learning, Changing, Learning, Improving

Written by Russ on June 20, 2008 – 1:18 pm

Sub-title: Beta is BS and Users Deserve Better

“Always in Beta” is one of those latest phrases that does a really good job of getting under my skin. Beta implies to me that something is purposefully not yet complete and that there are going to be some mistakes.

Some companies, like Adobe, do a really good job of utilizing a beta release program to snuff out issues that real users find and that are not in a “control” group of their selection.

That is a good thing.

However, launching a website and slapping a “beta” label on it often seems like an excuse to put garbage on the web very rapidly (in order to prove a business model, have a prototype, start to engage users, show to VCs, etc.). A “live” beta online often seems to be a mash-up of incomplete thoughts or a good reason to shrug shoulders and let issues fall off like water on a duck. Live beta mistakes are often paid for, in spades, by the users.

That is a bad thing.

We need to rid ourselves of excuses, take ownership and admit to users that, while we are relentlessly pursuing wickedly-awesome user experiences, we can make mistakes. Users need to know this and in return, they should realize that all mistakes made in the pursuit of a good user experience will ultimately lead to a correction of the mistakes down the road.

That, however, is not a beta, nor an excuse. It’s an honest, persistent state of being.

If You Build It Poorly, They Will Leave

We’ve all heard it before. There is a really good chance that many of us have said it before: If the user experience is bad, users will leave.

We’ve said that users who cannot find something are users who believe “it” does not exist.

We’ve said that we have to engage our users. We have to test our designs. We have to get to know our users to find out what makes them tick. We have to be committed to our users.

We have to do all of those things—OR ELSE.

Frankly, we say a lot of stuff and we stomp around with our “clients just don’t get it” hats on and the attitudes that all of this stuff is always right.

Maybe—just maybe—we’re not entirely right.

In fact, I think we are missing the mark more than just a little.

Crazy Talk? I Don’t Think So.

First, there are somethings we need to acknowledge and, in some cases, come to terms with.

We, as User Experience Practitioners, are NOT entirely right with all of the things that we say, all of the claims that we make and all of the preaching that we do. Even so, there is some good news…

Clients are starting to get it. It has been a slow coming, but more and more, we have jobs that are in demand. We have clients who want to make “things” better and more usable. We have clients and companies that think that an “Information Architect” or a “User Experience <something>” or a variation of those titles is something that is essential to their core process and that they need to hire those types in order to start things moving in the right direction.

Sure, often times they think we’re the cure, but much like launching a website without any sort of promotional efforts, we cannot simply happen in a vacuum, right?

Right.

There is a shift. Conference attendance appears to be up. Conferences appear to be happening every week and weekend in cities across the globe.

The tide is turning.

Value—or perceived value—is beginning to be majorly associated to User Experience Practitioners.

We are in demand.

And a lot of us are arrogant.

And a lot of us think that whatever we think is right.

Which is even more arrogant.

The User is ALWAYS Right

Nope.

Neither is your UXD Team

I am so sorry to tell you this, but the user is not always right. Of course, I’m also not naïve enough to actually think that I’m the first to put this copy. I’m not making an effort to be controversial—there is no controversy about it. It’s a fact—and even though we strive to provide users with what (we think) they want, they often do not even know what they need. For more case studies on this, well, look around the space you are currently occupying. Nearly everything in that space around you has an 800 number associated with it to a call center that deals with all kinds of customer requests (thank you, Mark Dronen). There are a lot of calls received to those call centers from people who need some assistance or support—and a lot of calls are also receive from people who have misused the product (let’s leave intention out of this for the moment).

Users often are the culprits of innovation as the mis-use something that was intended for another purpose. In the case of Flickr, companies may adapt. In the case of someone trying to use a hammer as a weapon, well, it’s not supposed to be a weapon. So, you know, the user is not always right.

Obviously, however, neither are clients.

Neither are you

Neither am I.

Can you swallow that? You’d better. At the core of all of this is something that we, as User Experience Practitioners, live in every minute of our professional lives:

The User Experience Never Ends

We all agree on that, right? We’ve all had someone ask us this in an interview as they’re trying to be clever and weed out the (ahem) fakers amongst us. If you have not experienced this, well, maybe hiring companies are finally figuring it out that we can all guess the correct answer to the question by now.

So, if the User Experience never ends, then we need to come to grips with the notion that the design process never ends, right?

Right.

It also means that we are forever striving to meet any number of objectives that are allegedly for our users and also happen to meet business goals and/or objectives, make stakeholders happy and make the people who sign the checks continue to sign those checks.

It means that, while we serve many masters and we must ALWAYS remain ever-diligent to our user goals/needs/objectives (and, ahem, that’s our one true master, right? Right.) and we do our best to accurately interpret them—nay, sell them—to our clients to deliver what is often perceived as a lesser evil, or that which is least wrong. Right?

Right.

As long as we’re being honest here, let’s remember that we’re very much steeped in the world of throw-away work (or “tries”) and iterations (“near misses”) that get us to an eventual sign-off (“conditional” or “x level” of “approval”) in order to get us to the point where prototypes (more “tries”) can lead to revisions (“post-approval enhancements”) prior to ever getting beyond development (“serious commitment”) and going live (“really serious approval”) where real users will give us real feedback that we will (should) turn into enhancements and improvements (“deviations from our best guesses and influenced decisions”) which can lead to another new project (“try, try again”).

Whew.

So What?

Now that’s the big question that should always be asked—and answered. No one should be surprised this heading is here as long as I am the author.

Everything we do when it comes to user research and user testing is done from a sampling. We do this to make best assumptions as to what behaviors are and what feedback is that can drive our projects/products to being the best that they can do for the largest possible audience.

So, we have to admit and be willing to accept a few things:

Some of those users are wrong. We need to either convert them, provide them with something that is useful to them or we simply need to find the right way to get rid of them. Sometimes users are not right for whatever it is that we are doing, and that’s okay.

We have to be willing to lose some users. We have to accept that we cannot be all things to all users and any change will bring about a risk in losing users. Because of this, we have to set an expectation to users that we are working very hard for them; we are evangelizing a never-ending user experience on their behalf and, by gosh, sometimes we have to get it wrong to get it right.

We have to get companies to admit that, along the way, there may be some mis-steps and there may be some mistakes and there may be some things that tested well but fail upon delivery. We have to get companies to talk about the fact that they are actively striving themselves to try and meet the moving target of user needs and that sometimes something goes a little wrong.

We have to talk about it. Our community needs to be able to educate our clients that this will happen.

We have to get clients to talk about it. Clients have to not only admit all of this to themselves, but to their users, as well. And no, they cannot call it BETA. Or my head will explode.

And we have to get customers to understand that one mis-step—maybe even two, or three or “x” mis-step isn’t a deal breaker. It is not enough to leave a company, a brand, a product for.

In fact, an acknowledged mis-step is all the more reason to stay with a company, a brand, a product.

Why?

Because, in my humblest of opinions, any company that is willing to make mistakes—and claim those mistakes as their own—in order to make “something” better for its users, is a company that a user should want to be connected to.

Really.

Keep Doing What You’re Doing. And More.

So, dear User Experience community, keep up the good work of educating your clients and evangelizing the never-ending UX Lifecycle. You’re doing a great job and I’m right there beside you in the thick of it all everyday.

(Really—I am!)

Do not forget, however, to educate your users. Help them understand that improvements and enhancements (or modifications, adjustments, tweaks, etc.) are being done their behalf.

Help them understand that we, and our clients, are learning from them and that every engagement they have with our clients is an engagement that we are all learning from—for them.

We may will make mistakes

We may make a left at Albequerque when we should have taken a right.

We may really, really make some wrong decisions on their behalf.

But it’s on their behalf, and that is important—because if we weren’t willing to make mistakes on their behalf, we would not be willing to learn from them so that we can better serve them.

We are constantly in flux, Some places claim to be “always in beta”. That’s lame—the intention may be to put out the message as I have been describing, but it’s also an excuse to never deliver a complete thought to users, and that is not what this is about.

Users are not stupid

Live Beta is the lie that is used to “go live” with mistakes and incomplete thoughts. It is an excuse to let someone else, sometimes users, write the requirements. It is a scapegoat that ensures that no one has to fully take the blame for an idea gone wrong. It’s “beta”, after all.

(There is a caveat here—some companies, like Adobe, Microsoft and others engage in live beta product releases that are successful and that are close to completion. They get a pass for certain cases.)

And to clarify: Beta releases are for a select group or for a select period of time–or both.  Mini-releases and updates are just that: mini-releases and updates. They do not constitute a beta, they constitute making improvements, enhancements and updates.  They fix something broken.  The beta should be over by then, so let’s just stop the lie.

Forever Web is the truth we use to let users know that we have though through all that we’ve learned and we’ve navigated the numerous corporate political battlefields to put forth the best that we can deliver. Forever Web let’s our users know that we are willing to make the mistakes on their behalf to move closer and closer to providing the best experience.

Oh, and that we’re going to keep doing it as long as we’re around.

Posted in Rant, Usability, User Experience, User Experience Design | 4 Comments »

Unboxing the Roku Netflix Box - And Using It, Too

Written by Russ on June 5, 2008 – 11:29 pm

The Roku Netflix box arrived at my doorstep today, and FedEx’s handy email updates of the tracking status made it very difficult to make it through the rest of my meetings before commuting home. When I did finally arrive home, the tiny little box was sitting next to the substantially larger box of a Wii Fit, that somehow managed not to help me begin a new workout regime tonight.

The Roku Netflix box is simple. It’s easy to set-up if you know how to, well, set things up. I’ve got a receiver that supports 2 additional zones in my house, and I run everything through it–the HD DVD, the SqueezeBox, the XM Stereo, the Cable TV and any random kids toy that we connect to the front of the receiver.

Picture-taking aside, it took me less than 2 minutes to get everything connected and ready to use. Your mileage may vary; I have 2 Cat6 connections behind my TV which made it easy to borrow from existing appliances to get this up and running.

To start, the Roku Netflix box has a small footprint. I have a SqueezeBox 3 and it is slightly larger than half the width of that, but shares similar dimensions of height and depth. The remote is incredibly simple–and the packaging came with the batteries needed to operate it. Call me crazy, but that’s one of my favorite “little” things companies can do and let’s me quickly get to the task of setting up the new toy

The Roku Netflix box offers you many different options for connecting to your television. There are Composite, HDMI, S-Video and even Optical Audio in addition to the Component connections–which is what I used since the cables were handy I just wanted to see this thing in action.

When I connected the Roku Netflix box to my receiver, the power supply and the Cat6 connection, I noticed something:

On the box, component connections were: yellow, red, white.
On the receiver, component connections: yellow, white, red.

Who’s right, who’s wrong? Why aren’t they the same? Just curious.

Keep in mind that this box does not currently support High Definition, but it has been mentioned that the ability to do so could be given via a software update.

The next thing I noticed was that there is NO POWER BUTTON.

Got that? The only way to turn this device off, as far as I can tell–and I did go through the user guide–is to unplug. That makes me a little nervous from a bandwidth perspective, but I assume that when the screensaver kicks in the device sort of sleeps and there are no worries. But still, I worry a little.

Now that everything was connected and powered up, I went through a pretty quick-and-easy couple of set-up screens. What was most odd was that, after I chose my connection type, the box went for a software update, updated itself, restarted and then re-asked me what my connection type was again.

I’m not sure I understand why settings were apparently reset/not retained, but the steps were simple enough that it’s probably a non-issue.

All of the rest of the connection verification steps were taken care of again and the box recognized that it was not registered as of yet and provided me with a code that was good for 30 minutes on the Netflix website. I assume that after 30 minutes I’d need to restart/refresh or it would do so for me.

Naturally, I went to the appropriate URL and registered the box.

The Roku Netflix box informed me it was all registered-up and ready to go and after a few moments of lading, it started displaying a carousel view of my Watch Instantly queue. Initially, the covers of the selections were blank, but in about a half minute the imagery started displaying.

Read more »

Tags: Netflix, Roku
Posted in Rave, Review, User Experience | 6 Comments »

User Experience Design for Brands on the Web - So What?

Written by Russ on May 22, 2008 – 11:41 am

While the world is off bandwagoning on blog posts about Twitter and how much of an influence/frustration it is, I wanted to get back to the root of some things. I’ve been troubled a lot lately by just how bad it seems that web (online) experiences for brands are failing the consumers. The amount of money wasted on ignorance, well, I just don’t know.

As every good marketer should know–from Marketing 101–it is very important that you maintain a brand, or an extension of it. This means that you want people to not only use your product or service, but that you want them to see a benefit from it, and ultimately continue to use it in the future.

I think we should all agree that websites are an extension of any brand. Right?

Right.

Good. Now with that in mind, how do you maintain a website? (Let me make this clear right now: you don’t hire a webmaster and have him or her make updates for you or fix/update code or whatever. That’s not the right answer in this context.)

Since we know how to maintain a brand, then maintaining a website-the extension of our brand–the we know that we want to keep people coming back to it, keep them using it, attached to it, etc. Don’t forget me when I’m gone… (Thank you, Glass Tiger)

This seems pretty basic to me, and I’m a pretty basic guy. I’d expect that a range of people, from a VP of Marketing all the way down to First Year Marketing/Business Student, should be able to grasp it as well, right?

Right.

So, again, a website should be an extension of a brand, and we should constantly maintain the extension–just like we maintain the brand itself.

Now we’re all on the same page.

This means that your website–heck, even your entire online experience, should be one that keeps people coming back. Maybe that means you have a game. Maybe it means you offer some form community. Maybe it means that you constantly add new, relevant content. Maybe it means that you sponsor promotions. Maybe it means that you offer coupons. Maybe it means something wildly different than that. You get to decide, unless you’re so motivated to get ahold of me and invest in my time to help you with brainstorming and ideation, but I’m not trying to sell you on anything other than the wake-up call here.

Don’t limit yourself to your website; maybe it means you have a Facebook AND MySpace presence, and maybe, like Kids in the Hall and Psych, you offer interesting updates to your captive audience–and as an added bonus, the audience has the ability to interact with each other. These are both decent examples of brands that keep people in the loop and make them feel like they get a benefit for claiming that they are “fans”. The USA Network website does a great job of keeping the content fun and light to support Psych and other shows, which in essence are brands, as well.

By All Means, Don’t Take My Word for It. Do Some Research of Your Own.

But, I Did Some Research.

Once upon a time, within the past few months of my life, I gave a survey to about 60 or so people in regards to beverage websites that I asked them to view. It was a very simple survey (in exchange for answers, I offered consumers their pick from a grab bag of about $30 in CVS-purchased chocolates and candies–and yes, I had more than enough volunteers), with each person focusing on one of the 5 websites and then answering 10 questions. The first nine focused on rating things from 1-5 (for easy math), the last question asking whether or not the consumer would ever return to the website. Number ten was open-ended, and I asked for open comments, preferably focused upon what would prompt the consumer to return to the site.

The results were not astonishing. They were a little lower than I expected, and given some of the feedback, probably could have been lower still. I found that, out of the 5 different beverage websites listed, less than 10% of the consumers would have a reason to return and visit. In the open comments, the general responses were things like:

“You did not list a 0 as an option.” (This is true, I only listed 1-5)
“Maybe if there was a coupon.”
“This site sucked.”
“I don’t get [the site].”

You can take away what you want from this, but you should know that the websites tested were for some major, leading brands who spend some major bucks promoting their products.

Think about that.

Let’s recap for a moment: Less than 10% of the consumers surveyed would return to these brand websites.

Ummmmm…. Ouch.

A bunch of someones, somewheres, should be pretty embarassed.

If You Build It… They Will Come That’s Just the First Step

Some (a lot of) companies are spending A LOT of money on website design and development. Some companies are charging A LOT of money on website design and development. Almost ALL of them either are not talking or are not listening–or they think they don’t have the time and/or budget to create “something” the right way.

Fine. Here’s a solution: Tell these companies to save the money–better yet, tell them to pool the money and prioritize their brands so that one of the brands can have the right experience now. Next time there is a budget surplus, wash, rinse, repeat.

Until something is done that is different than the throwaway junk “experiences” that people barely visit and rarely visit more than once, things will continue to fail. Do NOT continue to invest in more failure–the consumers deserve better than this, and sooner or later, the competition will figure this out before the brands you’re working with do and then it may be too late.

All of these companies NEED to better understand what their consumers want. If that is the almighty coupon, then by gosh, give the consumers coupons (and make them ridiculously easy to find) as a reward for coming to the site. Start to build up some traffic, find out what consumers really want and find a way to provide it to them. It may be a community, in which case you can provide additional information and interactions to consumers and give them a voice. Cultivate and grow those voices into brand advocates and evangelists who can eventually help guide the brand toward its next product decision.

This is not hard math.

I’m just some guy in Chicago who thinks he knows a thing or two about User Experience. I think that “user experience never ends” means that I can’t just think about the website I’m working on today, but that I need to consider all the touchpoints along the way. I want your consumers to come back to the website, because I want you to be successful because my success is in part based upon that. Success makes us all happy. Then, umbrella drink time! (You’re buying)

Oh, and I also want you to build the right experience because it is a helluva a lot more fun for me to work on–that money thing should be an investment and should be able to be figured out. I mean, really, does one more commercial during America’s Top Model really have THAT much of an impact on whether or not you sell another can of <insert beverage here>?

But, if you want a basic website with a sitemap that I can put together on a single 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, I’ll build that, too. My heart probably won’t be in it (but I’ll still do you a solid and give you quality output, of course) because I’m guessing it is going to be a crappy, potentially dead-ended experience and no one will come back and visit. These kind of sites don’t even make for good conversation in an interview.

That sort of thing castrates us. It makes us think “I could have been working in Insurance doing complex systems and never have to sweat all this social networking online viral blogging stuff that is so damn sexy” (not that Insurance isn’t the bees knees, mind you).

These poor experiences, the less-than-exciting websites lead me to inform you that if, as companies with brands and as the firms that do work for them, you don’t start getting it together, User Experience professionals may start becoming more difficult to find. For you, at least.

Again, Don’t Take My Word for It..

David Armano blogged:

We can actually create models of engagement that are sustainable over time. This is where the opportunities lie and we have to get serious about it…

There’s nothing there to loosely interpret. Big brands and advertising agencies and “interactive” shops and so on and so forth, you need to listen up. You need to wake up. This needs to be the extra shot in your latte.

User Experience Designers, Information Architects, Interaction Designers or whatever else you think we are and so title us, well, we want to do the right thing. We want to do the best thing for your consumers.

Partly because WE ARE YOUR CONSUMERS and we don’t like things that suck. We want to build loyalty, we want to see the bar raised and we’ve probably got some fan-F’ing-tastic ideas that you should be listening to.

Oh, and partly because we yearn to innovate and affect positive influence and change.

So What?

I’ve been trying to get people to ask and answer that question for years. No, it’s not my question, but ever since one of my favorite professors, Dr. Arthur Doederlein at Northern Illinois University, required students to not only right papers that answered specific questions, but also required us to prove our points, our rationales and establish what made our thinking valid by answering the “So What?”, I’ve used this.

It’s so simple, it’s silly.

When you create something–anything–for any audience, ask yourself “So what?”

Got that?

“I just made this marketing website for my brand. So what?”

If the answer is something like, “So my customers can have a place to get information and share their experiences with us so we can continue to evolve the brand to meet their needs”, you might be on the right track.

If not, you might be on the path of epic failure.

Posted in Rant, User Experience, User Experience Design | 1 Comment »

We Are All Friends Here. Right?

Written by Russ on April 17, 2008 – 1:12 am

Alternate Title: How Much of Your Friend Am I?

I’ve returned from a ridiculously refreshing trip to Miami, and I am more exhausted than I’ve been in recent years. I feel like I’ve got so much ahead of me and a lot on my plate right now, but none of that is a bad thing.

The IA Summit was fantastic. There was a slight hitch in the initial giddy-up, but it did not take too long to forget about it. We moved on with the great learning, sharing, connecting and, oh dear lord the Twittering!

No, really. The Twittering was unbelievable.

The Twittering was constant; it was almost a backdrop to the entire event. Twittering was shared notes, timely jokes, a loudspeaker and an invitation system. Twittering kept pelople connected and helped in making decisions about various presentations, meals and meet-ups.

In 140 characters or less.

My New Friends

I’ve got all these new “friends” who are following @russu, and all these great people that I’m now following. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that we’re probably going through a touch of IA Summit withdrawal–but it’s very nice to hear that everyone is arriving home safely, or at least well on their way. In the time that has passed from authoring to publishing, I’m surprised to say that the twittering remains pretty active.

And that is all pretty cool stuff, right?

Right.

Really!

But it’s a “level” of cool. These followers–some mutual and some one-way–are possibly a “level” of friend/acquaintanceship that is introduced into Andrew Hinton’s preferably titled “Cyber Space”.

Huh. That all sounds like I’m new to Twitter. I’m not, but I’m a new and improved “extreme” user now, I think. I’m trying to dial it down for the folks who still have to listen–that is, I want to keep you listening, so I want my Tweets to be minimal on the worthless noise side, whenever possible.

As I was looking over my “Twitterati” (as Livia Labate coins), I was trying to figure out how many of them I have as friends on Facebook and/or LinkedIn, Instant Messenger or otherwise. I’ve also been trying to understand and evaluate the “currency” of the following/follower lists–and whether or not the currency is legit or just in/outbound popularity whoring. With someone like Guy Kawasaki, I do not believe it is the latter, but for a regular Joe like me, I think there would be a lot less value if my numbers skyrocketed for no real reason. I guess there is something to be said about selective-friending based upon your own ecosystem credibility.

Huh. Now I sound almost kind of pathetic.

Maybe I should figure out just who “Russ” is in all of this, first.

Who Am I?

If I could quote an Indigo Girls song here, I’d say this:

“I’m just a mirror of a mirror of myself” -Least Complicated (there’s some irony for you)

See that? I’ve always thought that line was really taken from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

“I am not who I think I am and I am not who you think I am, but I am who I think you think I am.”

That, to me, also tells me that with each Identity I create, I have the potential to become a different person to each person that I think is watching me at any particular moment. That also means that Identity (and I’m looking at you Christina and Gene) may connect to a variety of different channels that, based upon how they are used, force you to manage your multiple identities in multiple ways.

So, uh, WTF, right?

It’s bad enough that I have to figure out who I am as a husband, a father, a larger family ecosystem with its own subgroups, as an employee and/or an employer and as a client or a co-worker. That’s a lot to manage–you simply cannot just be Ward Cleaver these days.

I wonder if this is what Flip Filipowski meant when he said [paraphrasing here] that he would not want to be alive in the future, because even the smartest of people today would probably come across as fairly feeble-minded.

We have a lot more to contend with. A lot more social structures. A new personality for each identity and a new set of the 3 mirrors to consider, calculate and present. The layers upon layers of honeycombs that we’re forced to manage, keep up with, and continue to add to as each new Next Big Thing(tm) is introduced is only increasing.

Holy Multiple Personality Disorder Batman!

Maybe “friends” now has varying degrees of intimacy. On Twitter, my friends (people I follow/follow me) are people I can share micro-formatted quips with. Perhaps I know all of them, perhaps only some of them, but mostly, there’s some level of shared interest (with the exception of the TwitterSpam that was bound to happen). In many cases, they may be people that I find interesting enough to want to hear what they have to say and they’ve simply extended me the courtesy of returning the favor.

On LinkedIn, I’m Russ the Professional(tm). It almost sounds like it should have a theme song. But that’s who I am. I can perform a few activities that may provide a bit of whimsy around me, but I want people to see me as a resume.

On Facebook, I’m Russ the family man. Pictures of my family abound and my contacts are mostly personal or innocuous sort of connections with people that I probably would have had a difficult time saying “no” to.

On Twitter, I seem to have flocked toward connections that share the same professional passions, or people that I can learn a lot from. Watching the rapid-fire splatter of these 100 or so people pushes me more than I ever could have imagined.

Who am I everywhere else? More importantly, who do I think you think I am, right?

For some, this must feel like being in many secretive dating-like relationships, if you’re not managing your identities in the context of your “true” personality.

I Think What I Think You Think When You Don’t Tell Me How You Think

This does not imply that you are aware of my desire–or that you even care–about how I want you to think about me. It does mean that it has to be dealt with; dealing with friend/fan requests, messages, emails, tweets, etc. are all two way.

I’m crazy, right?

Think about it–barring the “email must have gotten lost in the tubes” or “caught by my SPAM filter” scenarios, in general, the emails make it through the system (and I still SWEAR I didn’t receive the Xbox emails from Microsoft!). The Tweets may not, and other “Beta” types of things may have failures, but email mostly works. Even if its usage may be declining in youth.

“You cannot not communicate.” -Erik Spiekermann

That is my point.

When you do not reply to an email, an SMS, a telephone call or even a D message or specific tweet, you run the risk of sending a message that is open to someone else’s interpretation.

If I send you an email and I don’t hear from you within a timeframe I deem to be acceptable, some little voice somewhere starts to churn out an interpretation.

“Russ hasn’t replied to my email in 2 days–he’s always online! What a jerk, he must be avoiding me…”

Ugh.

Now we’re dealing with response times that are becoming almost uncanny. Think about it–even in the mid-90s, people really weren’t using much email (but, oh, for those of us who were, Pine was simply awesome!). You still had to get a birthday card from your grandmother with a $5 bill in it. Now, your mom can send you an eCard and dump $50 into your PayPal account, and as long as it’s before midnight on your birthday, she’s cool.

This also forces us into shifts in etiquette–if not presence, right? This is where I am. This is why I’m not responding to you RIGHT NOW!

We all know how to set our statuses in Instant Messenger, but how do you handle explaining your (in)ability to not respond timely?

In Twitter, people sometimes “sign-off”:

Off to bed.
about 3 hours ago

Why? To formally announce a status and not offend anyone who is within the realm of Twitterspace that is being co-occupied. Apparently, there is some new twittettiquette going around (yeah, I just made that word up, but I own it now: twittettiquette).

That, however, just depends. Upon you. The type of person you are and/or the type of person you want to allow others to perceive you as. Sounds familiar…

My New Friends?

I’m not sure I’ve figured out exactly who I am or what I am thinking all the time just yet, but I feel like I can at least start to discuss this whole friendship thing a little better. Don’t get me wrong–I know who Russ is, I’m just not always sure that he’s being perceived the same in all places.

This exhaustive social system is sometimes hard to manage–and difficult to interpret.

How many places are we all connected today? We’re all aware of LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Twitter, the blogosphere and all the other variations like Bebo, Naymz, maybe Spoke and the new one that will launch tomorrow.

We all have some of the same people in all of those connection points, but most likely not all of them. We share different friends with different people in the different social locations. The Cloud that connects all of the people in the world to me–and it’s not like I’m Captain Popular (more like Æsir, I’d say)–is probably so very large at this point that even a single new connection is likely to have a very large cloud of their own that would ultimately expand both clouds… The notion is kind of daunting.

Are We Friends?

That’s the big question, right? Has the word “friend” started to become as meaningless as Disney’s use of the word “princess”? Don’t get me wrong, Disney still makes tons off of princess (and many princesses’ fathers), but the more the term is misdirected to an inaccurate source, the more it seems to lose its value.

Does that mean I should not want my new “friends” to be my friends? Heck no! I consider myself lucky to have the connections that I have. I consider it to be a requirement on my end to stay connected and to reconnect in the future as much as possible.

What it does mean, however, is that some of our friends most likely aren’t people that we’re really friends with, at least not like it was “back in the day”. Back in the day, people had high school friends that were lifelong friends and who often stayed within the same communities for generations.

Today, we can meet new people online and form lasting relationships–I’ve run a message board for several years and more than one couple have met there and gotten married. I’m not making this up, but I’m not doing Warfel-level research, either. Certainly, most of us have heard of Second Life Marriages, right?

We’re Not Friends

Sometimes, it can be as simple as that. We’re not friends, I don’t want to be friends with you and I don’t want you to be lurking around in my “trusted” circle.

But sometimes you just can’t say “No”.

How do you tell the annoying co-worker that you don’t want them lurking into your Facebook? (How do you know if you’re the annoying co-worker? I’m not arrogant about my relationships, but most of the time I don’t want to impose on “acquaintances” lives by “friending” them inappropriately. Imagine the (mis)interpretations possible) They don’t need to be looking at your Jamaican escapades or peer into your family photos or whatever–but we fear the hallway discomfort or retribution from not accepting a connection. We feel obligated to share ourselves to the point that the selected membership of our friends starts to turn into a college kegger where someone always ends up throwing up in your room–and the door was locked when the party started.

Have you ever had someone on LinkedIn ask you for a recommendation even though you barely know them? How did that make you feel?

Exactly. Even the avoidance of the request can sometimes be difficult.

The concept of “Friend” is becoming more and more watered down. Acquaintance still exists, but acquaintance doesn’t sell page views.

Let’s Keep In Touch

Never since the IA Summit have I ever even considered that the notion of a business card could change so much. I wondered, in hindsight, if it would have been useful to have linked to my blog on my business card and if my twitter account would have been acceptable as well. Is that extending an open invitation to follow me around and converse? Am I desperate for friends if I do such a crazy thing? Do I think that anything I say is that important that I other people actually care?

For that matter, what do you think about it? What if my business card linked to a single page where you could sign-up and show a pre-determined part of your “online social-ness” to me and in return, I could show you as much as I am willing to show?

The image above represents all of the social presences/identities that you have, with one interconnecting point. The grey areas are “allowed” access points that each user is providing. The blue and green display the others that are unshared/private. That doesn’t mean that they’re still unable to be found, just not unlocked to someone else, which means that there is still a potential for social fallout with people that you are not sharing certain accesses with. Even if we find a single, unified standard approach to all of this… There’s still a management issue.

This, Too, Shall Change

I’ve recently gone “Facebook Dark” in my status at (where else?) Facebook. My interest has waned. My desire to keep my status updated to the dozens of folks who are connected to me has gone away. I’m tired of worrying how someone down the hall from my office will (mis)interpret something that may have nothing to do with them or work or whatever. I’m tired of the chore it is to be Facebook Russ, with the exception of uploading a few photos for a specific set of friends. Most of the people that are connected to me are not parents and most likely won’t care that Avery smiled for the first time today.

Maybe it was the work on the Facebook Application that I did that had me playing in that sandbox a bit too long. Or maybe it’s just exactly what I stated above. Maybe I want a new walled garden and maybe I don’t want to have to hurt anyone’s feelings in order to do it. Maybe I no longer feel the need to keep count of my friends and maybe I no longer feel as connected to some people I (selectively?) added.

Maybe, as someone joked at the IA Summit, that “People You May Know” widget on the side is really just a “People You Don’t Like That Much or They’d Already Be Your Damned Friend.” Maybe I’m tired of being reminded about people that could be in my Facebook Posse. Maybe it’s just Facebook overload.

Do you even talk to everyone you’ve Facebooked? Have you ever felt like typing the URL for (insert social networking site here) is just too heavy of a task? Undoubtedly, someone you haven’t spoken to in years is trying to bite you with their zombie or someone has sent you the latest kitty photo that you’ve yet to see in one of your 20 email accounts. When it becomes a chore to keep up with an identity, it can be difficult to figure out what has changed.

Most likely, the change is in you.

The Nail in the Coffin

Death and the Social Networks: It’s kind of a grim thought, and no one really talks about it. I’ve had loose discussions with others about how companies simply do not think about death. Companies never really consider that someday, we’re all going to die. We’ve yet to lose an entire generation of emailers, if you think about it.

Sure, people have died, and Yahoo! has had to be taken to court to be forced to give up private information, but people and companies do not think about the mortality of their connections.

What happens when I die? Where do my social networks go? Who gets to see them? Who gets to tell them?

I don’t even know how obituaries work anymore! The new connections that I’ve been making are very rarely geographically close enough to read about my death in a newspaper. My wife wouldn’t know how to track down anyone and let them know. My “local” or “in real life” friends wouldn’t know about this type of thing; half of them are just barely getting into LinkedIn (although most of them now seem to have a Blackberry Pearl–I’m not sure what that means).

In the future, probably not long after we start seeing a generation of emailers begin to die, companies will have to face the morbid task of requesting users to select a “proxy” or some other designated person who can have access to their accounts and handle any affairs that may need to be wrapped up.

The social implications can be huge. The more global, the more connected, the more we are not required to pick up the phone to hear a voice or walk into another room and physically see someone in order to communicate together, the more it will seem as if a voice just fades, and then ceases altogether.

This Brand New Era of Communications can be awesome in its unending methods of connectivity.

But, it might even be kind of sad.

Posted in Community, Resumes, Social Networking | 5 Comments »

Microsoft Xbox Makes Good… Sort of.

Written by Russ on April 15, 2008 – 10:35 pm

I don’t think Microsoft actually did enough, mind you, considering that it has been over a month since the issue was blogged about.

Today, I received a call from the Better Business Bureau’s “Microsoft Representative”.  Apparently, they have persons at the BBB dedicated specifically to dealing with issues that people have with them.

They’re big enough, so I suppose it makes sense.

My Rep gave me a call to let me know that Microsofit is providing me with a free code for 1 full year of Xbox Live!

Woo Hoooooo!

That’s exactly what I wanted back.

And it kind of figures that I think they should have done more than that since this wasn’t my mistake and I lost several hours of my time dealing with some unyielding folks, but that’s okay. I should be all good.

I type this without the benefit of actually sitting down in front of the Xbox to find out. The IA Summit was over the past weekend and all the intense learning, the crazy connections and over-the-top Twitter action has me more energized than I can remember being in recent years.  And wholly exhausted at the same time.

And thanks, Microsoft, for giving me what I asked for.

Posted in User Experience | 1 Comment »

Face the Money

Written by Russ on April 3, 2008 – 2:01 pm

I worked at a Burger King in high school for 2.5 years.  It wasn’t a terrible experience (for me)–I came out of my nerd shell quite a bit and learned a lot about a world outside of my front door that I probably would not have otherwise experienced.

The lesson I learned that I keep with me to this day came from one of my least favorite bosses–a woman by the name of Sandy.  I’m sure Sandy didn’t really give a crap about a bunch of high school kids who were more interested in flirting and planning parties than in keeping her restaurant clean and all that, but one time when she caught me hanging out in the drive-thru trying to hide from her view, she fired-open my cash register and took a look.

I’m pretty sure that gave me a good scare–it seemed like there was always someone taking money from the tills and subsequently getting fired.  That person was never me; my parents would have killed me–regardless of anything a police officer or cell mate could have done, that thought was one that terrorized me.  Plus, I made minimum wage, drove a ‘76 White Chevy Impala and gas was a helluva lot cheaper than it is today.  I had it all.

Sandy looked at me with a bit of a disgusted look and told me to “Face your money”.

“Huh?”

She told me I should face the money–even if this wasn’t a career for me, I should be taking some pride in my work and I should make sure that all the money was facing the same way.  Not only would it make the job of counting my till a lot easier for me (and her, of course), but it would make the customers feel less concerned about a pimply kid handling their cash when it came back neat and orderly.

“Okay.”

Simple enough, really.  But Every. Single. Day. I think of this.  NO ONE faces the damned money today. Unless there are a bunch of fresh, crisp bills from a bank, you very rarely get your money back facing the same way.  Cab drivers may be the exception to this, for what it’s worth.

I’m sure this is one of those “oh whatever” types of things, but wait until the next time you grab a coffee or a lunch when you’re not using a debit or credit card.

Every time I pay cash, I find myself being the slow poke in front of the line trying to straighten out the bills so that they sit right in my wallet–the more valuable in the back, all the way up to the singles.

Blind people take their money and apply folding patterns–think of what this means to them.  Think of how this little batch of organization of money helps you out in so much of your daily life.  Think about how little effort it truly requires for that cashier to keep their money “faced” so you don’t have to slow down the line, risk dropping your wallet/purse/fanny pak, whatever it is.

My point today is simple:  Identify simple tasks in your life that you’re over-looking and find ways to make them work outside of your sphere of reference.  I’m not a cashier anymore, but every time I have to face the money, I think about Sandy and her lesson, and where I am today.

Sure, Sandy didn’t make me the stunningly mediocre UX Practitioner you read about today, but she did teach me that you don’t have be overtly anal-retentive to be organized and to have a downstream impact.

Start small.  The big stuff will follow.

Posted in Usability, User Experience | 1 Comment »

How Do You Display Your Samples of Work?

Written by Russ on April 2, 2008 – 1:38 am

I started out this year by trying to find the right ways to rewrite a disastrous resume, explain what IA UXD is and now I’m trying to figure out the best way to tackle something that I’ve heard a lot of people (besides myself) in User Experience Design face challenges with:

How do I show samples of my work / my portfolio?

Almost anyone who is going to be interested in engaging you will want to see a portfolio of work in some form. The challenge lies not only in how to show that work, but when and where.  I happen to be pretty particular about these sorts of things and I have ideas about an approach that works best for everyone invloved. 

First and foremost is the how.  How do you show this work?  I can’t imagine that someone actually wants to receive the 26mb zip file with everything you’ve ever done. Full disclosure: I’ve sent that file out before and as I type this, I’m feeling more than a little embarassed by it. 

I like to have control over the situation. If samples of work are going to make or break the situation, then it is best to be present when the samples are being reviewed.  If that is not an option, you have to make a judgment call, and that’s never fun to do.  You have to also ask yourself some questions about the party asking you to do this–what is their motivation? Why do they need to see samples of work before they’ll discuss an opportunity with you? Will they send you samples of their work so that you can determine whether or not their work product is at the same level as yours?

That last question is a doozy, but it’s also a fair question to consider. The interview process is two-way, that should never be forgotten, and if you bring more to the table than the company can currently provide to its own clients or you will offer a significant improvement to an internal workflow and/or process, that’s a negotiation point that could be the difference between being hired as a Senior Information Architect and a Director of User Experience.

Not so much of a doozy now, is it?

The when and where aspects come next.  You’ve got to figure out what works best for you and what you’re willing to provide. I’m not the only person who has sent off nice samples of work only to never get another call back. I’m sure I’m not the only one who was seen their work product (or at least a very close cousin of it) show up from a previous prospective employer later in their career.

The ideal situation is to be present, in-person with whomever is going to review your work.  There is always more to the story than any particular piece of work is going to show. Many not-so-great decisions are made regardless of the recommendation of a good UX designer and you should be given the opportunity to explain it.  Plus, you need to allow the other party to ask the I-swear-if-I-get-asked-it-one-more-time-I’ll-scream-instead-of-simply-fake-laugh-and-answer-it question of, “When does the UX process end?”.

In the unfortunate event that you are not allowed to be present, you should present your work product in a fashion that shows your skill, provides some insight and doesn’t give away the whole magilla. This is why it makes sense to take a step back and analyze what your various work product is, organize it and prepare it to be seen by the right people and with enough information to move you along to the next phase of whatever (interview, sales) process that you are in.

Enough of this palaver. On with the show!

I started talking with peers in the IA/UX community about this dilemma. The general response was similar to what I’ve already discussed. The other response was that none of us really want to read someone else’s white paper about how involved they were in a project–those things serve a purpose that is generally not in an interview or sales pitch. Save the tree.

My approach, based upon previous experience as a mediocre designer, my desire to not give anyone else a free ride on my sweat and to gain control over how work product is displayed. The solution: Password-protected samples, with screenshots and summaries.

Pretty simple, pretty straight-forward and pretty well-received by a number of peers and other UX/IA managers.

First, I created a login screen. Sounds pretty simple–and it was:

As I went through the process and had a couple of people reviewing it, I decided to add a “Samples” tab in the top-right corner of the screen. This only appears if in the samples section and not on the rest of the site. To the rest of the world, it simply does not exist–and I’m okay with that. You’ll need to make that decision for yourself, obviously.

After much deliberation (see all that rambling above), I decided that my best approach was to categorize the work product that I have into logical sections, mostly based upon the types of deliverables I’ve been asked to provide samples of. The sections that I ended up with are:

Presentations
Personas
Site Maps
Wireframes
Other Documentation & Deliverables (Content Matrix, Annotations, Functional Requirements and Prototypes)

Once logged-in, a user would see a single-page listing of all of the deliverable types, a sampling of key deliverables and, for posterity, the ability to download resume versions. Each deliverable displays a thumbnail image, a title and 2-3 descriptive sentences about the project.

Additional peer review provided me with unanimous feedback: The amount and the voice of the content were perfect for what I set out to achieve. No one felt as if they were being overwhelmed–a couple of people even said that they enjoyed reviewing the samples because they felt they were in an easy, conversational review that was painless to get through.

I’d pay for that kind of feedback. That’s a beauty of the IA/UX community–I’ve never met a more willing, insightful and generous group of people.

When a user selects a specific deliverable from the main page, they are displayed the corresponding detail page. The detail pages display a recant of the overview of the project, 1-3 screenshots of the deliverable and a caption for each of the screenshots. I also provided navigation at the bottom of the page to allow users to view the page and quickly move on to the next sample.

I still have a page that links to full deliverables available–but that’s available for me. I don’t feel like it’s fair to anyone I’ve worked with / for to freely expose the work product that I’ve done while working with them. How you choose to manage this is up to you; I feel as if this solution works best–for me.  This allows me to  maintain control over who is seeing what, and when.

As always, your mileage may vary, and “it depends” on what will work for you.

What About That Login Page?
Great question! I’m glad you asked.

I spent a fair amount of time searching for the right solution–there are many, many out there and they range from “Wow, you really need to be an expert” to the equivalent of trying to translate hieroglyphics.

Then, I found what may have been the easiest solution to meet my needs. The only catch is that you will need to have access to your PHPMyAdmin / MySQL database so you can add usernames and passwords, but if you’re able to build this out, building out the ability to manage users should not be too difficult.

I found the PHP Loging Script Tutorial at PHP Easy Step. I found that building my pages took me less than an hour and that the only thing extra I needed to do was to make sure that you re checking for an active session on each page so that users cannot deep link to any of your samples without you being aware of it. That code is:

< ?
session_start();
if(!session_is_registered(myusername)){
header(”YOUR LOGIN PAGE HERE”);
}
?>

Of course, you do not need to use your login page upon a failure, you can just throw users to any page or other website that you’d like.

This concludes my lessons learned–hopefully you are able to find these useful. I’m more than willing to help you put together a login/password page in the event you find yourself hitting brick walls.

Posted in Presentations, Resumes, User Experience Design | No Comments »

Microsoft & Xbox Live: When Customer Service Goes Drastically Wrong

Written by Russ on March 14, 2008 – 10:43 am

Alternately titled: How Microsoft is Stealing $50 from Me. You Could Be Next.

Here’s the simple breakdown of the story:

October 20: Xbox Live emails me, account will auto-renew next month
November 20: Xbox Live emails me, account renewal a success!
November 21: Xbox Live emails me, prepaid card for 12+1 months has been successfully applied!
November 21: Xbox Live emails me, again confirming prepaid card successfully applied!
March 3: Xbox Live emails me, prepaid card being canceled tomorrow!

So, in internet-speak, I said, “WTF!?”

The story seems pretty clear, but after some grueling time on the phone with Microsoft, first in India and then in the United States, Microsoft has made it pretty clear to me that I’ve done something wrong, I’m borderline a criminal and they absolutely WILL NOT be giving me a credit for a prepaid card, nor will they refund it, supply a code for re-use, etc.

The longer, more detailed story, as it has been explained to me, via “Jason” and “Christine” at Microsoft, in regards to Case Reference #1061488919

The details in all of this are still murky to me–Microsoft apparently has a policy, but I’m not sure how they see it as either logical, customer-friendly or even helpful.

At the time of authoring this, I see it as stealing from me.

When I first signed-up for my Xbox Live account, I apparently used a credit card that was eventually replaced due to some fraudulent usage. Since I want to remain upfront and honest about this–as I have since the beginning with Microsoft (even when I was irate after asking 6 different times to please speak to someone else)–I was unsure which card I had used, but in the event that it was the card in question, I wanted to cover my bases.

Almost a month before my account was set to expire–or rather, drop back down to “Silver” Status, my pals at Microsoft sent me this:

From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Automatic Renewal Notification for Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership
Date: Sun, October 21, 2007 1:11 am
To: russ

Dear Russell,

Your subscription to Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership is scheduled to be automatically renewed on Tuesday, November 20, 2007. Here is a description of the service:

Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. For only $49.95 plus applicable taxes per year, your 12-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. Your membership will automatically renew to an annual membership at the then current price, unless you change your renewal or cancel before your membership ends. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Please confirm that your account and payment information is up to date.

To update your credit card information:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Memberships.
4. Select the membership you want to update.
For more info, go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.

Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

The Xbox Live team.

Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 12

Cool! Thanks, Microsoft. I’m glad we’re friends and you reminded me about this. I wonder what card I used…

See, I thought for certain that a declined card from Microsoft would have an email generated saying “Russ, your card is bad, click here to fix this and we’ll be friends again.” But that didn’t happen. Instead, what happened was this:
In fact, Microsoft was kind enough to confirm that this was groovy, too, and that we’re still BFFs:

From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Confirmation of renewal of Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership
Date: Tue, November 20, 2007 12:51 am
To: russ

Dear Russell,

This mail is confirmation that you have successfully renewed your subscription to Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership. This renewal goes into effect on Tuesday, November 20, 2007. Here is a description of the service:

Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. For only $49.95 plus applicable taxes per year, your 12-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. Your membership will automatically renew to an annual membership at the then current price, unless you change your renewal or cancel before your membership ends. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

If you have any questions, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.

Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

The Xbox Live team.

Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 24

Okay, so my immediate thoughts are this: Awesome! I must have used some other credit card instead! Cool!

Reality: According to Microsoft, a successful renewal is not the same as the SETTLING of the account.

Customer Reality: Uhhhh, what’s the difference? Why would you give me a receipt of “success” when I’ve not paid for something? They don’t give me a receipt at the grocery store until I actually pay for my groceries and the cash, check or credit card is deemed to be “good” tender.

However, I soldiered on, probably playing some Halo 3 in my spare time. My Xbox Live 12+1 Month PrePaid card arrived from Amazon (thank you, Amazon Prime!). I went ahead and applied the card to my account–knowing me, I’d misplace it within the next year, anyway.

From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Renewal Confirmation for Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.
Date: Wed, November 21, 2007 6:51 pm
To: russ

Dear Russell,

This mail is confirmation that you have successfully renewed Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.. The subscription will expire on Sunday, December 20, 2009. Here is a description of the service:

Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. Your 13-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. At the end of 13 months, your membership will automatically change to a Silver Membership, unless you use another prepaid card or change your membership renewal options. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

If you have any questions, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.
Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

The Xbox Live team.

Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 42

Why, you’re welcome, Microsoft! Thanks for acknowledging that. Wait–what’s this? Oh, thank you for acknowledging it TWICE:

From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Renewal Confirmation for Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.
Date: Wed, November 21, 2007 6:51 pm
To: russ

Dear Russell,

This mail is confirmation that you have successfully renewed Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.. The subscription will expire on Sunday, December 20, 2009. Here is a description of the service:

Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. Your 13-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. At the end of 13 months, your membership will automatically change to a Silver Membership, unless you use another prepaid card or change your membership renewal options. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

If you have any questions, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.
Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

The Xbox Live team.

Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 42

And this, folks, was apparently my biggest, most evil and malicious mistake. THIS is where Microsoft decided that it is appropriate to steal from me, you, and any other customer in the world.

See, when I applied this prepaid card–which, by the way, could have been a nice gift from a parent, a nerd-supporting spouse, a nerdy boss, whatever–I did what is called “stacking” by Microsoft.

I’m still not sure how this is wrong. But apparently, when you “stack” AND you have an invalid credit card on file that they continue to attempt to charge, this is where you begin to earn your criminal status.

Allegedly, Microsoft sent me 2 follow-up emails to let me know that my card had been declined. I do not have those, but I have every email I’ve received that isn’t SPAM since 1997. Including all 5 emails referring to my Xbox Live account.

Microsoft has proof that those emails were sent–none that they were received mind you–and if I did not receive them, that’s an issue with my server and none of their concern. They do not, will not, pick up the phone to call you.

No, instead they send you an email that says this:

From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Confirmation of cancellation of Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.
Date: Thu, March 13, 2008 7:37 pm
To: russ

Dear Russell,

This mail is confirmation that your subscription to Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card. has been cancelled on Friday, March 14, 2008.

If you have questions about this cancellation, or if you want to reactivate your subscription, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.

Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

The Xbox Live team.

Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 22

I received this on March 13th. I immediately picked up the phone and called my buddies at Microsoft. We’re BFFs, after all, and I wanted to know what I could have done to upset my pals. We should be able to hang out until December 2009, man!

After asking 6 different times to speak to someone else because the CSR from India was only repeating herself from a script and causing me phone rage, I finally spoke to “Jason” the supervisor who made a lot of wild claims.

He actually asked me if I read the Terms of Service. That’s the equivalent of “I’m not going to help you, you have the fine print to contend with”. Customer Service 101, I suppose.

Even so, as of November 2007, I had 25 months that I was paying for. If the credit card was declined, the appropriate response would be to simply subtract 12 of those months–the prepaid card was just that PRE PAID. PAID IN ADVANCE.

Microsoft: Your account is in billing violation and is in collections with Microsoft. If you would have called in before it was sent to them, we could have helped you. We WILL NOT be refunding, replacing or anything else to compensate for the prepaid card we’ve just canceled. We won’t even subtract the months you’ve used it. We would have, however, waived the $15 in fees and reinstate your account, at which point in time you can pay for service how you like or you can provide a new credit card.

Me: Okay, I’d like to fix the situations. We were tight before. Good friends, even. Look, how about I go ahead and give you a new credit card and I pay for a whole year–and we’ll just call the time that you’ve suspended my account as a wash since I’ve been busy with work, school, blogging about NotchUp, having a new baby, playing that new Mario game on the Wii and everything else. We’ll be buds again, we can hang out and I’ll let you play drums in Rock Band.

Oh, and just give me back that 12+1 month card, because, after all, it was PRE PAID.

Microsoft: Nope. We’re not friends. You’re a criminal. You were sent to collections and we canceled your PRE PAID card that you STACKED (gasp!) on your account that had a bad credit card on it. You, sir, do not get to keep your 12+1 months. It is gone. The code was “consumed” and we added it to your account. We’re canceling it.

Me: Wait, what?

Okay, so that’s poking a little fun at a situation that has gotten tense and terse. Microsoft will not budge.

The Resolution?
For starters, I’m blogging about this. I’m contacting the local “Fixer” people at the Big City Newspaper (Chicago Sun Times) to see if they can help. Google will be my friend and raise this up the flag pole.

What Do I Want to Happen?
I only want what is fair, and that’s all I’ve asked for since the beginning. I didn’t start out being the ticked-off, phone-rage guy who wanted free service for life and all the cheat codes for every game and whatnot.

I want my PRE PAID card back–I PRE PAID for service that was taken away from me by a billing snafu–not anything that was behavioral or deceptive, but a pretty simple–and easy to rectify–mistake.

This should be no problem. I should, at the very least, have the remaining balance of my PRE PAID card available to me–I should NOT be canceled. That’s simply unfair, and it is the equivalent of stealing.

Microsoft, make this right. I promise I’ll be BFFs again and I promise I’ll tell everyone that you did.

Posted in Rant, User Experience | 4 Comments »

So, Whatever Happened to that Presentation, Anyway?

Written by Russ on March 13, 2008 – 2:25 pm

Good question.

Fortunately, I’ve got a pretty good answer, too.

I finished the presentation–well, the first portion of the presentation. The more I reviewed my presentation about User Experience Design: An Overview, the more I realized that it’s a pretty “okay” presentation. It’s almost a “corporate” presentation. It has too much information on it–and not enough message.

That presentation is now the Handout for the real presentation, which I’m currently working on, more or less in my spare time–which has dwindled as I’m trying to wrap up a first semester in Business Administration by Monday. You can get this handout (presentation) at from my SlideShare account here:

What is User Experience Design: An Overview

Keep in mind that I target the Advertising industry with my handout (presentation), but I think it can pretty easily apply to a lot of different areas. The choice is obviously not mine, but yours, if you choose to borrow. Please just let me know, eh?

All of that stated, the next steps are fairly simple for me. I’m going to make the presentation a lot more visually appealing to a broader audience–I want the core of the message to stick with the most people. I want the depth of the presentation–the handout–to resonate with the people who are invested enough to require a deeper understanding. I want them to talk to engage me in a deeper conversation that possibly leads to action.

That next version of the presentation is coming from Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. I urge you to take a look. I’d also recommend checking out the work of Stephen Collins at acidlabs.

I’ll post an update when I can make progress on the much more visual version of this presentation.

For next time: How do we display our “portfolio” as UX Designers?

Posted in Information Architecture, Presentations, User Experience Design | No Comments »

UXD for Advertising - First Final Version (Part 3 of a Presentation In-Progress)

Written by Russ on February 25, 2008 – 6:08 pm

Somewhere between a newborn baby, which was just about 6 hours after I wrapped-up the last posting on this topic, and around 4am this morning, things really starting falling into place.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that a good friend and developer Troy, a co-worker who shall remain “Tom”, along with the feedback, approvals and blessings from folks like Peter Morville, Christina Wodtke, Stephen Collins and Peter Boersma. Truly, the insight, if not already-worked-on materials that these folks have in their arsenal, has allowed me to flesh out and bring a pretty solid presentation into maturity.

I’ve yet again updated my outline. It now reads as follows:

User Experience Design: An Overview

1. Title Page
2. Why is UXD Right for Us?
3. What is UXD? (long)
4. What is Information Architecture
5. What is User-Centered Design
6. What is UXD? (Redux)
7. UXD and the Project Life Cycle
8. UXD’s Involvement in the Project Life Cycle
9. UXD’s Work Product (not all-inclusive)
10. Why is UXD Important?
11. Whye is UXD Important to Brands
12. Brand and the User Experience (Dubberly’s Model of Brand)
13. What’s Next for UXD?
14. Questions & Critiques

There’s been a significant shift since I first started this task. I’ve spent a lot of time on research and revisions–mostly because I’ve not been able to get this out of my head. It’s important for all of us to understand that “what we do” is important within an organization. We not only need to do “what we do” but we have to do our part to make sure that others know–in the right way–when and where it is appropriate that we are engaged.

It can be delicate, particularly so when you are the only individual in the organization who practices the craft. How do you inform an organization that, “Oh, by the way, I should be involved in just about anything that we do” without coming across as a know-it-all expert?

Hey, that sounded like magic, or something!

It’s not magic, but as Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville have said, this certainly is something that involves “art and science”. Maybe it has some madness sprinkled in with method to other folks, but that further reinforces our responsibility to educate outward. And yes, that means with other people in different disciplines than our own.

It’s time to get off of the soapbox that I apparently just hopped on and get into what I’ve been working through with this presentation.

I felt I was missing the right way to open and close my presentation. Definitions alone can be kind of boring. Definitions of the types of work that we do is not the wrong thing to present on, but it is a bit abrupt when it comes to starting a presentation. I wanted something to ease people into what I would be discussing, and I was hoping it could be familiar.

Christina Wodtke had a pretty relevant quote by Steve Jobs in one of her presentations. Steve was asked why he believes that Apple’s customers are so loyal and how it has to do–very specifically–with a well-thought user experience. The quote sends a pretty clear message: Product Quality (which in this case is directly connected to, if not simply just “is” the User Experience) equals Brand Loyalty.

What is User Experience?
I kept my “What is UXD” slide, but updated it after a quick email exchange with Peter Morville. Peter claims that he works with his clients for designs that should last 5 years or more. The more I thought about it and the more I did some real reflection on the work I’ve done over the years, the more I realized he is firmly set in reality, whereas I must have been trying to cater to the salesperson side of me. The truth is, I think we would all like to be able to revisit and rework designs every year or so, but 5-10 years is a lot closer to how often clients / corporations tend to really think about it.

What is Information Architecture (or, the slide that everyone uses)
For whatever reason, I neglected previously to include my “What is IA” slide. I’m including it and wanted to point out that it wasn’t until later in my research that I found out that there are more than a couple of other folks who use almost the exact same slide that I do. I’m sure theirs were created first, so I’m not trying to take credit. If anything, it’s mildly amusing that so many people find this to be the right, credible way to explain Information Architecture.

What is User Experience Design (Redux / Short Version)
After a lot of avoidance, and then a lot of struggling, I sort of eeked-out a “What is UXD? (Redux / Shorter Version)”. This is the one slide that I’m having the most difficulty with, as I am finding it especially challenging to come up with a succinct way of saying “This is UXD”.

I’d be grateful for some input and feedback on this slide, if no other part of this whole process.

Why User Experience Design is Important
I created a slide to provide some simple explanations as to why UXD is important–it’s great that I’ve explained all the pieces of UXD and by now. My audience will hopefully be somewhat clued-in to why this is important. However, given the slide following this one (Why UXD is Important to Brand), it felt timely to give a nice rounding-off to what’s already been discussed. The key points are that UXD is agnostic, UXD maximizes usability, UXD minimizes design failures, UXD provides project–and operational–efficiencies, and finally (simply), UXD brings it all together.

Why is User Experience Design Important to Brands?
This was one of my newest, most challenging additions. Christina Wodtke has some outstanding information about how IA is very important to brand, the more I read through her materials, she’s absolutely correct. Christina states:

Brand Managers
CREATE
Brand Promises
FULFILLED BY
Brand Experiences

I doubt this is a secret to “Brand People”, so I’m not trying to pretend that I’m an inventor of anything, however, I started seeing a bit more into the information. User Experience is at the very CORE of the brand, and Brand Promises should really be fulfilled by GOOD BRAND EXPERIENCES.

A Good Brand Experience is an experience that meets or exceeds the expectations of a consumer (user), with a product (or anything related to the product, such as a commercial, print advertising, a website). Everything that touches any portion of the brand needs to be laser-focused on obtaining a Good Brand Experience. How many times have you seen a commercial or a TV Show or [anything] that has a URL attached to it and when you visited the website, you wondered why you, as a brand loyalist, wasted your time?

More than should be happening, I’d be willing to wager.

We all know that bad brand experiences mean that we’re going to tell about a dozen or so people about it. When you factor in blogging, reviews on websites, etc. that number begins to go through the roof! It’s time to find ways to foster relationships with the consumers–we need to provide a good experience for the brand champions that continues where the product ends. We need to cater to the champions we have and can keep–they are the biggest evangelists for our brands.

It was at this point that I found an interesting diagram around 360-degree Brand Stewardship at OgilvyPR.com that helped me better describe my points.

I thought that their diagrams on Mass Communication and Network Marketing were really good starting points for understanding how Brand works with a variety of mediums to get a message to a Consumer in order to drive experiences. I felt that they left out some of the static that often gets in the way, and some of the additional benefits that can come from the positive outcome. Consumers can buy more product–and that’s great–but when consumers become brand advocates and start to give endorsements, there’s more weight and consideration given to the message.

That mentioned, I tried to find a way of showing all of [that stuff above] in a single diagram. I’d love some feedback here–I think I did a pretty nice job of showing how this can/should work:

Brand and the User Experience
A nice continuation of the slide above already exists in Hugh Dubberly’s Model of a Brand. I snagged the portion that applied the best (thanks again to Christina Wodtke’s insights):

Product < - delivers -> Experience < - shapes -> Perception - builds -> Brand < - represents - Name.

It’s much prettier in the slide, so here’s the slide:

What’s Next for UXD?
I’ve already preached a bit above on this topic, but suffice it to say that this particular wrap-up slide (before the Questions & Critiques) has a lot to do with my beliefs about how I would like for UXD (and myself) to be involved within the organization that I work for. I’ve mentioned it before–this presentation has an angle to it that is self-serving for me. However, I believe that it should be–as it should be for you if you are giving this presentation of your own some day. There’s no harm in that–if you want to operate at a certain level, you need to be able to affect change in your organization, not just through the people you work with. You need, beyond being self-sufficient and able to manage yourself and/or others, to be the change that you want to see. As someone differently wiser than I once said, “You can either be the pebble or the stream…”

Hopefully, Dr. Don Norman’s notion about this works well for my audience. I have a slight bit of trepidation that this could come across as a bit harsh or too overly self-serving, but I think he’s dead-on:

“We will never make progress as long as we are resources and not leaders. Resources don’t discuss the business plan, the marketing strategy. Resources don’t help decide what the product or service will be in the first place. Resources are called in when the leaders think they are needed. They do their job and then get out of the way.”

Now What?
Now that I’ve gotten this far in a much shorter amount of time (but more man-hours than I would have imagined), I feel that I’m just about ready to bring the presentation to the people in my company that have good insight to the rest of the leadership. I want to give them the opportunity to take my presentation to task, kick the tires and force another iteration out of me.

From there, it’s show time.

Posted in Information Architecture, Presentations, User Experience Design | No Comments »