Process + Brand = Experience

"I will what I want" (Under Armour) challenges "Just do it!" (Nike) - and is winning

Under Armour traditionally has been a male brand. Personally, I like the brand and always found the clothing to be well designed and engineered - right down to the fabric. The clothing lasts forever and either keep the heat in or out - depending on what you choose. They make great clothes!

I also like them because they have innovative beginnings that are product focus, making a breakthrough in athletic wear:

As a fullback at the University of Maryland, Plank got tired of having to change out of the sweat-soaked T-shirts worn under his jersey; however, he noticed that his compression shorts worn during practice stayed dry. This inspired him to make a T-shirt using moisture-wicking synthetic fabric.^[6] After graduating from the University of Maryland, Plank developed his first prototype of the shirt, which he gave to his Maryland teammates and friends who had gone on to play in the NFL. Plank soon perfected the design creating a new T-shirt built from microfibers that wicked moisture and kept athletes cool, dry, and light.^[5] Major competing brands including Nike, Adidas and Reebok would soon follow in Plank's footsteps with their own version of Under Armour's moisture-wicking apparel.^[7]

--Wikipedia

Nike designs and engineers great shoes and makes fashionable athletic clothes. They make some of the best shoes on the market, although Under Armour is now challenging that.

I should also say that I had the chance to meet and workout with Team USA Women's Soccer Olympian (and Under Armour endorser) Heather Mitts recently, who told me Under Armour running shoes were "by far" the best shoe she has ever worn for serious runners and athletes.  I was already wearing UA shoes at the time, so I don't think she was trying to "sell" me. 

--NIKE VS UNDER ARMOUR, TheFitnessChamp.com

 

Products aside, Under Armour has adopted a tag line for a women's ad campaign that is seriously booting Nike in the pants.

"I will what I want."

The model, Gisele, did an ad segment with them. At first, you think she's just a model, does she really work out? Doesn't she, like, just not eat? Like, eat just a carrot for dinner?

I saw the Web site. I dare anyone to hold a plank like she did for that long. I dare you to try it! (Personally, I hold it for a minute at best.) She's a machine and I respect her for that.

 

Under Armour created a site for women that lets us track and share workout activity and performance with others. When you work out, it's key to be part of a community - not to compete, but to watch the actions of others and see what's possible. I get motivated watching other people workout hard and achieve great things. It makes me realize that doing about 100 crunches and squats will get me to where I want to be - body-wise, mind-wise, and endurance-wise. This was brilliant on their part.

Nike's just do it campaign is great and has a ton of variations, and it has grown beyond women achieving more to become a proverb, so to speak. It's excellent. 

However, Under Armour evolved it.  

 

Under Armour won Marketer of the Year for Ad Age. Why? 

The goal was to celebrate women "who had the physical and mental strength to tune out the external pressures and turn inward and chart their own course." They took Nike's story one step further....

At the rate it's going, Under Armour might "just do it." While Nike's sales are still 10 times larger, Under Armour, in the 12 months ending in August, increased revenue at three times Nike's pace, Bloomberg reported in early September. It's "well on its way to becoming the second-largest global athletic brand, ultimately eclipsing Adidas," Canaccord Genuity stated in a Dec. 1 report to investors, projecting the company would surpass $10 billion in sales within five years.

--E.J. Schultz, Ad Age's 2014 Marketer of the Year: Under Armour, Ad Age

 

Their approach is working. What did Under Armour do?

• They sell a vision and an experience. Nike taught us to do it; Under Armour shows us that in the face of adversity - rejection, illness, any personal challenge - there are women out there who have overcome their problems and succeeded. They show possibility and become role models for breaking through boundaries to achieve any goal. It's a positive message and story - and who doesn't like a positive champion who wins in some way?

• They are paving their own path to #1. What's the saying - don't compete, stand out? They aren't really competing with Nike because they are taking a slightly different angle. And they have slightly different products. They aren't copying the competition; they aren't using them as a baseline for parity; they are paving their own way using marketing best practices - a great tag line and a new vision for the target audience. It's almost like their ad campaign mirrors how the company operates.

• They are about the products. That's what I have always liked about Under Armour - you are buying not just stylish athletic gear, it has another function. Knowing that your clothing will keep you dry while you sweat is a bonus; or keep you warm in the cold when you sweat. You don't just look good - you feel good. And their clothes last forever. They use great athletic technology. If you don't have a good product, then you won't go far. This is why UA is going far.

This approach even has the financial analysts roaring:

Under Armour is broadly successful at gaining market participation via high-quality products and a strategy of permanent innovation, and the company has enormous room for growth by expanding into different sport disciplines and geographical markets in the years ahead. 

--Andrés Cardenal, Best Buy in Sports Apparel: Nike, Under Armour, or Lululemon? Fool.com

I can see why they won Marketer of the Year. What are your thoughts? 

Characteristic 1 of a Good Customer Experience: Supporting your customers. REI does this well!

The film [Wild] is based on the memoir by Cheryl Strayed, who has a long-lasting, meaningful relationship with REI. The outdoor gear company earned a special place in her heart during her 1,100-mile hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. She lost her boots midway through the hike, but was able to phone the company—and they shipped her a new pair, no questions asked.

That customer service stuck with her, and made it into her memoir. And now it's in the film starring Reese Witherspoon. And Strayed confirmed to Adweek this week that REI's appearance in the film isn't a paid placement. 

--Kristina Monllos, "Brand of the Day: REI's Great Customer Service Hits the Big Screen in Cheryl Strayed's Wild, These boots were made for replacing, and fast" Adweek 

 

I love the REI even though I'm not an outdoorsy person. I think camping is staying at a Comfort Inn. I don't do well with bugs or dirt. I do like to hike, but I'm new to hiking, so I stick to the trails and I tend not to explore new area of woods with snakes and lizards and furry animals with teeth and fangs. 

But I feel good when I go shopping in REI although I know NOTHING about outdoor equipment. At REI, the staff is passionate about outdoor living - and that extends to how they interact with their customers. Here's an example.

One holiday season I was looking for a solar powered phone battery charger for a friend. I saw a few options online, but I wasn't sure which to choose and I wasn't even sure where to start in the store! 

As I was wandering around in the foyer of REI, trying to get the lay of the land, someone came over to help me get started and asked me if I needed help. I know I looked lost and clueless, so this help was welcomed. She guided me to the right area of the store and gave me advice and options as to what to buy. She didn't know a lot about solar chargers, but she definitely knew more than I did! After her consultation, she left me alone to make my decision - she was around, but not hovering.

At the register, this same woman also told me about their store club and courses REI offered. She was very excited about the class was teaching one in a few weeks. Just hearing her talk about mountain bikes and how they worked got me so excited about them that I was tempted to attend her class. Then I remembered that I don't own a mountain bike, so why would I learn how to fix one?

 

Cheryl Strayed went on a hike to find herself (the movie Walk tells the story). During the hike she lost her boots. REI sent her a new pair.

Yes, they sent her a new pair.

What do you think about REI now, 19 years after its return policy saved you on the trail? 
I am a fan of REI. It’s a great store. It’s such a great go-to place for outdoor equipment. And you walk in there and you get to have a lot of dreams. You can look around and say, “Hey, maybe I could do this.”

That’s where it began for me. I was in an REI and found that PCT guidebook, and I thought, “Wow, maybe I could do this.” You’re surrounded by all this stuff—and I make a lot of comic hay about it in Wild: “If I have all this stuff, that must mean I am a backpacker.”

I bought those things, I dressed the part on day one, and then I became that person. It allowed me to fulfill this vision I had of myself in a time in my life when I really, really needed to have a different vision of myself than the person I was at that moment.

We can remake ourselves in the wild, and REI, like any number of stores that sell those products, teaches you how to do it.

--Joe Jackson, What Gear Did Cheryl Strayed Use While Hiking the PCT?, Gear Shed

 

So why is REI so awesome and supportive of their customers and give a great customer experience? It starts with the employees. 

• They have passion - and they understand your passion. The employees are passionate about their own outdoor experiences. That passion is so infectious that it rubs off on you. You can feel it when you walk into the store, based on the entire experience. You feel like you are already in the outdoors and you are finding what you need for your passion mission.

• They care. REI wouldn't have delivered new boots to Cheryl if they didn't. That REI salesperson wouldn't have tried to help me figure out the right solar phone charger to get if she didn't care. She wouldn't have let me know that they have classes in case I was interested if she didn't care. REI takes an interest in their customers and care about what they want to do - and it is that caring that makes a customer feel special, welcomed and begging to come back.

• They educate. Every time I go to REI, I learn something new about the outdoors and outdoor equipment. I still need to go to one of their classes or events (not to fix a mountain bike, of course, but maybe a hike or a movie about the outdoors). I learn from the site, sales - I get insights into everything, everywhere.

• They are helpful. You could say that the definition of being helpful is caring and providing education, so in a way, this isn't a characteristic of supporting a customer. But what does make it a characteristic is going the extra mile with the logistics to help you solve your problem or challenge - like delivering shoes to a stop along a hiking trail.

• They are open and friendly with a positive, can-do attitude. I know, it's like I'm describing a Boy Scout, but it's true. I feel like I could ask for a grilled cheese sandwich and an REI employee would tell me where I could find one nearby. In some stores, the salespeople don't have a can-do attitude; many have an I guess attitude. I guess you can get this sweater, doesn't matter to me. I guess I can ring you up, I don't really want to help you and would rather hang out doing nothing for a few more hours collecting $10+/hr. REI employees are ready and willing to help. it's awesome!

• No hovering. Each time I went there, salespeople were around and available to help you, but they weren't hovering over you like a vulture waiting for an animal - Are you ready to buy yet? Ready? Want it? Yes? Ready to buy?

• Confidence. Confidence comes with education - if you know some thing and feel secure about the answer, usually you are confident about what you are saying. I get that impression from REI salespeople. And if they don't know the answer, they find out or tell you that they aren't sure (but usually they find out). You aren't left hanging.

Other companies do this as well, but REI is a great example of a company that supports its customers. This is one of the main reasons why customers have a good experience going to the REI store - ok, maybe more like a great experience. 

 

Learn more: Read the 9 characteristics of Great Customer Experiences.

Apple and IBM - a partnership to benefit the users!

This morning I woke up to TechCrunch's article about this partnership between Apple and IBM.

Personally, I think this is fantastic! It's about time that Apple will officially be brought into the workplace. People have been unofficially bringing Apple into the workplace for years through BYOD. They were the outlaw/bandit technologies. In some places, there would be an option for people to choose to work with a Mac or a PC; but those working with a Mac were either developers or creatives. Business people have a hard time adopting them for work. 

I find this ironic because I remember when an office would have BOTH Macs and PCs and there would be races on complex calculations in Excel to see which computer system would win (hint: Mac always did). The Mac was always the superior computer - even for the business team.

Apple is like the pretty girl at a party - no one expects her to be smart, good at math or science, and actually be able to hold a conversation. Unfortunately in our society, the qualities of being efficient and effective doesn't include beauty. Or fun. Or entertainment. 

More irony -  to run entertainment "products" and projects you need some seriously hard core systems due to the extremely large file sizes and the need for granular processing (at the pixel level). Audio and video files are massive! Dreamworks buys high-end HP servers to support their animations, which have amazing levels of detail. Detailed photographs require amazing pixel level control to mirror what happens on traditional film - and it requires amazing amounts of computer power to process that. Art/entertainment is really big IT business...but some conservative IT professionals sadly just don't see it.

Consumers are behaving differently than in the past. 10 years ago, people used the devices they were assigned at work. Today, they see how these devices are easy to use and bring them to work to use their. The division between work and personal life is fast deteriorating. Technology needs to helping people do more in their lives so they can enjoy living rather than only optimize the workplace. Apple and IBM seem to have caught on to that. And hey - if you can't beat 'em (I think the whole BYOD movement has demonstrated that), join 'em.

Little known fact - Apple was in the enterprise market with their servers (they recently pulled to the small business market). Again, the speed of the Apple OS makes it superior, but there were some key components missing - they fixed the multi-user management, but integrating with other proprietary systems proved challenging. Apple's OS is REALLY Unix - it is from NeXT (and I know most hard core Unix fans believe that they had a superior system). This is why Apple's OS performs so much better than Windows. But this proprietary nature of Apple made it hard to be enterprise class.

Windows run on any type of PC, just like Microsoft server software. And Bill Gates gave away a lot of enterprise software for free to get customers "hooked." As a strategy to get marketshare, Microsoft SQL was given away for free when it first came out. It worked! I remember a number of IT directors telling me that we wouldn't use the better Oracle database for a project because the Microsoft license was free. Sure, they got stuck with a Microsoft database, but at the time, $30K vs free was an easy decision. 

Today, more IT decisions are being made from users than it is from the directors making the decisions. Why this partnership between Apple and IBM makes sense.

In some ways, we all should have seen this partnership coming. IBM got out of the hardware business, but it is still working with businesses, so what was it going to sell to them? I doubt Dell products. 

Apple will get further into the enterprise business, and IBM showed that it is listening to its customers with this BYOD problem. Sure, some companies will have a hard time accepting iPhones, iPad and Macs in a workplace, in the same way that some labs can't accept the pretty girl finding a cure for cancer. But the companies' employees will be thrilled that they can use 1 device - not one at home and one at work - do their job anywhere.

We will have more blurred lines between work and leisure, but more opportunities for living.

Weekend unplugging and breaking for creativity

I'm guilty of "taking my weekend" to re-cooperate from the week. I try to stay offline and not work - ok, maybe I will respond to some personal emails or read some articles, but I'm not producing anything new. I'm taking a break. 

By Friday afternoon, I'm either:

• Overstimulated and just can't think rationally anymore.
• Overwhelmed and can't organize my desk - nevermind a thought.
• Stir crazy (looking at the same 4 walls for 4-5 days solid can be a little much).

When I look at the computer screen and all I see are pretty pictures, I know I need a change of pace.

That's when I know it is time to unplug, walk away from the computer and do something else. Anything else.

 

I do love my work. But to keep being creative, I need space to experience inspiration. Sometimes I can escape on a weeknight; often, I can’t. That’s what weekends are for.

I used to work faithfully all weekend and now that I look back, it didn't do me any favors. I was a freelancer working by the hour and it made me a lot of money, but I wasn’t working smarter because I never rested. It was hard to always be innovative because I wasn't making time to get new input or let myself be inspired - I was constantly pushing out thoughts and solutions. 

It wasn’t until I moved to Dallas that I started to unplug during the weekends and give myself time for inspiration. It was the best thing I ever did. I opened up to new experiences, got offline, experienced life, and lived at a slower pace. 

 

Recently at the Dallas Digital Conference, I heard a talk by Randi Zuckerberg where she noted that unplugging during the weekend was going to be a trend. She swears by it. And is working with an organization to encourage it. 

 

She does admit that one of the challenges with unplugging is how people respond to that. Many do expect that all responses should be immediate. That’s just not realistic - nor should it be expected. And when we keep doing it, frankly, we are allowing others to keep expecting that behavior from us, and the cycle continues. Life doesn't need to be at the pace others set for you.  

 

To experience the world, sometimes it is better to be offline anyway.

But I sensed it one night in November when I saw a photo of a beautiful Seattle sunset on Twitter, and realized I could have seen it myself that evening, if I had just bothered to look around. (Do you unplug? Making the case for ‘No-Tech Sundays, Monica Guzman)

That line “just bothered to look around” haunted me. So often we will shift our focus away from the present to look at people’s pictures, tag who is in them, and read about what others are doing that we are missing life around us. How many people have you observed so engaged in their phones and oblivious to the present life that they bump into poles? Or miss a curiosity around them? They lose touch with real life and start to devalue it. It's great to read about your friend's past and present, but your own present should also be treasured. 

 

And then there is the creativity factor. It's pretty well known that to be creative at work, you need to take a break. Even Forbes has an article about it - 8 Ways Goofing Off Can Make You More Productive. And there is a line in the article about why I unplug on the weekends:

Many of our most creative, productive thoughts come not while we’re trying to force them during long sessions at our desks, but at odd moments outside the office.

On the weekends, I make space to create and let my mind wander, which I can't do during the week because I'm either in meetings or on deadlines. But on a Saturday, even running errands has a leisurely, wandering quality to it. I may decide to change my routine and explore a new part of Dallas on a whim. I may explore a store that is new to me, take a walk in a park, or visit a museum I have wanted to go to but never found the time to visit before. There are plans but no plans at the same time. There is no clock telling me where to be or what to do. 

 

Being plugged in changes that because I feel that I need to respond to people's requests or be accountable to share what I'm doing ("document" as a friend of mine said). There are times where I just want to use my memory to record the experience and just enjoy it. Why do I need to share my experiences with others? It sounds selfish, but I wonder if the social media sharing is subconscious bragging or real sharing with the world? What’s my motive? And then I ask myself the larger question - Why do I care about what others think about my life?

 

On the weekends, I stay offline to experience life on my own and be open to new adventures.

Bottom line, no-tech Sundays are helping me notice all the things that connected tech is changing about the ways we behave. It’s not about rejecting tech, or recovering a life without it. It’s about taking this power that’s appeared in our world and slowing it down just enough to look at it, understand it, and maybe, just maybe, take control. (Do you unplug? Making the case for ‘No-Tech Sundays, Monica Guzman)

I couldn't have said that better than Monica. She's right.

 

So if anyone thinks I'm ignoring them on a Saturday or Sunday, I probably am. I'm unplugging and being slightly irresponsible, refusing to live on a schedule, and taking a break from work and life to be open to new ideas and experiences. I'll be a better person for it on Monday, 

The best quote ever: Control is for Beginners. Iteration is truly the mother of invention.

"Control is for beginners" - that is probably the best quote ever (see the HBR article for more info - thanks, Deb Mills-Scofiel for that!). And it is so true. If we wait for perfection in business - or the exact right thing to do - we get nothing done and become a bottleneck. AT&T stopped being innovative because of it. You can't get to perfection unless you put something out there, see what happens, and make changes to make it better (sounds a little like Agile, huh?).

One my teachers recently told me that we are all perfect - and this applies also to control and to Agile and improv. Whatever you do in this time and space is the right thing to do. You can always make adjustments if you learn more about something in the future. But what we do now is just fine. 

The next time you work on a project - keep that in mind. What you do now is just fine. If improv musicians and dancers didn't think that way - they would never perform, never try something new, never create something great. 

Take it one step further, we wouldn't have flight, lightbulbs, the Internet, x-rays if someone didn't iterate. Iteration is the mother of invention.

Technology for convenience vs Technology for efficiency/connectedness

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. At work, it has boosted our productivity beyond expectations. We no longer need a pool of typists to create documents - it's now self-service with a computer and printer. We have accounting software that provides the most financially ignorant a way to maintain their books. There are RFID chips and scanning technologies available that help track inventory and revenue that would have previously caused a quarterly one- to two-day shutdown to double check records. We can now be reached by anyone, anytime, anywhere with mobile technologies. It's quite impressive how far we have come in such a short time.

However, there is a price: we are rarely unplugged and often focused on being "efficient." Technology is dictating life to us rather than the other way around.

I love weekends because it's when I choose to be inefficient. The phone and email isn't running my life. I'm not focused on finishing my to-do list, except for a few errands, and more focused on living life. 

This is why I'm not a fan of the concept of "wearable technology." It's one thing to have better fabrics that don't show perspiration or stops smells, but it is another thing to integrate the Internet and phone technologies into earrings or a watch. Innovations like Google glass are a great step forward - no doubt. But for those of us who no longer multi-task and instead, focus on the moment at hand and don't want constant connection, it's a challenging concept. It's almost like we can't escape being connected. I grew up in a small town and even there, someone could escape to the corner of a park and be completely alone for a few hours. Technology is getting a little too in our faces - literally. Even tracking all of your physical activity to determine how many calories you burn - isn't that getting a little intrusive? What happened to walking just to walk - or climbing stairs just to make a destination? 

I often wonder why we won't incorporate technology in our home to improve our quality of life. I'm not talking about incorporating connection technologies - I'm talking about making life more convenient. I have some initial thoughts below. Sure, some need more thought and I hope some are in progress to be made (let me know if they are - look forward to it!).

Home server - I'm not thinking about access to the cloud, I'm talking about having a server at home that stores files (music, photos, etc.) and there is a way for people to access them from any device in any location at home. And yes - there would be no way for your neighbor to access them. There are so many times I want to access a movie, but I don't want to download it from a cloud or stream it (that's slow) - I want to play from my speedier home network. I also don't want to use rented space to store the file. I want to use MY space that isn't shared and has a partition from the outside world. Sure, there is a risk that it could be hacked, but I'd feel better if I had access to a server that isn't necessarily connected to the internet and I'd use a local network to get files. 

Home doctor - rather than going to the doctor's office, we could save on health care costs (and insurance) by having a "home doctor" in the bathroom. I don't see why a device couldn't be created that could do urine and blood testing, track temperatures, weight, and be a virtual medical book. There could even be some type of scanner included in the kit - maybe something hand-held. If test results and symptoms hinted at a medical condition, the "home doctor" could suggest you see a real doctor - and maybe even book an appointment. And in compliance with HIPAA regulations, this could be stored in the safety of your home and not shared unless you chose to share it.

I mean, let's face it - who likes giving a urine sample at the doctors? It is messy and uncomfortable. Wouldn't it be easier to use a wand to indicate on the spot what is wrong? Why can't we do this today?

Home cooking - access online recipes in a single place (yes, I'm thinking of an aggregator that compiles recipes from online sources, cookbooks and your own entries), built into the counter. Once you select what you want to make, your system tells you what you don't have in your kitchen, suggests some substitutions or indicates which stores in the area may have what you need, and pre-heats your oven for whatever you are making. Much of this technology is available today. And no, it doesn't need to be connected to the Internet to track your inventory and provide substitution information. This could be a on a private network to maintain security, leveraging information from the Internet as needed. And there could be manual overrides to give someone more control if needed.

Home entrances - There needs to be more thought required here to ensure security - but rather than having keys to get into a home (a dated approach to security anyway), why not use retinal scans? Let's say you have local retinal scans to ensure you live in your home. When your scan is successful, you walk into your home, the lights and heat goes on and all is good. If the scan fails, some type of intruder message is played. And if someone breaks in, same thing. And you could keep people out easily. It may cause some interesting young sibling interactions (brothers and sisters deleting access from each other), but it would definitely more secure than a key. And no more worrying about losing your keys.

Virtual/robot butler - wouldn't it be great if you were in the middle of cooking a meal, the phone rings, and a voice says, "Mary, it is your mother. Do you want to accept the call?" and I can talk to my mom on speaker. Or I get an email from a friend, or an urgent work email, and I get an announcement about it - or a reminder that I need to respond. Or I decide to watch a movie and I just tell my home server/computer " Computer, show X-Men on my tablet." Or I'm practicing my belly dancing and I want to practice with my cane, which is in my closet. I could say "Little robot, can you please get my cane in the closet?" Sure - that's the most advanced case, but some of the virtual butler cases - why can't we do that today? 

Instead of having a more conenvient home, we focus on having bras that tweet about breast cancer. Technology is running a fine line between giving us a better life and dictating efficiency 24/7. We have to have control over it to keep our life our own private universe.

The Dos and Don'ts of Collaboration

The popularity of Agile has hastened the downfall of the siloed, waterfall work approach and the growth of team collaboration. Everyone now contributes more actively throughout the entire process of creating a product, which allows team members to be more honest, raise serious issues sooner in the process, discuss issues more openly, and be open to prioritization. Without a doubt, Agile has improved team communication.

However, when collaborating and creating a solution together, we sometimes forget what ownership and responsibility means - particularly for design.

Design has been evolving to be more about collaboration and less about heroism, less about making things beautiful and more about solving a problem and meeting a need. Many things can be designed, from databases to architectures, but the visual side of things, including the user experience, gets a lot more attention - often more than it should. 

People who have ears think they can sing; people who can write a sentence, believe they can write a novel; people who can taste believe they can cook; people who have eyes, believe they can design.

Everyone has an opinion, and that's healthy. However, the reality is that some opinions are based on more facts than others, and this comes through with user experience more than anything else. Many visual aesthetic opinions are based on personal taste and experience - as if that is the best and only experience - rather than studies about an audience or the industry.

And sometimes too much attention is given to user experience. Sure, it's important, but a poorly architected system can ruin a great idea. The user experience gets a lot of attention because it's the first thing most people see with a product. And everyone wants to be a part of creating what people see. When people work in manufacturing (and these days, software is manufacturing) they want to say what they contributed to a project - and it's easier to point to a button than to an optimized database.

A key factor of successful collaboration is respecting your teammates - their views, experiences, and areas of expertise. It's about recognizing the knowledge each person brings. This is easy to lose when discussing an interface. Team members can get very passionate about design opinions and directions or word choices. All of these discussions are great, however, they come with limits. If there is a UX team, you have to let them provide suggestions and recommendations and give feedback as to why suggestions may or may not work. And these types of discussions need to be facilitated to stop a single loud voice taking over.

This is more of a guide based on my experience with teams and facilitation as to what needs to happen during these discussions and the process. Feel free to add and comment as needed.

 

What should be kept in mind when facilitating product brainstorming/discussions

 

Dos

Focus on goals of the project and what is needed

Rather than over-defining specific solutions to a problem, which limits brainstorming and keeping all options open, talk about the project goals - what the product is and what needs to be achieved. Sometimes as a team we get too tied up in the details rather than understanding what the solution needs to do.

 

Team members need space to come up with solutions and recommendations

Not everyone thinks well on the fly.

After brainstorming sessions, let the team members take back the suggestions, recommendations and ideas and work through options. Discuss project directions at the meeting, but don't make team members make a decision - let each one determine whether a particular solution makes most sense after the conversation. Sometimes there is pressure in a team environment NOT to make the best decision but to pacify the loudest voice. Brainstorming needs to be supported by work time; without this balance, good ideas aren't fully vetted.

 

Respect your team members.

Respect each individual's skill sets and ownership in discussion. I have taken a number of database design courses to know enough to be dangerous, but rather than ask "How did you design the database? Can I see?" I'll ask "What is the primary key? What data are we capturing?" It's not my job to tell the database person how to do their job. I can ask for data, but it's just inappropriate for me to ask them to revise their setup. I may know what I could ask for, but I'm not responsible for creating the database and I trust in the database developer to make a great product. The same is true with the visual side of things. Designers have experience and data to back up why certain decisions are made or why some directions are better than others. I admit that I always like getting suggestions and feedback to make a great design. But I will also admit that I don't care for suggestions that start with "I like" or "I prefer". That's based on one individual's experience - not an entire group. Personal preference shouldn't be part of the conversation. If someone suggested that a particular UI element performed well in testing - well, that's a different story.

 

Express your feelings in a positive, constructive  way

If you are frustrated with a conversation, tell your team! Be honest with them and tell them why you are frustrated. For all you know, they may be frustrated with things too. Don't tell your team that they are a bunch of dumb monkeys - that's not constructive. Telling your team you are frustrated because the conversation is circling and you don't know how to fix it - that's helpful, and not just for you.

Oh - and if you think your team rocks, tell them that too. And tell them why you like to work with them. It's always nice to hear that you are fabulous, but it's better to hear that you are fabulous because you get to the point and get things done. 

 

Know who is consuming the design

Unfortunately, your team members are NOT part of your user group. Even the UX person isn't part of the user group. The UX individual represents the users and what they want, but even his or her opinion is irrelevant when it comes to what the final design should be. Decisions should be based on research, facts, and references to what performs well from site to industry. No one on the team is a user - so their opinions based on person preference, well, just don't matter.

 

Test test test

Get real data - not opinions. When we design with team opinions we are designing for ourselves - not our users - and I just established that our team isn't a user. The users need a voice and the only way we can do this effectively is to test. Test. And test some more. We need to get their feedback as if they were a team member.

 

Don'ts

Voting doesn't make a good design

Voting on design is probably the worst way to handle a design discussion. It removes discussion about the project goals, sets-up an us/them team environment, and introduces personal preference into the discussion. Let's face it - we don't vote about approaches to the technical architecture; we don't vote on roadmaps; we don't vote on budgets. Stop voting on user experience and visual design. It really doesn't solve any problems - in fact, it creates more problems because solutions that are slick rather than functional win, and more work will often need to be done to make the slick design actually work. Keep the discussion to user feedback and facts.

 

Make final decisions on the fly

When teams are stressed, they often will try to come up with a solution on the fly. However, this means that some team members are having input into a decision where they didn't consider all factors. The team really needs to go back to their desks and think thru all of the options and ideas. This also refers to how a group sometimes will pacify the loudest person rather than the right person. Making decisions on the fly is just a recipe for disaster.

 

Override points from other team members based on power - not a debate on facts

By overriding a point made from a team member based on your position, you broke the Do rule - you no longer respect your team member. Everyone has ideas, and some ideas are backed by facts and an understanding of the users, but all ideas potentially could work. It's about being open minded, especially because even bad ideas could lead to the optimal solution. 

 

Focus on opinions and not facts

This goes back to previous points about basing UX decisions on data and experience with users. Sometimes we get caught up in what we like and prefer for an interface and forget that we are not designing for ourselves. We really should be talking about the facts and how the design meets the needs of the user.

 

Lose respect for a team member

Discussion and collaboration bring various teams together. There are people on the team with more experience with design than others - so yes, some opinions do count more than others - and that should be respected. But this is the same for architecture, budgets - some team members just know more than others. And that's what makes a team. Respect your designers as much as your developers or project owners. Everyone has something to contribute. And if there is a weak team member - give that person a chance. You just never know what may happen.

 

Gossip

This just kills team morale and discourages collaboration. If you don't agree with your colleague, tell him or her directly. Keep it real. See the previous item about respecting your team.

 

In our new world of collaboration, we need to maintain a delicate balance where we are open to new ideas no matter where they originate from and yet respect the source of the idea and the person who will be doing the work. It is a crazy juggling act, but if you follow the do's and don'ts outlined above when collaborating, you will have a project with a happy, productive team.

 

 

 

Some good advice on innovation

I usually don't like the advice I read on innovation - but this article captured a great thought on innovation, living in the moment and letting go.

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130328222915-5935179-how-to-innovate-like-a-jedi-knight

I have been working on a blog entry on innovation, creativity and improv in belly dancing and how they fit together - pretty much the same concept as the Jedi knight approach, but I think totally SPOT ON! (And this isn't because I thought about it too).

Enjoy!

SXSW Interactive: Why do we go? (A cantankerous opinion)

Innovation. We all like to think we are innovative, but are we? I admit that I'm less innovative and great at stealing (or leveraging - sounds less criminal). And sometimes I just state the obvious. But I do LIKE to think I'm innovative and find all the new, useful things, which is why things like SXSW Interactive can be so attractive.

But let's face it, new ideas and those ah-has come from working - not from attending a conference. Conferences present ideas good for stealing/leveraging. Those ideas may be innovative where you work, but honestly, it's not innovation. You stole it from someone else, somewhere else to use for your own purposes. If anything, you should pay that speaker a usage fee. 

I've mentioned in previous posts that I'm a little cantankerous when it comes to anything about the Web and innovation - that's my disclaimer. But given the above, I have to ask the question - Why do we go (or not go) to SXSW? 

There's this great infographic about this at AdWeek.

It sums it up - SXSW Interactive isn't really about innovation. It's about finding that "next big thing," the "next gold rush," "what's cool" to make money. If you need to spend a bunch of money to find out what's new to make money, you shouldn't be in business. There are far cheaper ways to steal and expose your product to other people. It makes you wonder why SXSW Interactive exists (there is always a venue to hear cool music).

In fact, the most innovative products and ideas are viral. You find out about them from your 25 year old friends (or hip grannys). Only a few know about them. That's why they are innovative. I truly believe in the curve, and it makes me wonder if SXSW is more an early adopter conference rather than a true innovator conference.

 

From Noodleplay

There aren't a lot of innovators, which makes being an innovator a coveted position. Most people aspire to this and are always looking for that next big thing to make them a celebrity innovator. But even in the world of celebrity innovators, not all of the are innovators - they are building upon ideas someone else set in motion (e.g., the concept of a tablet started in Star Trek, then Sculley had it at Apple, then Steve Jobs perfected it).

Sometimes working on the Web/mobile, we get stuck trying to be "cool" and "hip." The early days of the Web were all about this - and it was tiring. It mattered less if you were making a product that made life easier for the average person than if you had a product that looked "cool" and "fun." This is why there was a plethora of online stores. Shopping is fun (it isn't really innovative). Chase is innovative with mobile check deposits - but let's face it - banks and deposits aren't sexy, so what's the big fuss. 

Conferences like SXSW make me realize how the Internet is still in its infancy and more of a "gold rush" than an actual tool for innovation and making life better. We're getting there - but our industry has a way to go. We are like a teenager - when the parents are away, we still like to have a big ol' party for ourselves. 

 

P.S. I have to add about being cool and SXSW Interactive...In 2012, SXSW highlighted the app Highlight. I'm not sure if you remember it. I referred to it as the stalker app. After everyone lauded it's creation there was a bumper crop of stalker apps created, people made a ton of money, and everyone started thinking that it was ok to ask the person next to you in line if he liked sushi because the app said so. Most product managers wanted to include these types of features in the app because it was the next new thing. I mean - how can you ignore something that go so much attention at SXSW! (Even if it was intrusive and inappropriate). I don't think it really went viral - I mean most people don't even like what Facebook does when it comes to information sharing.

Innovation? i'd say it was more of a cool applicaition of technology. Next big thing? Only to those of us teenagers who like to give ourselves a party from time to time.