Talk to the Customer

Recently in my ex-team while attending a presentation made by a Senior Person who regularly interacts with the clients, I asked if we as solution providers ever made an effort to observe how the end-user is using the system and what kind of feedback does the solution get from them...

The response I got was that the size of user base is just too big for them to actually go and do that. So they relied on design folks who would/should know about user experience as well.

I came across this article today...
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/107/business-at-its-best.html

Companies differentiate between the User and the Costumer. The User being the person who uses the solution and the Costumer being the people who Pays for the Solution. Chances are... in most cases the Costumer is listened to and the solution is implemented as per their liking. And the likelihood of the needs of the user and the customer being radically different are quite high. The Priorities and the Perspective of the customer will be radically different. The solution thus built when exposed to the end-user faces rejection. Throughout my career I have felt the need to gather feelers from the end users time and again.

The example given here in the article is specific to banking whose costumer base is large but can apply to any other type of business.

My friend's flickr collection

Most of these are really good...

Especially since they are clicked by an amateur.

Slide Show :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85163435@N00/show/

With Dewscriptions:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85163435@N00/

The Road less travelled

I came across this quote by Robert Frost :

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost


I think this quote is quite applicable to my current situation. My current role is basically to be; in some ways; responsible for a whole lot of people's actions. Coordination is a key component. At heart I am a developer. A person who will be happy writing code. Give me a complex design problem or a difficult API to master and I will be happy. This current role is therefore quite different from what I have been doing till now.

From what I have gathered from people all over, this role isn't the most coveted one. Traditionally people at manager level play this role in most companies and so I have a good opportunity to get a first hand experience into how the next level operates...

I encountered another quote by James M. Barrie.

"Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else."

James M. Barrie

So this is work then... After so many years...

Personal Investing

Scott Adams' secret nine-point formula for "everything you need to know about personal investing.". Revealed in "Dilbert and the Way of the Weasels." Notice its simple brilliance in the exact reproduction of his formula:

1. Make a will
2. Pay off your credit cards
3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support
4. Fund your 401k to the maximum
5. Fund your IRA to the maximum
6. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it
7. Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account
8. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch it until retirement
9. If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio

These are targeted at the American audince but can easily be adapted for your own country specific needs....


Links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/401(k)
  
  
• http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BBE57F0AA%2D03D9%2D4320%2DBC4D%2D83363B6372F6%7D&siteid=myyahoo&dist=myyahoo
  

How did we live without it

Indeed How did we ever ?

Technology at its best


..

The best method for sorting resumes:

When I get a pile of resumes, I pick half of them at random and throw them away - I don't want any unlucky people to work for me!

Anecdote

Yesterday I thought I will catch up with a colleague of mine who was working on another project and we hadn’t had a chance to sync up for a long time.

I sent a message asking if we could have some coffee together. I did this around 3 pm thinking that we would be able to meet around 4:30 or so. No reply came till 6 and I had to leave anyways.

While boarding the bus transport (the company has provided a bus facility for regular timings. Saves a lot of hassles), I had a talk with my bus buddies where we devised an evil conspiracy to try and get rid of the bus and go back to the cabs that we used to get earlier. Had a lot of fun while doing that. Today we have a meeting with the transport function to raise all the issues that we have with the facility.

I have seen this happening a number of times. And in my older organization also. There are millions of people out there who use either self transport or public transport which to my mind is the worst. They travel anywhere between 10 to a 100 kilometers every day and they do it because their organizations haven’t made provisions for any such facilities. But we who have this facility are always complaining about the standard of the facility that we get. It seems the more you give, the more “they” will ask. It seems nothing ever is enough.

So today, when I came in, I saw a message which was posted at around 40 minutes after I had left. It said a simple “Hello”, maybe checking if I was at my seat at the time before engaging any further.

I replied back :

“too late for me I am not like those people who take faltu(unnecessary) breaks and then work late to show off. I am like those who take faltu breaks and still leave on time .“