dechezette

20 December 09

A Tale of Two Tablets

Over the past couple of weeks two proof-of-concept videos have been making the rounds that give a glimpse at where a tablet-centric magazine experience might go.

Here’s a look at both…

14 October 09

Guess What? Money Doesn’t Motivate Us.

Powerful TED talk delivered by Dan Pink.

Science has proven that people motivated by money do not perform as well in cognitive tasks as people who aren’t incentivized.

Dan challenges business to shed their old ways and figure out how to better tap into the things that really motivate us:

• autonomy
• mastery
• purpose

09 October 09

Remembering Netscape

Silently on the night of March 1st, 2008, AOL officially ended its support of the Netscape web browser. I somehow randomly ended up at the page posted to announce this. While bloated kludgy and buggy in its later days, Netscape still managed to eek out a final innovation - tabbed browsing. While not perfect, we’re still trying to create something that works better.

I have to admit, when I saw that logo of the N stepping over the horizon line it brought back many great memories and feelings of those early days of exploration and discovery. All of the sudden the world had opened up. There was this electricity, a sense of hope and wonder that you’d start your with as you sat behind your computer. Sipping your coffee, you’d type in that first url of the day and watch the shooting stars blaze past the N.

04 September 09

What Would Google Do?

That’s what Jeff Jarvis’s new book aims to answer - not just for tech companies, but in many other industries.

In the above video he gives quick examples of this, such as crowd-sourcing automotive design and restaurant menus.

I have to say, those have to be the most un-compelling, and frankly, ill-advised ways to look at your business that he could have stated.

There’s a widely used axiom (source unknown), that goes like this…

If you asked a group of Porsche owners what they wanted they’d tell you things like, “smoother ride, more trunk space, more leg room”

They just designed a Volvo.

While crowd-sourcing can provide critical input, it’s not the formula for brand differentiation.

It’s also not universally loved within Google.

Former Google employee and Lead Designer, Doug Bowman explained his departure from Google on his blog...

“Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. I can’t operate in an environment like that. I’ve grown tired of debating such minuscule design decisions. There are more exciting design problems in this world to tackle.”

Putting aside Doug’s interests here, it’s clear that Google has removed the human element, the emotion, out of the design process. Now, maybe this works for a company like Google that creates things for the masses, but there are many many businesses that don’t. And even some that do, such as Apple, wouldn’t be who they are if they democratized their product creation.

For certain companies, and for specific applications, crowd-sourcing can be a powerful tool. It’s working for Google. But that doesn’t mean that it’s the new paradigm, period.

I typically don’t slam a book before I read it. And I’m sure that there’s more to glean from Google than democratized design. But between this video and the Amazon user reviews, I’m having second thoughts about picking this one up.

03 September 09

Plan B: The Improved Plan, Not The Alternative

Great Business Week interview here with Randy Komisar about his new book Getting to Plan B. Komisar redefines Plan B for entrepreneurs and new businesses as a refinement of Plan A - a plan that iterates and improves over time with the input of empirical data. Furthermore he states that studies have shown that businesses that inflexibly stick to Plan A are more likely to fail.

The crispness and clarity of this interview sold me on picking up the book.

It’s a short podcast. I recommend checking it out.

Sounds like a must-read for entrepreneurs.