The Future As Seen By Me In 2010

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Well looky here, things one has scanned in eh. (ignore the photo, that's some guy that made some accounting software, not sure what became of him ;) MIKE RIVERSDALE is fuming. The expensive headphones he bought in Sydney three weeks ago have just died. His first reaction is not to randomly spill expletives into his coffee, but to use his iPhone to vent his frustration to his Twitter con- tacts, under the moniker Miramar Mike. "I will also put, 'What should I do?' It's a conversation. I'm reaching out to the people following me." The council predicts hand-held digital devices such as smartphones will rule the world in 2040. They already rule the life of Mr Riversdale, whose company WaveAdept helps businesses adapt - their computing sys- tems to allow staff to work from anywhere - and with anyone. In order of fre- equency, he uses his iPhone to tweet (1136 followers; 8363 tweets since joining), e-mail, make phone calls and use online services, such as checki
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Useful - The Only Criteria Software Should Be Measured Against

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I have been espousing this idea for a very long time and it's awesome to see, according to the Sydney-based Google Maps lead, that Google have also taken this on-board:
The primary driver to obtaining resources is somewhat unique at Google--the bottom line is whether users will find its projects useful or otherwise, Rasmussen said.

All computer stuff (equipment and applications) are just tools and they don't exist for any other reason than to be used. To be 'used' it has to be 'useful'.
And that's it.

What makes software useful ... to be fair, no-one knows except the person using the software at that particular moment. The UI can have an impact, the response can have an impact, the actual job to be done of course has a huge impact.

Also software can be useful for things that people who designed them had no concept of - using a spreadsheet to run a project was probably not how the originators of Lotus 1-2-3 (grandad of Excel) envisioned it.

If usefulness is the KPI (sorry, had to use it in order to raise my business wank rating) you will start to:
  • Lower your operational costs
    Will everyone in the organisation find that application useful, if not then why provision for everyone?
  • Increase the quality of service
    As I said, only one person can tell you if a tool is useful, the one using it and by focusing upon them the application will deliver true service
  • Increase your revenue
    People truly gravitate to useful products, look at TradeMe, the iPhone and Windows 3.1
You will also change the mindset of those delivering applications ... it isn't (only) about ROI, business processes, job protection, project plans, industry standards, best practice, preferred supplier arrangements, recommended development methodology or any number of side issues.

It is about being useful!

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The Future As Seen By Me In 2010

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