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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How Will You Know It Works? Ask Those That Use It!

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So, you're putting in something new or improved* and you don't know if it's working ... ask someone!

That's it. Get off your butt and ask. Simple? Welllllll, not always.
For those individuals that already look at information, systems or service from the "real persons" point of view this is just plainly obvious and to learn that others don't operate like this will probably a bit of a shock - it was and devastatingly still is to me

In my experience, most "head office" staff members operate with a, "I have something to say, what tool can I use to make sure everyone gets to hear me?" ... that tool is usually email and/or the "news" section of the company Intranet.

How about this, replace "I have something to say ..." with "What question will I be answering by supplying this information?". Simply changing your view will ...
  • Have you supply answers not novels;
  • Prompt you to use language appropriate to those asking the question;
  • Focus on the task in hand;
  • Remove a barrier from you and your readers
Common sense, I know. However, even when some people claim to understand this crazy new paradigm they are stuck ... "But how do I know what questions are being asked?" Oh for the love of all that's face-to-face and immediate ... ASK! Ask those that use the information! Ask those that have the questions! Ask those that you think might have the questions!

A S K !!!

And if you're from the "lazy management school of business operations" and think asking people is too much like hard work then I point you to Google who have just asked me if their search results were good enough for me.




(more about Google's "SearchWiki" ...)

If Google can do this across the globe then surely you can do this between office pods.

And hey, just like Google maybe asking isn't always about annual surveys, workshops and questionnaires - continuous improvement is about asking your readers/uses/customers every time.



More on this website around this:

* Never "new AND improved", you have been warned!

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