Dilbert: Flaws

If we meet all our customers' current and future needs, they'll never upgrade. 

Product features vs User Needs

Sometimes what product team thinkgs the user needs is not actually what the user needs. 

 

Cat parents, is this true? 

Updog

What's updog?

As I am reaching for the shampoo bottle I think to myself, "Ok, the shampoo is on the right."

Then with my still blurry vision I double check the label. Not that it is of dire consequence if I accidentally put the conditioner on first, but a more of a minor waste of hair goo.

The main question here is about the label. Which way is up? When I am at the store and browsing the aisle for my preferred product of course the bottle is placed in optimum viewing condition. However when this product reached my bath's edge the point of view changes completely, especially as the contents goes down the drain.

Does your bathtime product stare you in the face as if were on the shelf, or should it have a secondary way to communicate?

Go left

As I was writing note cards one day I noticed the disdain that Sharpie has for those of left-handed dominance.

Well maybe its not disdain but perhaps they don't care to have their touchpoint be interpreted by those south paw consumers.

The truth is all writing utensil manufacturers show disregard for lefties (I didn't cross check paint brushes and toothbrushes).

Would it hurt to rotate the text? Often times the same logo or set of information is stamped on the piece, couldn't one of them be favorable for the occasional left hand scribe?

I don't know which cliche to end with, so you can choose.

1. A person that is right-hand dominant is said to use the left half of the brain, so does that mean those that are left hand dominant are in their "right mind"?
2. You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.

The Economy

The love economy is what I really mean to talk about. I just spent the day around fifty-some teenagers and the biggest thing on my mind is that for one day (not to say they don't receive it elsewhere) they will feel loved and important.

Now that I consciously reflect on all the things I said there wasn't really a time that I was truly admonishing a child, but my efforts were more subtle. I tried to speak to them about things they were doing and listen with full curiosity to their stories of whatever it is they were wanted to share.

I suppose since you are reading this you have some interest in what I have to say and might even take influence, so here goes - show interest in a kid in your life, chances are she respects what you say and do, or that he wants desperately for you to approve of what he is doing right.

So spend the time and make the effort - even if there isn't an immediate response to your doings know that it will affect things unseen long before the bloom arrives.

A new set of tools for the doctors

The medical world is changing so much and with the infusion of technology it seems that it may over complicate the very tasks that they were trying to do. Just imagine the forms and papers that you are used to completeing for you job if they were made digital. Likely you would need training on where to find certain things, as well as how to operate the certain tools.

Doctors and clinicians have been going through this for a long while. Also there were multiple layouts for the information making it all the more difficult to interpret and implement action. Microsoft has been working on a solution...

During the rigorous user-centered design process, more than 100 clinical needs were identified for standardization -- from how names are displayed to the display of patient information, dosages and dates. The toolkit turns the design guide into software components that developers and health customers can deploy, at no cost, in their own existing or upcoming clinical applications, saving their customers both money and time to market.

What sorts of things could be customized in your world that would be easier? Consider the cell phone chargers you had to buy every time you got a new phone, what if that were the same - you could save money.

I reminded myself today, Don't believe everything you see (meaning: just because it has been made that way, it doesn't mean it is right or that it can't be done another(better) way.