Category: SXSW ’09

Sunday, March 15th at 11:30 AM
Presenter: Jared Spool – User Interface Engineering

The talk started with the single ladies dance from Beyonce – good start!

Celebrity Death-Match: 37 Signals vs. Don Norman

Wired magazine – Keep It Simple, Stupid! Talking about 37 signals and their approach. "We’re not designing for others… we’re designing for ourselves."

Don Norman on 37 signals: They design for how they want to use it – self design. I’ve tried their products and although they have admirable qualities they have never quite met my needs: Close is not good enough. I understand why: the developers are arrogant and completely unsympathetic to the people who use their products."

Where did user-centered design come from?
IBM 360 mainframe – released in 1962. This thing was THE computer. It is the size of a room. The big red button shut it down. Computing at this time was developed for engineers by engineers. The people using/building were highly skilled and highly trained. They didn’t care what was running, they just kept it running. It only ran the tool.

80’s brought in IBM Displaywriter – a computer for office workers. They weren’t skilled in the tool, and might not have been trained with the tool. They only cared about the data, and didn’t care about the operation of the device.

There was a large shift from one to the other.
User-centered design was born from this shift – putting users at the center of the design process.

There is no evidence that user-centered design has never worked. There is NO documentation proving it works.

Apple does very little usability. Microsoft does 15,000 usability tests a year. Is MS more usable?

How do the best teams create great designs?
How does work get done? The middle of the spectrum is process – the steps you use to get things done (the steps followed). Process isn’t necessarily a repeated thing. It can be different every time. Methodology is the formalization of process to make them repeatable.

Example: TSA – entire organization runs on dogma. 3-1-1 = 3oz bottles in 1 plastic bag. Without the plastic bag, it is NOT safe. Dogma. When you have an unquestioned faith in something. It’s against the rules to even test the logic behind it.

Techniques – the building blocks of the process (how you get something done). You master the technique by constant practice.

Tricks – what you do when the right technique is hard to do. Improperly used techniques that get the job done anyway.

What did the research find?
The best teams didn’t have methodology or dogma they followed. (tricks and techniques)
The struggling companies often followed methodology, without success.

It’s time to replace he user-centered design dogma.

It is not about process or dogma, it is about working as teams. You could make a recipe with the important steps. If everyone works towards the same goal, it’s better if everyone complains. You must do better than the placebo (60%).

The goal of user research: To Inform Design
Usability problems happen when someone doesn’t know something they’re supposed to know. Inform the process.

What gets measured gets done.
What gets rewarded gets done well.

Measuring Brand Engagement
Loyalty, Confidence, Integrity, Pride, Passion

Measuring Engagement While Buying Electronics (start to finish buying experience)
Amazon: 6.2 to 5.5
Circuit City: 4.5 to 4.3
Dell: 3.0 to 1.4
HP: 1.4 to -1
Wal-mart: 0.5 to 1.1 (exceeding expectations by lowering standards)

We need to be careful of the techniques

• Many voodoo techniques: eye-tracking interpretations – it can be interpreted however you want
• analytics – what do they mean? user interested or lost? – again can be interpreted however you want.

What does work?

• Have a good vision
• Good feedback loop
• Great culture

Three questions determine your group:

1. Can everyone on the team describe the experience of using your design five years from now? (experience vision)
2. In the last six weeks, have you spent more than two hours watching someone use your design or a competitor’s design? (feedback)
3. In the last six weeks have you rewarded a team member for creating a major design failure? (celebrate making mistakes and learning from it). The culture has to accept mistakes.

It’s time to retire the dogma of user-centered design
We should focus on Informed Design – build a reward system based on informed measures
Focus on 3 core UX attributes – vision, feed back, culture

Sunday, March 15th at 10:00 AM
Presenters:
Dave Lester – Center for History & New Media
Jim Groom – University of Mary Washington
Gardner Campbell – Baylor University
Stephen Downes – National Research Council Canada
Barbara Ganley – Digital Explorations

The panel started out with a bit of a cheesy video representing themselves(?)

Edupunk brings 70’s rock band attitude to education, and LMS (learning management system).

Learning management systems are "oppressive." Schools started getting on the web in the 90’s and didn’t want to get caught without content online. The tools that came around weren’t very good. Schools basically shoveled content online. Currently, schools are extremely reliant on these systems. The interactions aren’t there any more.

As a system, edupunk came out of these systems being just a transactional system, and not like standard education. We need to figure out other ways that learning takes place and think outside of the system.

An LMS ensures a power of authority, and the internet isn’t like that – its more free form. An edupunk system should be more free, more open, not locked into one of these confining systems. It should be a communal act around the internet and sharing resources, not locked into the confines of a LMS.

Students are only able to use these official tools. Students need to think about themselves as learners going down the road.

Do we need institutions? Do we need an official system? Do we need twitter? Facebook? How much is it about simply being online sharing information?

There is a tendency to go to a common source and think they’ll solve all their problems, but surprise that they’re selling data or information to their own benefit. Learning should be done on their own, and be inclined to do this.

School-
What other social institution is positioned to bring people together to talk about the greater public good. What exactly is the public good? Can it even be defined?

These social tools aren’t an improvement to our society, but a challenge. It should be viewed as an opportunity to look at it as a what it means to be educated. Technology is a way to control people, as well as a way to liberate.

How do we access the things that define us (culture)?
The damage is being done by MPAA and RIAA in miseducating on accessing and downloading culture. This destroys the pool of content (culture) available.

The library needs to evolve into a place that is about self-learning. The "tools" aren’t necessarily evil, but the layers of bureaucracy are what needs to be removed. Change the structure of learning outside the classroom model. One of the things that we don’t do in higher ed, is anchoring the work done there beyond the walls. Getting students out there interacting/learning with people beyond your own age (in schools). We need to connect community to community and augment the standard learning space outside the simple menu currently offered in education. Can this corporate education entity change now?

Is the google books deal a deal with the devil? Do libraries become corporate controlled? Are libraries changing from the open space for meeting that they used to be? Is it moving online?

How do you justify charging a huge tuition (everyone going up) when there is a giant collection of open source courses out there? The conversation needs to start/finish on how we meet our human potential. For some it’s about meeting that potential, for some it’s about getting a job. A total open course, where anyone can take it, anywhere in the world, and get credit if they want it, from whatever institution that wants to offer it.

This panel wasn’t much about open source technology in education, but more about what is the idea of education. Some of the panelists had different ideas about what it is/was or should be (to the point of a small argument). Many of the arguments were about the structure or "corporate" structure of education, and that being "bad." I think in an idea world, everyone would want to learn on their own, and educational material for them to do that would be available everywhere, and in any form. Unfortunately, that isn’t very realistic. I agree that the "corporate" structure of education probably isn’t the best, but without that, I don’t think any structure would exist, which I think it needs to. In an idea world, this open available education everywhere would work, but we are very far from that scenario.

UPDATE: I guess this rocking the system to be this utopian education system is the edupunk. This wasn’t clear until the end where a panelist talked about having to start their own multiuser blog hosted outside the institution .edu domain. It was quicker and easier to do that "edupunk" instead of doing it the official way through the edu.

Saturday, March 14th at 03:30 PM
Presenters:
John Gruber – Daring Fireball
Merlin Mann – You Look Nice Today

If you’ve ever heard either Merlin Mann or John Gruber speak before (or listened to a podcast where they’re featured), you know they’re presentation (is hilarious!) but hard to take notes on.

There are no economic indicators for this ultimately.

• not what you should make
• or how to make it
• or what goals should be

Assume all of you "make" things, and care about certain topics (obsession). It matters to you to have credibility and respect of people you admire. You would NOT mind making a bit of money – going beyond self-improvement aspects.

Walt Disney: "We don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies."

You shouldn’t care what people think – it’s about what you want to say, and how you want to say it, to who you want to say it to.

Topic x Voice or Obsessions x Voice
Best non-fiction comes from someone who couldn’t stop obsessing/thinking about a certain topic.
How do you become the go-to person for whatever topic you want.
Try to be better at YOUR topic than more than 80% of the world.

You want to write topics about things you’re obsessed with like they’re going to be in the New Yorker. They write in a way that details the little things so well. Have a goal out there that is outside your reach to shoot for.

Don’t think about "this will get me some sort of link" vs. is this good? Will so-and-so think this is great? Figure out who the faces behind your computer that you write for are.

On Writing by Steven King – Term: ideal reader. Who is your ideal reader? Make your stuff for that person.

Daringfireball was just an idea to do something this "thing." Started in 2002, and still thinking now how this needs to be done. Gruber wishes there was another site by the alternate him out there. That is who he writes for. There are no comments on daringfireball because Gruber wants to own the entire site, and not being taken over by a funny comment or someone else.

Don’t emulate the success of other people. Those people already exist. They are in their position because what they put together worked at that point in time. You want to find an audience. Our instincts tell us that we should make something that we already know works. You cannot recreate the context/timing of a moment when everything happened. You cannot recreate other people’s successes.

When you try to re-purpose something, are you copying the right thing? The right part? The thing that’s worth copying is the attitude they had when they created it.

It is NOT easy to make money on the Internet with this. The long term gains are not pageviews and money, but the value of loving what you do and being THAT person is much higher. Human attention is valuable and limited. Many things are better than getting money.

"Don’t have blog about Star Wars, but a blog about Jawas, or that one single Jawa in one scene." Your voice is much louder and you become the go-to guy for that one thing.

Don’t be scared to give stuff away, and let people figure out why you’re awesome. Don’t be worried about running out of that stuff. Do not try to control the way people see your content.

Don’t become too obsessed with the thing you’re determined to make money on.

Don’t do stuff that seems profitable but potentially messes up the stuff you give away for free.

Always come out just trying to work really hard and connect with the people you really admire and respect.

Saturday, March 14th at 02:00 PM
Presenter: Tony Hsieh – Zappos.com

At Zappos.com, Tony Hsieh has fostered a culture where extraordinary customer service is the norm. Hear him talk about how good deeds can help you leverage the power of your audience to massively extend your brand.

What lead Tony to Zappos.com –

• Pizza. Ran a pizza business. Had a friend (monster) who would buy pizza and then take them upstairs to sell by the slice (current company CFO)
• LinkExchange sold to MS in 1998. Customer culture was not good.
• Investment fund that included zappos.com – eventually moved to the company full time.

Customer service is the most important thing for zappos.com. 70% of orders are from repeat customers. Put marketing into customer service to have people come back instead of traditional marketing.

What customer service?

• 24/7 1-800 number listed on every page (the telephone is a branding device – doing what is right for the customer)
• Free shipping both ways
• Free 365 day return policy
• Sometimes customers are directed to competitors web sites, if something is not in stock.
• Will only show items on the site that are present in the warehouse – no back ordered items.
• Loyal customers get surprise upgrades to overnight shipping.
• Telephone Call Centers – No scripts, No call time (spend as much time w/the customer as needed to build the brand)
• Warehouse run 24/7

Customers service is NOT #1 priority – #1 priority is company culture.

• Two sets of interviews – 1 is experience – 2 is culture fit. They will not be hired if someone doesn’t do both. Performance reviews are on culture and company values.
• Everyone goes through the same training top to bottom. You work your way through phone and warehouse regardless of your job.
• After training, you get an offer – paid for training time plus $2000 if you leave right now. This filters out people who are just there for a paycheck, and don’t’t really want to be part of the company.
• The biggest benefit is from people who don’t take the offer. They need to think about whether they really want to be there. It gives them an opportunity to pause and actually think about whether or not they WANT to be there.
• Culture Book: All employees write a few comments about what Zappos means to them. It is given to perspective employees.
• Twitter is used across the company (twitter class). It’s up to them if they want to use it. It’s a good way to keep up the company culture and communicate with each other. They see each other as people and not just coworkers. They actually get to know each other better.
• twitter.zappos.com (you can follow employees)

The culture is extremely important, and will eventually converge with the brand. Thinking about airline industry, generally thought to have bad customer service. That is their brand because of the culture.

A woman bought a wallet, and returned it – leaving $150 in it. A warehouse worker sent a note back to her letting her know the money was found. The customer service culture came through. It could have been handled differently (cameras searches etc). But the investment was put into the training/hiring process and ensuring the culture which is better.

Three C’s Clothing, Customer Service, Culture they want to be known for.

1. They sell clothing/shoes (Clothing)
   
2. Experience the customer service (Customer Service)
   
3. The culture drives all this (Culture)
   

Zappos is about delivering happiness (to customers and/or employees)

What is culture?
Committable Core Values

1. deliver Wow through service
2. embrace and drive change
3. create fun and a little weirdness
4. be adventurous, creative and open-minded
5. pursue growth and learning
6. build open and honest relationships with communications
7. build a positive team and family spirit
8. do more with less
9. be passionate and determined
10. be humble

“That’s great for Zappos but it would never work at my company.”
It doesn’t matter what your core values are… as long as you commit to them
-get everyone moving in the same direction

7 steps for building a brand that matters

1. Decide!
   If you are building a brand, and that is your commitment, you need to decide early and have patience
2. Figure out values & culture
   Figure it out early, and do it sooner rather than later.
   What are your personal core values?
   What are the company’s core values?
   The most important thing is alignment.
3. Commit to transparency
   Be real and you have nothing to fear (use your best judgment).
   twitter.zappos.com
   Zappos provides an “Ask Anything” email newsletter – they can ask anything (literally) and answers are published in a monthly newsletter.
   Tours are totally open to anyone to observe, or zapposinsights.com to answer questions.
4. Vision
   Whatever you’re thinking, think bigger.
   Zappos went beyond shoes (or profits) and started being about customer service
   “Chase the vision and not the money” (the money will follow)
   What is the larger vision of greater purpose beyond money or profits?
   Motivation vs. Inspiration
5. Build Relationships (not networking!)
   Be interested rather than trying to be interesting.
6. Build your team
   “If you want to go quickly, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.”
7. Think long term
   There is no “get rich quick” formula. It isn’t an overnight success.

What is your goal in life?

Find out, and keep asking “why.” It all boils down to a single answer… happiness. People are very bad about predicting what will bring them sustained happiness. There is true science behind this (just like behind many aspects of business).

What if you spent time researching the science of happiness? Is there a shortcut?
Frameworks:

• Perceived control,
• Perceived progress
• Connectedness
• Vision/Meaning

Maslow’s Hierarchy (book: Peak) – getting an employee to think of their work from job to career to calling (happy).

3 types of Happiness:

• Rock Star Happiness (hard to maintain)
• Flow (engagement time flies)
• Meaning/Higher Purpose (being part of something bigger than yourself)

Books Recommendations:

• Peak
• Tribal Leadership
• Four Hour Work Week
• Happiness Hypothesis

What percent of your time do you want to spend learning about the science of happiness? What is your company’s higher purpose? What is your higher purpose? It’s not about selling shoes, it’s about customer service – making customers (or yourself) happy.

Presentation Slides:

Full Audio of Presentation:
Opening Remarks mp3

More Notes:
Webteacher.ws
Mediahunter.com.au
Mirificampress.com
Jaygoldman.com
Bfgcom.com

Friday, March 13th at 05:00 PM
Presenters:
Tom Merritt – CNET
Jason Howell – CNET
Natali Del Conte – CNET

For my last panel of the day, I went to see a taping of one of my favorite podcasts, Buzz Out Loud from CNET. It was fun to actually see a show being put together since I’ve only listened to the audio version before. All three hosts were there, but were joined by Caroline McCarthy, Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk, and The Onion’s Baratunde Thurston. If you listen to the podcast, you might hear me laughing or clapping along with the show.