staff insights - what do your staff think?

So working for a company that have quite diverse staff and locations got me wondering why most companies including my own, dont use staff to help under stand what people want. Surely staff know what they want, but also understand how they can help ther company.
It is interesting that compaies dont make use of such a fantastic free resource. So what does your company do? Does it listen to staff, or really only listen to customers?

Patterns Patterns everywhere

So on of the tools i think is really important but often overlooked and really usefull in Systems Thinking, ui, ux etc is that of patterns.

What is a pattern.

Well you can think of the classic example of a pattern ie the dress patterns that you use when people sew clothes, or you could think about it in from a business context as a template that you can re-use. The benefits with a pattern, is that if you follow the steps you can get a fairly consistent output, and even if you re-use the same template again, you should get similar results. So we get consistent repeatable results because we follow and repeat the same steps over and over again.

Now something magical happens with patterns and templates. As we re-use these more and more we can see where we improve what we do. We change what doesn't work and fix it so that it does work for us. So why don't we use these more in business?

Personally because I see such strong results and clear benefits, they are my # 1 toolbox item that I use all the time. But how would I convince other people about the benefits. For me its a case of showing people.

I work with people to take me through a really common interaction they have with their customers. I look at what they do and whether they do it the same way every time they need to meet this customer need. If it's fairly consistent each time then it's a pattern and I would look to get a fairly standard flow and document it in some way - this doesn't have to be complex, just what works for the business. If they don't do the same thing, I seek first to understand why they have done something different and what effect does this have on their business, eg does it increase the time it takes to meet a customer's needs?

So I look for ways of working where people re-use what they already know to continue to help customers. The benefits with this are high. If you are comfortable with a way of working you have got to a point where you know it well. You understand it and you know what to do and what time is required to get the best result in a timely way.

Once you do something well you can innovate, make it better and faster so that you provide something more to the customer. Whether this be a cheaper product, a shorter timeframe, a transaction that is completed first time every time. Imagine how happy the customer would be if you not just met their needs but exceeded them!

Patterns are empowering because they allow that people that know the process to really own it, get the best results over time and change it so that it can work even better. Imagine if this occurred in all areas of the business. You could really start to see some great improvements for customers. As you are more responsive you can work with customers to anticipate their needs better as well as try and innovate to surpass what your customers expect. In this way you can open up to new opportunities as well as existing customers.

Try to start to see the patterns in your life and business and look at what you can do better and what you can innovate. The possibilities really are only limited by your own boundaries. Talk to your customers and even ask them what they want. If you don't do this you are really only guessing at what they want, and that doesn't always lead to customer satisfaction.

Holistic System Thinking

I was thinking about how I can use System thinking and Lean within my organisation. For those that don't know what systems thinking is, it's basically about looking at your organisation holistically ie as a whole rather than a sum of it's parts. "Lean" on the other hand is a methodology used to create innovation, change, reduction in waste in the business but I'll discuss this and a few other things in a future post.

So anyway, back to Systems thinking.

Imagine that your business is a living breathing organism. It consumes what it needs to stay at peak/optimal performance, breathes, has co-ordinated movement of it's parts, has bone for strength and muscle for movement, is made up of tiny cells that are the powerhouse that keeps the organism alive, but also has specialist cells that excel at single tasks/focus, the organism eliminates what it can't use and even has social skills within it's own kind and looks good for other examples of it's breed.

Now how does this analogy of an organism apply to your business /company?

Try and look at business from a holistic and systemic way of thinking ie look at the total business rather than just it's parts. Now look at what makes up the parts and how they work together and are even interrelated and connected.

A business consumes resources, it has a lifeblood and pulse of people that are skilled in certain tasks that deliver operational success, processes, policies and methodologies are its strength and backbone, but flexibility and innovation are the muscles that adapt, learn, grow, it eliminates whatever doesn't help it to grow/succeed, only 'eats' what it needs to function optimally, even has an outwards focus on how to attract people to use the services provided and tries to make itself attractive so that customers choose them over other equally attractive options.

So the key question I like to ask businesses is "Why would a customer choose you over another business" - what do your customers really want and how do you provide this value and deliver this to them? It's not about creating customer demand/needs though. It's about meeting existing customer needs.

To really get to the heart of what our customers want I suggest that people use system thinking to look at the whole business and how all the different areas work together for a common purpose. It's no use giving your customers something they don't need or want. Focus on what your customers want and shape the business to
ensure it hits the customer need. Assess common customer needs and make them efficient and fast. Make them the core of what you do and make customers happy. Then because you have happy customers you can work on other important customer needs.

Now this could occur over time (eg the business adapts with the customers changing needs), or it could occur suddenly (eg our customer now wants applications that they can use on their latest gadget). How does the business survive, grow and even adapt to such rapid change?

Today's challenge is to look at what shape the business is currently in, look at the business's current position where they want to position themselves, look at the parts that need to change and then start to make the changes reality. This is hard, lets be honest. To do this however you have to be respectful of all the parts so that they all work together instead of work against each other.

So, there you have it. A challenge to be sure. How would you adapt this within your own business? My organisation will have its challenges to be sure, but I think that looking to the future, it's the businesses that are prepared to innovate and stay fresh that will remain competitive and profitable because they 'get' their customers. This is my world and where I plan to take my team and influence as broadly as I can. You've got to take small steps before you can run. This is going to be interesting....

Technology and Social Media - will 2010 be the year of networking, connections & relationships, and are they real?

I find it interesting that in our daily life we are becoming so much more connected to technology. Kid's have no idea what a cassette tape is, nor know what a tape deck was. They would not know what a photo slide is, nor would they know maths without a calculator and spelling without a spell checker. The kids of today have grown up with the internet and don't know of life before being online.

The benefits of social media technologies are that it encourages sharing, openness and establishing connections eg podcasts, you-tubing and twittering to so many people in every corner of the globe. However others see technology and social media as a limiting force, stopping real world connections with actual people. There are multiple arguments either way.

So is technology and the ability to connect via social media as real as a friendships in reality?

I think that it comes down to a few areas when you connect into social media and other relationship building technologies:

1. start of with people that you TRUST - this gives you a point of truth, because you know the person, and therefore the people they know and like are also likely to be people who you would get along with too
2. CONNECT with people that seem to have the same interested and passions that you do, so that you have something to talk about with equal and shared knowledge/wisdom, but where you can add value and input into conversations you may not know details about.
3. have an separate online IDENTITY for your professional life and personal life - you can never be too careful about what information you release on social technologies or the web, so have a similar avatar or image of yourself that is enough like you that people could meet you in person and see the resemblance. Also depending if you want to be recognised or not, get a name that you like and use it everywhere. This is especially relevant for PERSONAL BRANDING & networking with professionals in your field. Be consistent in this usage, to develop relationships and trust (yes that word again)
4. INTEGRITY - be sincere and respectful of people you meet. If you wouldn't do something to someone you meet in real life then don't do it online because you have technology as a cover to keep the real you hidden
5. Allow yourself to BE YOU - even in the online world with technology providing a sense of distance/personal space and anonymity, people still get a feel for someone and can determine if they like them or not, the same as in reality
6. BE ACTIVE in your online community - share information and items of value with others and in return they will share information with you

When you think about it, this isn't that far from what you do in normal life, it's just allows you to talk to people globally.

I have met some fantastic people around the world, shared in their lives, knowledge, successes and journeys and hopefully returned the favour. I respect the infinite knowledge that is brought to me via the electronic medium and feel enthusiastic to have connections with such fantastic people on the other side of the world who I will most likely never meet.

Technology enables these connections to be made, and whilst there are bad aspects to it all, this mirrors the real world.

making it easier ?? can we believe the benefits that mobiles are bringing to our lives

so as more and more people get 'smart' mobile phones that are capable of doing so much more than their initial task which was to make and receive calls, the web starts to move into the mobile world as well.
Consider how quickly this change has occurred!
In my view it is not so much aligned with social networking as a whole, but it is aligned with web 2.0 and putting the 'i' in the picture (which isn't quite the same as putting the 'i' in a social networking context). You can read email, facebook, twitter, listen to music, add photos to your online store, use online apps to work in the 'cloud' (eg Google apps that you don't need to store software for you just use) and in general you never have to sit at a pc/mac once. Data can be stored securily online, people can access many things securily via mobile, and in general the processing power of technology just keeps getting more powerful in a smaller package.
Not Bad you might say.....

But how does this translate to the generation and technology divide ?

Does this mobility start to impact greatly on the more senior population, because they are not as conversant with technology, use the mobile to keep connected but not download their lives for instant updates, are not so connected to the web and their social networks ?

It seems like years ago that call waiting and call conference were big telco items. LOL.

How do we look at and really analyse the benefits of being connected 24/7 via mobiles and pcs, when do we really start to see better use of the 'cloud' and online storage and connection models so that it's not gimmick but real value add to people's lives, in a way that everyone can use it.

And are the new range of mobile phone apps really helping people live their lives more richly, and enable people to develop deeper and richer connections, or is it just another way to waste time, get information overload, and really achieve very little ?

Now that's what I want to see questioned in more details and where I want to focus on.....

I'll discuss more about this in my next post, which will be able to be updated much more frequently I hope ;->

Firefox v's IE - what do you use and prefer

It seems that IE has a large market because of the microsoft name that comes with it, that is a level of trust to the mums and dads of the world. However who uses firefox? Is it just the geeky techheads, or is the audience wider.
The thing that firefox and applications like iphone, igoogle, microsoft live etc do well is that they allow a high degree of personalisation and customisation both within the native application and the ability to add on 3rd party web applications and/or services called widgits, written by individuals in the world. This allows you to customise the apps further and truely create and application that does what you want it to for the things that you want.
Just like tabs have become such a common model of web now for both browsers and websites, the concepts of the application and 3rd party apps/widgits allow you to add small but unique apps 'YOU' like, to truely create your own space.
Try these things out and look at how you would like to interact with the web and online world. Use web 2.0 to help you do what you want rather than just getting stuck in the web 2.0 land.

the future of the web - is it integrated into society yet or still a way to go ?

so as a new year starts what will happen the web this year and how people use it.
I've got a few questions around the web and it will be interesting to see how they unfold in 2009.

• Do people really use the web via mobile devices ? Are the charges for data too high to allow this technology to flourish into mainstream?
• Is the mobile set to replace cameras with new mobiles now offering 8 MP image capture ? Will there be a shift to convergance of technologies finally ?
  
• will GPS road maps become extinct now that mobiles have GPS and maps that can be used locally and globally ?
• how will the social networking sites adapt once the glory has faded - how will myspace and facebook face off against the next big thing ?
  
• will people still be addicted to their smart phones or will the global meltdown have an inpact on what technology is released this year ?

I look forward to exploring these and other issues this year and commenting on where others in this space are heading with this often misunderstood but vitally important area of technology.