Inception – Film Review
The firm I work for is now one of those companies that advertises prior to the feature movie in the multiplex (sorry, I hate those commercials more than you do). In appreciation, the media group that sold us the space arranged a free screening of Inception as a thank you. Now I was planning on seeing it on a paying ticket, but this turned out to be great timing. Free is good.
I have to get this off my chest. Can you believe the nerve of those Inception actors? They command millions of dollars in fees then show up to the set and sleep, yes SLEEP through their entire performance! Despicable.
Despite that little annoyance (I’ll try to maintain control), I was quite stimulated by this labyrinth of a picture. It has been widely discussed that Warner Bros. allowed Christopher Nolan to make Inception as a reward for delivering large box office returns on The Dark Knight. Many people in the industry didn’t believe Inception had big box office potential and late in the game even Warner execs are rumored to have suggested that Nolan also release a 3D version. Thankfully he didn’t go along, holding the line on his film in that 2D form factor, and, taking in gobs of ticket sales anyway thank you. Well played.
Mr. Nolan’s gift is rearranging time and space in such a way that both his characters and his audience are exposed to clues and experiences at the same time, which leads to a richer viewing experience. He is one of the few directors today that puts us inside the celluloid. In fact, he traps us there and we are unable to escape until the credits roll. And even then we are haunted for the next few hours. I hope they don’t let him design roller coasters. Nolan is more concerned about pacing and sequence and is comfortable letting some of the details dangle. For example, there is absolutely no explanation of that silver, hard cased luggage that launches everyone into a dream state. And I’ve never seen a film where more bad guys fired bullets and missed their protagonist targets. They even fire them in slow motion and still, nothing. I swear all of them have “Maggie’s Drawers.” Nolan doesn’t bother with such things. He doesn’t need to since apparently he has access to a time machine in the editing room.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a tough, smart dream hijacker for hire. He specializes in corporate espionage with a bit of a twist. He enters the dreams of his targets and stealing their ideas for money. Dabbling in these dark arts can only lead in one direction, further down into an inescapable blackness. In a sense, Cobb re-engineers the process and tries to implant ideas (Inception) into people’s dreams that alters their thoughts when awake again. Who hires him and why is not as important as how Cobb assembles his band of mind robbers. There’s a chemist, a techie, a strong man and a rookie, played by Ellen Page, who provides a fresh perspective to the entire operation. It’s carefully planned, but completely unpredictable. An experiment all around.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb and Marion Cotillard as Mal
The acting is strong, but the real performance comes from Nolan, the production design and the pacing of the story. It’s quilted together in a rich tapestry of drama with a wonderfully wicked back story driven by romance. It seems Cobb has, had (I don’t know, you figure it out), a wife named Mal (Marion Cotillard). They spent years building a dream world, only to have it backfire on themselves and their children. All throughout the job, Cobb is haunted by Mal, and it puts the entire operation at risk. It’s another intriguing aspect to this complicated set piece that few people could pull off. Cobb’s motivation is fueled by his desire to return to America, and his children, but he’s a wanted man in the U.S. and would be arrested immediately upon setting foot inside the country. He is promised complete forgiveness by the powerful man who hires him to perform this inception.
The film requires more than one viewing to unlock all its complexities. But it does tire one out a bit, so by all means, rest up and clear your mind before you enter the world of Inception. Then make good on that promise to yourself to keep a dream diary. It might be more important than you think. Highly recommended.
The official Inception site, pretty basic, is here.
Photos courtesy of Warner Brothers
Automation and Headcount
Most of us are always reviewing org charts and work flows in search of ways to become more efficient. Over time businesses evolve, economic climate changes and technology advances, often spawning automated solutions that can do what was once manual. On the surface automation seems like a no-brainer trade off of human capital. And why not, machines don’t call in sick and in the long run are generally faster and more accurate.
I’ve seen departments propose technology solutions that automate manual processes in formal allocation committee sessions. Inevitably a senior manager will ask, “Automation? How many FTE’s can we reduce once we get this in?” Usually the answer to this question is no one will be cut or redeployed once the new software is installed. Which doesn’t compute because they know that automation adds overhead for IT in the form of care and feeding, and so are looking for a way to re-balance the org. Senior execs will always (and should) push hard to understand why you aren’t willing to reduce heads in a machine swap. But the corporate ecosystem is complex and I believe it’s important to take a longer view of the situation before making a hasty decision to cut or redeploy staff. Be ready with a solid response when asked this question.
A Different Approach
Departments are handed more to do every year. Compliance, new products or services that lead to additional BAU, all those tasks that the senior
managers themselves insisted they “must have.” Over time the same number of heads do more and more. This is natural, as people become more experienced, acquire training, and learn best practices. But eventually the demands on time and the sheer number of tasks weighs heavily on the team and managers search for new solutions. Some activities are tossed out, which is great. But others cannot be cut loose. In all cases businesses want to do more. Suddenly a technology solution pops-up that provides tangible assistance by relieving man hours and improving processes. Next step, build the business case for the software. But here’s something you may want to map out as a bit of a kicker.
Include in that business case all the new things your team has taken on over the years. Show that in relation to the headcount growth (probably not so much growth) in the department. Now juxtapose that slide with the new things that you want to accomplish to move the business (include the business value) and your argument dramatically shifts from defending headcount, to a discussion of updating legacy process that subtract efficiency and ultimately rob the business of progress. A very different conversation will take place from there.
Some things to consider when you are looking at automation solutions.
- Cost, not of just the install, but ongoing.
- Will the solution provide you with new insights or metrics?
- Speed to market of solution.
- Training effort needed across the company.
- Burden on IT.
- A sobering look beyond the software sales pitch to, asking just how much time will this free up?
- One more thing to ask. Can it be built in house?
I’ve seen this approach have pretty good success over time.
Robot images from VectorVaco, Free Vector Downloads.
iPad Fits Nicely into a Social Lifestyle
It’s been about six weeks since I took possession of my iPad 3G. From the conversations I’ve had with people and the chatter read on the net, there appear to be two camps emerging. One group doesn’t see the value of investing in the iPad because it’s not a computer and it’s too big to carry. The other guys, where I am, have placed the iPad into a very comfortable space resting exactly between a desktop and a smartphone and we’re not concerned about the size, in fact the size is the best part, because we plan on keeping our smartphones.
Having an iPad has freed me from spending so much time on my desktop computer in the office. I don’t use a laptop at home, except for work, and so that means I spend a lot of time in my office, sequestered away from my family. The iPad allows me to do a lot of things I used to have to go to my computer for, and it turns out these are the things I do most frequently now.
It breaks down like this. I use my iPad anywhere in the house (or patio) for e-mail, calendar, contacts, browsing the web, enjoying photos / videos, social networking and light note-taking. When I analyze the time I spend doing that vs. heavier computing tasks, it comes out to about 70% of my screen time can now be on the iPad.
Using the iPad gets me reacquainted with the other rooms in my home. True there is no hard drive on the iPad, but that means no waiting for a boot up. I use Penultimate and HelvetiNote to sketch and capture ideas. Each of these apps allows me to email the content I create to myself or anyone else, making incorporating it into ongoing or new projects easy. The 3G works great when you are in an airport and want to make the wait time more productive.
We have been using smartphones for a while now which makes transitioning to an iPad a breeze, with nice upgrades. A large, beautiful screen and easier to use touch keyboard. Factor in photo and movie enjoyment and the iBooks application (Apple has captured 22% of the eBook market in just 65 days) and we have an appliance that we didn’t even know we needed. That’s the magic of Steve Jobs. He sees the possibilities ahead of most of us.
Which brings me back to the two camp mention at the top of this post. I’ll wager that most of these people in camp one haven’t experienced the iPad and as such, still don’t know what it can do. Bottom line is the iPad fits neatly into my lifestyle, like so many Apple products have done in the past. Can’t wait for the iPhone4.
Sonos: Rockin’ Good Time
I have written about Sonos in this space from time to time. Sonos is a wireless music system that can connect with the digital files on your computer and broadcasts them wherever you want in your home. You can play different tracks in different locations and effortlessly shift from your collection to Internet radio. The software is solid, the user experience elegant and the sound divine. Every few months or so they come out with another great feature. Today it was a version 3.2 of their software. When one hears “upgrade” it properly elicits a grimace. “Am I going to have to carve out my Friday night to get this done?” Not with Sonos. This upgrade is a cinch. They have a one button process that takes care of everything, one step at a time. Imagine no interruptions to “accept the terms.” No “are you sure you want to do this?” It just does it. They add the new controls onto the touchscreen and update your music files so the new features can be used immediately. It all happened in less than five minutes for me and I have over 12,000 songs in my Sonos library.
The newest cool feature is the ability to enable song crossfading. Essentially it eliminates the dead air between songs by fading one song out and fading in another song at the same time, as if it was being controlled by your favorite DJ. It works whether you are in you in your own iTunes library or on your favorite Pandora station. This will be great for parties because we all hate “radio silence” don’t we. That’s the awkward space when we actually have to talk to each other 
. If you’ve got a big room and you use their S5 music player (built in speakers) you can set-up two and pair them. One as the right channel and the other the left, for a bigger sonic experience. Kind of like Phil Spector’s wall of sound, but without the murder conviction.
In addition they’ve added lots of new, free radio stations, Pandora has been integrated for a while now, including news, sports, talk and of course traffic. They have an iPhone application which allows me to sit on my patio and program what’s playing without having another device with me (new software version is awaiting Apple approval). They have also given their alarms more power, with day by day customization. Now you can wake up to your favorite music at a different time each day. And just in case you need it, Sonos is now available in 9 languages.
I do have some suggestions. They haven’t worked as hard on categorizing the thousands of radio stations. It seems they rely on the provider to do that. For instance, RadioIO on the Sonos screen is the same as is used on the RadioIO site. But the site has more context and content surrounding the station to aid choices. Certainly this can’t be done on this small a device, but some more thought here could help. They have a search, but it requires typing, and it’s slow. I want my music now! The weather channel is choice after choice of NOAA weather stations without any geographic cues in the titles. Tough. Wonder if you guys could turn the Sonos into a SAME early warning weather device. That would be very cool.
All in all, if you are considering a music system for your home or apartment that works with your digital music library, look seriously at Sonos. I’m closing in on four years now and have never looked back. Yes, Sonos is premium priced, but in my opinion it’s worth it. From the products, to the service, to the seamless upgrades. They work hard at making it all come together.
Rock on.
Adaptive Marketing: Coping with Real Time Customers
The theme of the recent Forrester Marketing Forum held in Los Angeles this past April was Adaptive Marketing: How to Design a Flexible Organization to Thrive on Change. As usual there were Forrester speakers and presentations by big brands who have been working to either adapt their own marketing efforts to the fast-changing consumer, or providing solutions for marketers to better adapt. This post summarizes the ideas, notes and quotes that struck a meaningful chord with me and epitomized in my mind the concept of adaptive marketing.
What is adaptive marketing? Forrester defines it this way.
A flexible approach in which marketers respond quickly to their environment to align customer and brand goals and maximize return on brand equity.
Ok, fine. But what does that mean and where do we begin? Well, it begins with data, and lots of it. More data than we as marketers have dealt with in the past. And we need it faster than we have received it before and must be willing to improve our agility and act on the data much closer to real time than ever before. It’s tricky because we have all been handcuffed in the past by analysis paralysis. By not knowing when we have enough data to make the decision. Being an adaptive marketer means giving up a little on the temptation to ask for one more cut of the data to make a perfect decision, and act now on making a good decision, then, well, adapt.
Why is adaptive marketing something we should be talking about today? I believe that it has a lot to do with the fact that consumers are enjoying their new found power of being at the helm, and becoming more comfortable with bypassing traditional channels to research and learn from others who have had real experiences with brands, products and services. It’s a new world for consumers and brands, and the consumers are moving ahead. But then again it’s much easier to be agile as a single person than it is an inertia-laden bureaucratic corporate dinosaur (oh, that felt good). The traditional marketing funnel is breaking down as consumers bounce out and check blogs, forums, networks and friends before making a buying decision. This activity is accelerating an an alarming pace. Power is shifting. Thus, marketers need to adapt or risk becoming irrelevant.
Let me be clear. I am not sounding an alarm or posting my version of the Mayan calendar. Today’s marketing machine is pretty darn good. But change happens faster with each passing year, and the consumer is like Benjamin Button, he’s getting younger all the time. Good firms tend to devote a lot of thought to the future. And a funny thing happens when you raise your head up and peer over the walled garden. You see what’s out there. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll see.
Adaptive Marketing: Rethinking Marketing Methods in the Digital Age
Among a number of interesting things presented by David Cooperstein, VP of Forrester, was a brief history of media. He took us through radio, TV, and early as well as modern digital media. It was a clever parallel of media and marketing, and in fact he states Media = Marketing
- Viewers – customers
- Distribution = media fragmentation
- Journalists = marketers
The history lesson was backed up by data that shows new media has mass appeal and is being adopted very quickly. People consume different kinds of media simultaneously, but the content they consume is oftentimes different.
This has significant implications on marketing messages, especially advertising. The user’s attention is fragmented. Wireless networks combined with the powerful capabilities of smartphones means consumers multitask to the hilt. Not good news if you want to breakthrough with your new product release. This is an important point. If a marketer can stack their message cross various media and reach the consumer during this multi-tasking moment, it will improve consideration and conversion. An article in today’s New York Times states:
For the first time the amount of data in text, e-mail messages, streaming video, music and other services on mobile devices in 2009 surpassed the amount of voice data in cellphone calls.
Mr. Cooperstein lists three tenets of adaptability one should consider to deal with this new reality.
- Think and move differently
- Listen more, react intelligently
- Target people, not statistics
Probably to no one’s surprise, social plays a large part in adaptive marketing. And of course no Forrester forum would be complete without some new illustrative framework. The Social Intelligence Life Cycle was posited several times during the day and a half. It warns marketers that they must begin to manage the analysis of customer data from social sources, and use this data to activate and recalibrate marketing programs.
Forrester Research
Now you may not be sold on the value and importance of social just yet. That’s fine. I would be the first to admit that it’s not mature and can’t compete head-to-head with traditional marketing practices. But there’s one fact no one can deny. It’s a treasure trove of data that marketers don’t usually work with. That’s a critical aspect of adaptive marketing. And yes, it’s 1,000 miles wide and one inch deep. Here are some guiding principles from Forrester.
- Adapt your process
- Plan iteratively and frequently
- Partner for creativity, not durability
- Use predictive metrics in addition to descriptive ones
Integrated Customer Marketing™: Technology And Services That Enable Adaptive Marketing
The Merkle Chairman and CEO, David Williams spouted some great ideas from the big stage. Merkle helps companies collect, manage and interpret all types of customer data. Here are some of his wise quotes.
- Adaption is how marketers can create competitive advantage.
- The digital revolution is enabling and accelerating the customer revolution.
- Competitive advantage in the future will live in how effectively an organization can understand, track, engage, measure and influence consumer behavior at the individual level
He showed a graphic depicting how one might leverage data to attain a competitive advantage. As marketers move from mass to conversation the data gets more granular. The more one can collect, understand and act on granular data, the greater the advantage they will have in the marketplace. Makes sense.
He offered the following advice to marketers:
- Push more money/spend into trigger marketing
- The next decade is about media, not channels.
- Real time data needs real time interactions
- Create strategies that optimize the value of consumers over time
- Move from a campaign mentality to a customer mentality
Mr. Williams had his twist on adaptive marketing termed Integrated Customer Marketing™. Defined as an optimization framework that maximizes customer portfolio value through targeted management of customer interactions across marketing sales and service throughout the customer lifecycle (there’s that word again). He spoke about managing a campaign inside a conversation (social). Interesting. If we could do that we would unlock tremendous value.
Know Me And Be Relevant: How Disney Creates Guest Relationships
I think we would all agree that Disney is a great marketing company. If you have ever been to their parks it gets hammered even further home. Tom Boyles, Senior Vice President Global Customer Managed Relationships for the Disney parks and resorts spoke about how they leverage customer data in a real time world. Here are some of his thoughts.
What is relevance and marketing? Knowing your customer well enough at any point in time or place that you would know exactly what to do next.
He shared real examples of how they are constantly adapting their data collection and marketing practices to improve the customer experience and impact business results.
- It’s not so much about did we get someone to the park. It’s more about did we get them back to the park.
- A customer never met a channel they didn’t like, so closely manage them all.
- Connect with your customers across all the channels and media on their terms.
- No one owns the customer, but everyone owns the moment.
- Our view is that it’s not just customer relationship management, but CCRM, continuous customer relationship management.
Transforming to a Real-Time Marketing Organization
Steve Sickel, Senior Vice President, Distribution and Relationship Marketing for Intercontinental Hotel Groups (IHG) took the stage. He was an outstanding speaker and had lots of information to share. As the largest hotel group in the world they have lots of experience with customers and data. For Mr. Sickel, it was all about moving his marketing team quickly into the digital world. He echoed what we constantly hear. That customers are more informed, they control the purchase process and demand greater relevance. Traditional media is the wrong tool for the job today because it’s too slow and generic. Customers behave in real time and IHG was behaving in batch. His formula for success: investment, technology and organization.
- Investment – Move traditional media to digital media. IHG has now shifted 85% of their media spend to non-traditional channels. This includes search marketing, online advertising, web retargeting, mobile and social.
- Technology – Automate marketing systems and transform them from slow, reactive and limited to “Right-Time” marketing where they can do thousands of personalized campaigns at a time.
- Organization – Break the silos of customer data and experience trapped in each individual channel and make accessible across the enterprise, as depicted below.
Old IHG Organization
New IHG Organization
Very clear, focused strategy to ensure IHG is poised to market to their future guests. Of all the presentations, this one laid out the best framework for how a company might go about adapting their marketing practices, systems and personnel.
Know Thy Customer: How Customer Intelligence Becomes a Strategic Weapon
The last keynote I’m going to mention came from Dave Frankland, Principal Analyst at Forrester. It was a perfect place for his talk. Much of what was said up until this moment was about data; specifically collecting, managing and acting on it. Mr. Frankland took it up a notch by challenging us to translate that data into customer intelligence for better decision making. He defines customer intelligence this way
The management and analysis of customer data from all sources, used to drive marketing performance and business strategy.
He parses the concept into three buckets.
- Functional intelligence
- Marketing intelligence
- Strategic intelligence
The way to do this, according to Dave, is to begin to look at your customers as assets and liabilities. Not all customers are alike. Overlay your business balance sheet on your existing customer segments and you will see who makes you money and who causes you to lose money. Here’s a great focusing fact from Larry Selden, Professor emeritus at Columbia University.
The bottom 20% of customers can drain profits by at least 80%… while the top 20% can generate 150% of a company’s profit.
He cited some case studies from Fresh Direct, Farmers Insurance, Best Buy and ESPN. All great examples of how going through this exercise transforms data into intelligence.
What I Didn’t Hear Enough About
Which brings me to something I didn’t hear enough about at the forum, but alluded to earlier in this post. Mr. Frankland’s presentation got at it extremely well. That is marketers must refine the art of knowing when enough data is enough. We don’t need reams of it. We need the right data fast and then we must be able to recognize that we’ve got enough, then act. It also goes beyond enough, into, is it the right data? Marketers need to also look for new sources of data, vs. looking at the same old reports. It’s implied in many of the keynotes and track sessions, but knowing when to stop asking for data and having an eye for knowing what data to collect (it’s not all data) is something we probably could all learn more about. Forrester people, I know you’re out there. Perhaps you can assist here.
In Summary
I’m a veteran of Forrester Forums, and no matter how many I attend, I’m always rewarded with some great nuggets and outstanding networking opportunities. They excel at monitoring the vital signs of the marketplace and at delivering content right when it’s most useful. Keynotes here were very strong and consistent. Track sessions as always are more uneven.
Here’s my vote for best quote from the forum. I apologize that I am unable to attribute it.
Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.
Endnotes
All slides are property of the firms that presented them. Content in this post originates from my notes taken during the forum combined with my personal perspective. All photos are mine.
The Art of Selecting a Technology Vendor
Lots of us find ourselves in a situation where we need to either acquire a new technology or replace a current supplier with someone else. It’s a complicated discussion to be taken seriously. I’ve probably led no less than 25 of these initiatives over my career. Some years ago we were looking to replace our e-mail service provider and kicked off a full RFP. The winner of that round was Bigfoot Interactive (no longer in business under that name). A gentleman named Jason Simon was the lead sales person for Bigfoot and represented them in the selection process. He was a big part of why Bigfoot prevailed over the other formidable firms.
That was several years ago. Jason recently reconnected with me, thanks to Social Media, and asked me to participate in a discussion about how I approach finding or replacing technology vendors on his blog Simon Sez: The Common Sense Blog. It was a great exercise for me, because it forced me to synthesize a couple of decades worth of experience and boil it down into a simple Q and A format. It was challenging, and because of how Jason framed the discussion, it ended up being fun.
Here’s an excerpt from Part 2.
Jason: Steve, so far the feedback on our conversation has been strong. There is so much to explore as we try to understand the challenges both buyers and sellers face when they are working on big RFP level deals. One of the interesting things I’ve seen in the past is poorly written RFPs that have the same question asked multiple times; a clear indication that various stakeholders have submitted their departmental needs but that they haven’t been aligned with the entirety of the organization’s scope requirements. With that in mind, how do you lead the needs assessment that takes place? How do you identify the internal owners, and how is that process managed before you even consider engaging vendors?
Steve: Your needs assessment should be informed by your strategy and roadmap. Well crafted plans should include identifying the capabilities a company will need to build or buy. The roadmap will tell you when you will need to acquire that capability or skill. If you have been forward thinking enough to conduct annual performance evaluations of your agency or vendor (“A/V”) then you already have a baseline from internal stakeholders. If not, you should solicit input from the people in your organization who work directly with the A/V, as well as the people who are directly impacted by the products and services that they provide.
Have a look at Part 1 and Part 2. I’m sure you will agree that Jason has a knack for simplifying the complex. Probably why he is so successful. Would value other perspectives, thoughts and experiences on how you go about choosing a new technology vendor. We are both happy to answer questions. Post them here or on Jason’s blog here.
Five Things Technology Salesmen Should Never Say to a Buyer
I’ve been a major stakeholder when it comes to purchasing technology for many years. Hardly a month goes by where I don’t meet with or speak to a technology salesman who is interested in moving up in my consideration set. These conversations have increased sharply over the last few years, as technology has become an integral part of improving Interactive Marketing. Other contributing factors to looking at technology solutions are; increased traffic, the migration of consumers to digital channels and the sea of content that web sites have amassed over the years. Simply adding FTE to the org chart (even if you could) just doesn’t cut it any more. Companies are required to automate to gain additional benefit. I’m amazed at the consistency of the sales pitches that come across my desk. Even as the technology has matured, many of the sales techniques have not kept pace.
- It’s only one line of javascript
- We’ll have you up and running in a week, probably less
- We do all the heavy lifting
- We’ve got a robust reporting suite
- We’re best in class
So what exactly should one say? Well, that would be giving too much away in this forum. But instead of overselling, try asking questions that will provide clues as to what your firm will need to do to earn the business. Move from selling to problem solving by asking…
- What are your typical pain points related to on-boarding technology solutions?
- What’s the best way to work with your law department?
- Who do we need to work with on your IT team?
- How can I assist in developing a meaningful business case?
- What’s the typical time line for this kind of project?
Everyone wants to make their quarterly numbers, but pressuring buyers and firms is only mildly effective. After all you came in trying to get the business. So close it, don’t try to slam it in. Oh, I could write a book on this topic.
SxSW Interactive Festival 2010
It’s been a week since I returned from SxSW. Just about the right amount of time for my thoughts on the experience to gel. This was my first SxSW festival and so I don’t have any other personal data points, but I’m a veteran of conferences, seminars, forums, you name it, for more years than I care to detail. SxSW has a reputation for music and film. When I would mention to co-workers that I was attending they all thought I was going for music. But of course my interest is on interactive. The festival organizers reported this was the first year interactive attendees eclipsed music registrants. 12,000 paid to get into the interactive track, a 40% increase. Needless to say my expectations for SxSW were quite high as I touched down in Austin.
What I liked about SxSW
- Meeting and being around smart, energetic, creative people from all over the world. It turned out that the people you met outside the events was the most valuable part and is what makes the festival stand out.
- The scale of SxSW means you have great networking opportunities. I was able to make some very interesting connections and reconnections. Got to catch-up with old friends, turned some Twitter-acquired relationships into real world friends, and had a couple of promising business development meetings. Also met some Social Media celebrities.
- The venue. Austin is a great place to hold SxSW. Fantastic weather, terrific citizens and delicious food. Oh yeah, gotta love the bike cabs.
- Thoughtful keynotes by some heavy hitters who freely shared their ideas and inspired the crowd.
- A wide variety of event formats. Panels, solo presentations and workshops allowed you to experience the content the way it made sense to you.
- The battle between the location-aware services, Foursquare and the local favorite Gowalla. I’m a Foursquare user and
unscientific research at the festival tells me it’s leading, but Gowalla is a close second. Sorry Loopt, you’re not even in the game right now. SxSW is probably the only opportunity, for a while, that will award you a Super Swarm badge for checking-in with at least 250 people. “Nailed it.”
My frustrations about SxSW
- Too many things going on at the same time.
- Event titles were vague, couldn’t easily determine themes or content value.
- Had to dig to see who were on the panels or giving presentations.
- Many events, especially the panels were beginner level.
- They weren’t prepared for the higher volumes. Long lines everywhere. When you really wanted to attend a session you had to get there early or risk being shut out. That meant you had to miss something else while listening to the AV guys say, check, check, check.
- Not enough practical ideas or advice that you could use immediately.
- Last minute additions that were easily missed. I didn’t know Clay Shirky was on a panel until I saw the live Twitter stream from the actual session. Yes it was mostly my fault, but come on guys.
- The most compelling keynotes or events were spread out over several days (business people can’t be out that long).
Mood Board Created During Ms. Boyd's Keynote Speech on Saturday (Click to enlarge)
In short, it’s time for SxSW to raise the bar. I would say only 10% of the scheduled events I attended were valuable. I know it’s tough to shape content for such a diverse group, but they may be underestimating the wisdom of the crowd. Don’t talk down. Time to make the badge people reach for the new ideas and strategies. Bring on new topics and voices, add projects and case studies, cut the number of sessions and raise the price of admission. It’s a festival, and they do a great job at keeping that sentiment, but there has got to be a way to bridge the festival with the formal in a manner that doesn’t kill the fun and excitement that is SxSW.
My photostream from the festival is on flickr here. Please contribute your thoughts on SxSW here.
Mobile = Shift For Designers and Consumers
Humans have always been obsessed with what they need to “take along” whether it’s going to work or play. The advances of mobile phones and apps has led many of us to shift activities we once did exclusively on a desktop/laptop to our smartphone. This is naturally followed by an increase in the number of places we carry out basic computing tasks; now in the car, at a restaurant, waiting for a flight, watching a child’s sporting event, etc. It’s growing quickly partly because people are relieved of trying to remember what they need to bring with. As long as you have your smartphone (Swiss army knife) you feel better prepared. I have been reading, debating and thinking deeply about mobile these last few months.
I attended two mobile sessions at the recent South by Southwest Interactive track (SxSW) in Austin. The first was entitled The UX of Mobile, with Barbara Ballard of Little Springs Design, Scott Jenson from Google, and Kyle Outlaw of Razorfish. I’ll cover the second panel called Time+Social+Location with Naveen Selvadurai from foursquare, Josh Babetski from MapQuest and Greg Cypes from AIM in a later post.
This post mashes together notes from those panel sessions with what’s been brewing inside my brain and recorded in my Moleskine since last fall. It all runs together which makes it hard on the attribution front. The shape of my thoughts was obviously influenced by what’s out on the web and what was shared at SxSW. Thank you to all mobile thinkers.
In The UX of Mobile, the moderator kicked it off by asking each panelist to define user experience:
- Allow users to reach goals
- Think about the whole system, SMS
- It’s everything that causes a user to not want to use your product; scrolling, buttons, etc.
Mobile today is hyper-focused on apps because the mobile browser is lacking (and because of Apple). When the mobile browser catches up to the app experience, there will be a monumental shift away from apps. The mobile web will be where things will get interesting and play out. But simply trying to put the web onto the phone (miniaturization) is not where the value lies. Mobile screens are a new window into the Internet. It’s the closest thing we have right now to wearable computing and so designs needs to account for mobility as well as personal connection. Design for interoperability, take advantage of mobile cache and leverage the cloud. One should design for the “mobile moment.”
- Design knowing that interruptions are inevitable (the waiter comes to take your order)
- A phone in your pocket can also be useful (vibrate to signal when you need to turn right or left)
- Don’t bring the web to the mobile phone, bring the browser (Safari with iPhone/iPad, Chrome)
Mobile demands that you design for the screen. A smartphone has many more features available to the user than a desktop. Barbara Ballard ticked off a great list of things to be considered when designing for the mobile experience. Notations after → are my additions.
- Gestures → Human
- Accelerometer → Framing
- Bluetooth → Extension
- Camera → Pictures
- Microphone → Voice
- Location → Mapping
- Address Book → Social
- Calendar → Schedule
The mobile phones of today are closer to traveling ecosystems than operating systems. As such, usability testing for the small screen becomes more critical than browser designs. Designers/developers need to test in context, including social context; in short the real world. For me real world testing will mean getting out of the lab and test in cars, libraries, retail stores, restaurants, sporting venues etc. Internet connections are fairly reliable now; always on and fast. The cell phone carriers are not there yet. It’s better than the 9600 baud days, but not yet comparable to the speed we enjoy with today’s modems. When 4G arrives, we will be a heartbeat away from moving everything the mobile device. That will be a watershed moment.
The iPad is a Roaming Device, Not a Mobile Device
Pick up the April 2010 Wired magazine (I’d include a link but the paper version gets to me before the digital version; go figure) and turn to page 75. There’s an extremely insightful article by Steven Levy, Why the New Generation of Table Computers Changes Everything. In it he talks about how Steve Jobs is “writing the obituary for the computing paradigm” and how desktops will vanish and laptops will be used “primarily as base stations for syncing our iPads.” While at SxSW I spent a lot of time with Ian Magnini, principle at MCD Partners in New York. We work closely on strategy, design and visioncasting. He turned to me and said.
The iPad will replace the magazine rack in your home. There will be one in the kitchen, one in the bathroom and one in the bedroom – Ian Magnani
I think he’s dead on. The iPad has a huge mobile drawback in that it can’t fit in your pocket or purse. So maybe it’s not cell phone mobile, but it could be the perfect “roaming device.” I can picture people using the iPad to read magazines, newspapers, books, then launch the browser to order groceries or do online banking all while sitting in a comfy Barcolounger. Battery life is 10 hours and taps return instantaneous responses. Keypad will be the big challenge.
As always, Jobs will ensure that the design experience will be outstanding. I have heard that there won’t be a calculator on the iPad at launch because he didn’t like the experience. It doesn’t matter. Once it’s right, it will be included in a future version.
Much more to come on Mobile.
SxSW 2010 Kicks-off
Austin International Airport
Just arrived at South by Southwest 2010 in Austin. An amazing collection of people from all over the world. Right now I was sitting at a table with a special effects producer that did the visual design for the feature film Book of Eli. He lives in Los Angeles. Across from him is a gentleman who runs a family fund worth $6Bn that looks for companies that are underfunded and underdeveloped and tries to bundle them together to make a bigger opportunity for them. He is from Melbourne, Australia. We had a great discussion ranging from mobile and philanthropy to how film studios gain rebates from state governments by filming on their turf.
From there I caught a quick spontaneous meeting with Dennis Crowley, Co-founder and CEO of Foursquare. He was with Naveen Selvadurai, Co-founder, and developer of the iPhone app for Foursquare. Discussed opportunities for offers from merchants and where mobile and app advertising might be going. All company business cards have a badge printed on the back. If you collect the cards from 6 Foursquare employees, arrange them to match the badge page on the application, take a photo and get it to Foursquare, you’re rewarded with a special, secret badge. I got 2 so far.
Oh yes. Also got some inside information on how they determine who gets to be mayor.
Visitors to This Blog
Recent Comments