Empathy in #ProductDesign

I just read Jon Kolko' s thought provoking insight on empathy with customers. I am summerizing my key take aways here: 

• It's not enough to recognize a pattern. You have to actually FEEL like the individual user. Share the anxieties and feelings which are experienced by the user. 

• While complete empathy cannot be achieved, pursuit of empathy is a key. 

• Empathy is specific: Its a feeling of what its like to BE the SPECIFIC USER

• As a user, FEELING drives every single product decision we are making 

So, are you ready to get as specific as you can, for your product?

5 Awesome things about Airtravel : which go unnoticed

Magic, if performed very frequently, often becomes a norm. Flying is one such thing. I decided to share some magical, wonderful things about flying in an aircraft. It's a pity that most of us just take this for granted......

1. The size of the aircraft. 

The sheer size of this entity amazes me. The fuel tanker, the luggage of the passengers, everything is dwarfed by this colossal entity. It feels like a miracle that such a thing can even crawl a few meters, let alone fly to Japan !

wtf!

2. The observation deck. 

There have been moments when I would go sit on the observation deck at the Udaipur Airport. It's a place where a very strong sensation of Joy takes over, completely.

Perhaps the source of the blissful experience,  is the comfort drawn from ceaseless takeoff's and landings of aircrafts.

Pro Tip:

1.  Observation decks  are an amazing place for a date!  
2. Try planning your next trip while sitting in an observation deck. You will be surpried at the difference it makes.
3. Gazing at the aircrafts flying is a great way to introspect and solve the problems which weigh you down

3. The Takeoff

Few other instances exist in life are more releasing, than the 10 seconds of the liftoff.

Just in a few seconds, your entire world of mountains and mighty rivers, is reduced to a mere scratch on the surface of the earth. 

What does it teach you? 

The enormous power of the aircraft can inspire us to imagine: that perhaps one day we too, may prevail over everything which seem to loom over us right now. 

These few seconds can cause dramatic shifts in our lives

Pun Intended

4.Clouds

It's a pity that no one seems to think that it is AWESOME and AMAZING that somewhere above an ocean,  we are flying over little candy floss islands of clouds.

These islands would make a perfect seats for angels or even God himself if what you were seeing was a renaissance painting. I can only imagine what would be the reaction of Da Vinci, Poussin and Rapheal if the cabin crew announced

"Ladies and Gentlemen, now we are now flying over clouds"

Things would go crazy on board, for sure. 

5. The Wait

Next time you are stuck on an airport waiting for your flight, stop cursing everything around you. 

Imagine a sailor from ancient times on his way to explore the world, and his journey is disrupted by a wild current. He waits, but he doesn't crib. 

The wait can be beautiful.

Some people, just can't wait !!

Like the wait to land on a new location. A place where no one knows your name and every time you observe something it will be a new experience. Nothing excites me more or gives me goosebumps more than the wait just before the landing. 

And the wait for a loved one arriving? It's perhaps the most beautiful wait anyone can have. 

.....

What are the little things you experienced on your flights?? We would love to know and feature your thoughts here..

Meanwhile, here's the greatest tip of them all

A waltz across the turf of time

Serendipity is the most beautiful path which leads to things "you didn't know that you didn't know".I just ran across a collection on 8tracks which is "History of Music". It would be an amazing way to take a walk across centuries of music.

From 15th century Celtic music to the Baroque period, the one transformation which really stands out for me is the rise in collaborative music. From dominance of one musical instrument such as the fiddle, music evolved into symphonies where a crowd created a rhythm. It is in a way in line with what was happening in that era, from reverence to one man mastery over a trade, we were progressing towards Industries.

image courtesy: weheartit

Content Strategy: Mind the tone

When it comes to offering solutions in the form of an online marketplace, we need to realize, that the voice and the tone of your product is: of paramount importance. We need to put a structure in place to identify the relationships between tone of the product and the ambition of the customer.

This can be simplified by a simple example. As a patient when I walk inside a doctor's cabin, I could be anyone of the following patient types

1) Those who are aware of what they want, are sure of the treatment they are receiving and their primary concern probably is the cost and the insurance issues involved. I would like the doctor to be able to suggest me honestly the various options available and give me a feeling that he is my well-wisher when it comes out to designing the most cost effective plan.

I want him to be a co-traveler in this discussion journey, a friend.

A complex listing page of Amazon with 15,000 products and a precise price filter is an example.

2) I am a patient who is unwell, unsure about what's going on. I want the doctor here to be confident about telling me what I should be doing, narrow down the options which I have.
Here, I want him to be the GUIDE of my journey. I want him to tell me what I want.


iPhone is an example. These products taught us what WE want.


Customer's purpose needs to be identified clearly, this shall then drive the content on the page.

Are you speaking in the right tone?

image courtesy:weheartit.com

How to ensure retention? Induction of Hired Top Employee

As a startup, you need one of the best people to join your team and make your growth curve as steep as possible. One of the biggest challenges, is to retain them: once they do join you.

The seeds are sown at the induction stage.

I am going to focus on the high performers your firm manages to recruit for top positions. These individuals  have joined you, because they are "different". It's their individuality which separates from the crowd.It's this trait, which made you hunt for them, and empower your team with their presence.

However, this is where the first seed of failure is sown. Their induction in the firm is dealt with a standard SOP at best, and a very casual team introduction at its worst.

You ignored the most important factor when it comes to these assets: Their Individuality

Let us take a case study approach:

Meet Sam Paul. Enterprenuer who made record growth in first two years of his fashion startup and has just secured a $10 million funding. He is a star eyed boy of all the VC's in the scene.
Truth be told: the expectations are overwhelming. The growth has been so quick that multitasking skills have now boredered over chaos management. Before it takes the form of firefighting, Sam needs to hire a VP.

Meet Maya: Batchmate of Sam. Consultant with one of the biggest firms, a ninja at problem solving. Maya and Sam were together in the olympiad team, he knows her skills are exactly what he needs, Maya has realized that the stress in the stifling enviornment, without a chance to lead and no recognition is not her cup of tea. She gladly accepts Sam's offer, which is 50% of what she currently earns.

Nice story right? Do they work happily ever after? : No

let us break down the problem:

When the firm hires, following two factors matter the most

1. Core strengths of the hire. 
2. Ability to learn new skills, and execute them across departments other then the hire's own department

When a high achiever walks in, the expectations which are carried inside are

1. Do I get to make a difference with my core skills? Do I get to do my thing, in peace?
2. How much do I learn? What will my learning curve be like?

There are some additional factors too, which make a major impact

Team work: How much does the hire look forward towards working in teams? How important is it for the firm to have the new hire fit into the teams and gel with them?

Social Expectations: Does the new hire come from an enviornment where office parties were more of a norm than exception. Or does she come from an extremely comprtitve and a serious setup where a distance between employees was not only expected by encouraged.Is office get otgether and a firendly enviornment a black swan , uncomfortable event for this hire?

What is the firm's stand on this?

Now let us come to Maya and Sam

Maya expects that she will be given independence to go all out in her work. She will work at her pace, without the worries of a team not being able to catch up, away from the politics of a group she detested.Her past experience makes her crave independence and solitude.
She is NOT looking forward towards learning and executing skills completely unknown to her. She is an achievement oriented person who wants to excel and rise in her core skill area. She has had enough parties that she could puke at the mere idea of an office party!!
(No pun intended)

Sam needs a VP. Someone who is so comfortable in her core area that she will gladly handle other strings which are loose. he wants a team player who leads by example. He thinks the teams need to hang out more to develop camaraderie

A clear mismatch, right?

we need to analyse this better, we need to SEE the problem.

Lets try: we rate the priority out of 10

	Hire	Firm
Using core strengths	7	4
Learning New skils	3	6
Team Work	4	7
Multitasking	4	7
Social Aspects	2	6

So here is what we get

 Red represents the Firm, our Sam.Blue is Maya, the Diva Hire

The above graph shows obvious mismatch between "expectations".This is probably the most important thing to notice. Expectations can be aligned, provided one knows exactly where the alignment needs to be done, and for How Long

Above picture gives an idea of an obvious mismatch. To analyse it deeper, we could use a radar graph.

HR and the management needs to sit down and close the gap with the new hire.


This exercise, if done at induction stage: will work wonders. A win win situation is always a necessary condition for miraculous results to happen.

What does your blog stand for?

As a startup, the question of whether one could blog always haunts the minds. More specifically, what will be the role of the blog? Is it a tool to create awareness? Is it a tool to generate traffic? The focus could be more on content, OR; focus could entirely be on driving the sales.

What will you do?

With experience in B2B marketing with a fortune 500 oil company and blogging for last 7 years, My answer is clear: Inspire and become a thought leader in your domain.

Blog is a long term tool. It's like that old inn which you always pass by on your way but you know it will always be there when you really need to cool your heels and have a drink.

It's reliable. It exudes trust.

Your blog has to create value for your reader. This is the key to every successful blog. Add value and Share your learning.

Best sharing happens when there is no expectation of a return.

Once you establish reliability and become a thought leader in your domain, you automatically generate awareness. Awareness then results in increase in traffic. Once increase in traffic is achieved, sales can be driven with ease.

Idea is to build a relationship, of sharing and giving. Not grabbing the client.

TL; DR

Blog>>Though Leader>>Inspire>>Awareness>>Increase in traffic>>Drive Sales>>Ninja Dance
KeyWords : Add value and Share

Image courtesy: weheartit

Forward March

As a B2B professional in a fortune 500 firm, every single review meet followed the age old maxim: Compare the current performance with the historical.

I am learning Google Analytics and dealing with extensive data analysis.It's the same here, the option to compare the current figures with the similar period in the past, appears by default.

My masters in public policy is now in its second year. Critical data such as poverty alleviation and carbon footprints is analysed thoroughly using tools such as regressions, data modelling and big data analysis. Again, the comparison is with the figures from the past.

What is this fixation with the historical?

Most of the problems we face can be traced back to (pun intended) our incompleteness with the past.

Coming specifically to sales performance analysis in B2B marketing, it is a problem which needs to address these two basic questions:

1. Current performance and value in the market
2. Strategy to grow in the future

Once the problem has been broken down, we can see that both the components are not really connected with the "Past" 

• The comparison has to be with Industry trends and competitor performance. Even when it comes to competitor analysis, firms mistakenly assume that the only competitors they have are the firms which match their size. In today's times, that is obvious. What needs to be done, apart from measuring up competitor's from our own size, is to look for small ones who are registering a High growth rate in the industry: What is the strategy they are using? Is there a segment which has completely been missed in our scanners?

• We need to realize the crucial word here: "Future". Comparing with past figures and then devising a strategy is a way to undermine the current position and temperament of the customer. We need to analyse our capabilities, resources and commitment, and come up with a forecast for the "coming" month/Qtr. This process has to be in a feedback loop so that the comparison with forecast and performance on ground happens on a weekly basis.While we need to strive hard to achieve the figure initially quoted, we need to also readjust the targets if the shift from forecast is questionable, but not the efforts and commitment. 

Picture courtesy: weheartit.com