agentfin

Time Slip

The perception of time is a tricky creature. We have sayings surrounding it like “time flies when you’re having fun” but seldom do people think about why a given segment of time feels longer or shorter. 

Studies in what is loosely termed “flow” have found that depending on an individual’s level of concentration, time perception will shift. So, when in “flow,” working on a project, an uninterrupted hour can feel like only a few minutes. Likewise, when not in flow, time drags. 

There is another more mundane phenomenon that we experience and that works on the same principle: the “where the hell are the canned beans in this damned store” experience.

Retail stores are designed around the assumption [mostly correct] that if people wander around longer they wil buy more. IKEA is an extreme version of this, and one that has been successful, but every grocery store with their long aisles is doing the same thing. Trying to seduce you into buying yet another jar of fancy mustard. 

The problem is that while people do indeed buy more stuff if they wander longer, the perception of time when searching for a single item is not the same as once that item is found. Search is not fun. It is fraught with frustration, and even if it actually only takes 2min to find the wild rice, it will feel like 20. 

Here’s where it gets interesting. As soon as said wild rice is located, as soon as it’s in field of view, time perception shifts again. Now, you’re in browsing mode. 

To take this to a “why the hell does my brain do this?” space, let’s go back in time a bit. Imagine you’re actually a hunter gatherer off to do your foraging. You know there’s a berry bush that should be ripe in this area, but you’ve got to find it. It makes sense for there to be some urgency to this action. But, once you’re there, it’s important to get all the berries. It’s less “expensive” to gather from one place than to hare around from one side of the forest to another. So, here we have “flow” … in the form of contentment to sit and gather all the berries. Here we have “browsing” … in a literal sense actually [one for the bucket and one for my mouth]. 

The challenge being faced by stores is to provide customers with both interactions. IKEA succeeds by training people away from “search” completely. You’re not at IKEA to find one set of plates, you’re there to find a whole wide variety of stuff. That’s their brand. Your grocery store can’t do that, because some days you just need some milk. 

Who are you talking to anyway?

DHH (@dhh)
5/21/12 13:41
@wndxlori I’ve never cared too much about the myriad of ways people can choose to misinterpret what I say.

Certainly, as the saying goes, you can’t please everyone… nor should you try to. However, those who have reached a level of influence and power would do well to take the time and consider who they are speaking to, and if their message will be understood. They’ve been given a platform, they ought use it responsibly. 

We don’t always know who our audience is going to be. We can’t write for all ears, speak in all voices. It is however possible - necessary even - to pause and consider who else might be listening. 

Every reader has the obligation to do their due diligence, so too every writer, and every speaker. This includes not only references, but also “cultural fit” extending beyond the narrow definition that looks only to the miscommunication between Country A vs Country B. Instead, it’s necessary to realize that the ‘culture’ of programmers has a very particular mode of communication. One that does not always translate well for the rest of the world. 

I’d say that the misinterpretation is not on the side of the audience in this case, but the presenter, having misgauged the ‘language’ he was speaking in. 

So, what are you worth?

How do you figure out what to charge for your work? Well, how does anyone figure out what to charge for anything? 

This isn’t a new issue. Price wars at the gas pump are certainly familiar to most. The good mechanic shop charges an arm and a leg. We’ve all gotten screwed by airline tickets skyrocketing when we wait that extra day to book a flight. 

But what about the price we charge for the work we do?

Clients always ask what my hourly rate is. I hate this. Thank you very much but my rate depends on a complicated set of variables including everything from my interest in the project, my availability at that time, and the real budget of the client. Just as I would charge more to clean toilets than I would to weed a garden, I’ll charge you more for… well, to do the UX equivalent of each. Add ‘rainy day’ or ‘perfect day for a trip to the beach’ to each of these in either version, and you get the picture. 

But, when I confess to this, I’m usually met with some amount of shock. This isn’t how salaries are based, so how dare I shift my rates around as a contract worker! Next thing I know, I’ve backpedal into self-doubt. After all, who am I to set the price on my work, on my time?

A wise woman recently turned all this upside down. 

It’s not about what you think your work is worth. It’s never about the general pricing of what you do. It’s not just your brain and what it costs you to use it.

It’s all about what your work is worth to the client. 

The only gas station on a one hundred mile stretch of highway isn’t just selling you a tank of gas. You need to get from point A to point B and they are the only way that’s going to happen… or is it? You could walk. You could have bought a spare tank of gas. But you didn’t.

They can charge more for the same product… because you need it. 

Or, from a different perspective, with airline tickets. Sure, you can get a cheaper fare last minute… if you’re willing to fly at an inconvenient time with a whole bunch of connections. You can even play the ultimate crapshoot and fly standby. What you’re paying for when you buy a ticket last minute has very little to do with your seat on the plane.

Though no one likes gas price wars or high priced plane tickets, they’re understood. It’s the obvious answer to the supply/demand economy we live in. Why doesn’t this apply to our wages?

We need to stop thinking like factory workers. Or if we do, we need to think of ourselves as the workers in a factory that might be preparing a nation for war. We are worth more than that ‘typical hourly rate’ because we are almost never doing ‘typical work’ and our success will be the success of a business. Our failure, their downfall. 

If clients and businesses start thinking of those they hire in this way too, there will be fewer stories of research gone unused, of budgets squandered, of contracts left half completed before petering out to nothing. Because the work that’s being requested will really be necessary, and the price paid will be real for all parties involved. 

Clients need to stop it with this equivalent of driving around to get the cheapest gas in town. Pay for what you need when you need it, and realize this is a good thing. 

The rest of you? Charge them what you’re worth, not what you think you’d pay yourself.

Carpet

I’ve ridden a lot of subways. A lot of trains as well. All over the US, around the world… and San Francisco is the first time that I’ve ever been on a subway train with CARPET. 

The funny thing is, when I say that in my head, it sounds kinda nice. Rolling out the red carpet for a ride into the city.

But that’s not what you’re getting. 

Instead, you’re getting the filth of every foot, the spills of the inevitable morning commute coffee… let’s not think to deeply about where other stains might come from. 

In most cities the focus is on ‘ease of cleaning’ in a public zone like a subway car. Floor, seats, handrails: all designed to facilitate a quick wipe down ‘should the need arise.’ This isn’t YOUR living room, this is EVERYONEs living room, and not everyone cleans up after themselves. 

What was going on in the heads of the creators of SFs BART trains?

Yes, commuters need to be comfortable, and rides on the BART can take you pretty damned far. But let’s think about other cities… say, NYC. Ok, nope. No contest. If New Yorkers can deal with hard seats for their subway trips, SFers should be able to cope. Again, this isn’t your living room we’re talking about [though it certainly is some folk’s bedroom].

What else?

Yes, carpet muffles noise. This is one reason that landlords give for having carpeted floors in apartments. Footfalls are deadened, voices muffled. 

But wall to wall carpet has a life longer than that one screaming match between your upstairs neighbors. It will retain the spilled pasta sauce… and everything else. Ready and waiting for the next tenant to try not to speculate “what caused that stain.” 

Usually, the truth of it is, landlords don’t want to invest in fixing their floors in the short run, so they apply a band-aid of cover-up carpet that winds up disgusting tenants in the long run.

Bars do this too, but usually they stick with linoleum. Not so in SF. I’ve never seen so many carpeted bars as in San Francisco. 

But getting back to the subway. I am genuinely confused how something as screwy as carpet [and fabric seats!] could have made it to realization. Maybe they specced out the cost of noise dampening ceilings for the cars and found it to be too pricy… but why did they need that anyway? Did the engineers perhaps cut corners on insulating the trains? Did they fail to consider the noise of the rails and the echo enhancing shape of the tunnels when they built the system?

All of these issues [subways, noise, landlords… carpet] are rooted in short term top-line problem focus. Dig in a bit people. What’s the real problem? Even more important, is your solution going to cause a cascade of further problems? I’d love to see the annual steam cleaning cost for SFs trains… 

OH! NEWS FLASH!

BART wants your opinion on their NEW fabric seats! 

Further… why is it that they aren’t just going with bench seats all the way through the train? I kinda feel like a good deep look at NYC’s trains might be in order here.

Wireframing

I’m going to continue to harp on this for a minute here.

Because it’s not just the mobile world that needs some help. It’s the good old web as well.

Wireframing has become this strange and seemingly mystical thing, and for all the wrong reasons. You need fancy [expensive] applications to build them, and probably some sort of advanced degree…

Really?

Because I think the whole point of a wireframe is that they’re meant to be simple. A sketch. Not some work of art, slaved over to get everything aligned and lovely. Just something for you to keep track of your bits and see how they connect. 

Yes, there are times when having all the buttons actually lead from one screen to the next will help.

Yes, if you’re really far along you can go ahead and add some color and pretty glowing things so you can make visual design decisions.

But that’s not the point. 

We’re talking about designing the user’s experience here.

This is my current wireframe: 

Yup. Index cards [second only in my heart to Post-its].

If I wanted to get REALLY fancy, I could even stick them on a wall and put bits of string running between them. 

On the other hand, that might cause my roomates to think me utterly mad.

The point is, it’s not about making this pretty. It’s about sitting and considering carefully “what is the user thinking they’re going to get when they click this button” and “is that the right flow to present that information in, or is there a better way” or maybe “is there anything that I can get rid of here.”

Wireframing is about walking in the user’s shoes. Concentrating on the experience and making it as awesome and seamless as possible… without the help of visuals, color cues, or precise language. 

Get your wireframe right. Spend time on it. But spend time on the right things. The stuff that everyone will be taking for granted later.

It’s not that complicated…

Oh no! You have to create a mobile app! Time to invest in some really serious prototpying tools.

You’ll obviously need something with shiny buttons. Something that really captures the reflections on the screen… animation will be important too, right?

Wrong. 

Go out and buy some of these:

Yes, that’s right. 3x5 Post-it Notes from 3M.

Little did they know that they were actually making the ideal mobile prototyping tool all this time! 

How do you use them? Well, just draw out the buttons and suchnot that you want on each screen. Slap one onto an actual phone. Then walk up to the user you’re testing on and LET THEM HOLD THE PHONE AND CLICK THINGS! 

Doubt me? Go try it. 

Why is this better than those flashy things you can create on your desktop? Because your tester will actually be HOLDING THE PHONE… they’ll get into it. It’s called suspension of disbelief, but it’s paired with real physical cues of holding a phone. As soon as you add a keyboard, a mouse… a chair! Not a mobile experience anymore.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you should follow users into the bathroom to do your testing [fess up, that’s where we all wind up “checking in”]. But they’ll still get a more real experience.

Oh, and these babies cost a bit less than that pricy software too. 

[Original credit for this insight goes to Greg Nudelman Principal at Design Caffeine]

Off with your shoes!

No, seriously. I was wandering around in Dogpatch out here in SF and having gotten my coffee, noticed an open door with some stairs leading up to the second floor. Always inquisitive, I stuck my head in. 

On each of the stairs was a framed print with some funny saying or another on it. But more interesting were the three pairs of chinese silk slippers and a sign saying:

“Please remove your shoes.”

It turned out it was a women’s clothing boutique. The “take off your shoes” was actually because the wood floors upstairs are soft and easily damaged by heels. However, it’s what happened because of this “inconvenience” that was rather astounding. 

The shop used to be around the corner on the ground floor. Women would come in, browse around, and walk out. Now, women are suddenly trying on more clothes… and buying things. 

Why? Because they’ve already taken their shoes off. 

…wait. What? 

Oh, and that they’ve got slippers to wear as they browse.

…huh?

So they won’t be embarrassed at the state of their pedicure.

…um.

The owner accidentally unearthed a very real barrier to clothing purchase. Retailers know that once someone tries on an item of clothing, they usually wind up buying something. Maybe not that initial item, but something. That’s why dressing room attendants “get a room ready for you,” and why they’re always happy to find you another size. 

But they’re helping you along too late. 

It’s not about getting people over to the dressing room, because it’s not about getting them to try new clothes on. It’s getting them to take their own clothes off.

[CAVEAT: This is NOT the same as the TSA requirement to remove your shoes for their scans. You’ll get in trouble if that first step leads you to taking your clothes off.]

Photo by O. T. Holen Photography

What’s your problem?

A good 3/4 of what I do is trying to help clients see what the problem really is. What’s keeping people from clicking through to sign up for their service? Why isn’t anyone signing up for their premium service? Why aren’t they getting any reviews for their app when they’ve had thousands of downloads?

The thing is, there are a lot of problems out there, but those problems stem from problems, that stem from problems, that are actually due to this other problem… 

You get it. 

Or rather, we all know this, but it’s very hard to act on. 

We forget, because the band-aid patch-it-up solution is far far easier to ‘just take care of’ and usually has some immediate effect. So we get tricked and think we’re done!

Here’s the trick: any time you think you’ve got a nice little packed-up problem:solution pair, ask why. Then do it again. Then do that again. 

You’ll be surprised where you get to. 

It’s called “The 5 Whys” and all the cool science folks are doing it, so why aren’t you?

[Why do you need that cat again?]

The startup myth: be your own god

First of all, I’m guilty. But I’m learning, so hear me out.

Here’s the situation. You look around and you see that there’s a problem in the world. Maybe you look a little further and see that there are a few folks trying to solve that problem. But obviously, they’re doing it wrong.

So? Build your own solution!

Now in some cases this is just fine and dandy. We need variety. We need competition.

But some solutions are for problems, for communities, that would be better served if a few folks sat down and brainstormed for a bit. Sometimes an initial solution just needs some fresh ideas.

Unfortunately, since we’re all getting trained that the only good work is working for yourself, the idea of joining someone is now anathema. Similarly, the idea of letting someone with contrary ideas sneak into your work… no way.

I’m not saying that folks shouldn’t keep trying to solve problems. But there are so many solutions to the same thing out there, each of them not quite right!

I sometimes wish I could find all these little startup gods, sort them out into a pantheon of problems they’re trying to solve, and then lock all the same ones in a room together til they came out with something really good. 

No. They wouldn’t be gods of their own creation anymore. But their creation would be a god among startups.

1) I will not compliment your appearance

There are some changes I am going to have to make in my world. One of them applies to the basics of ‘hello.’

I’m one of those people who when I see a total stranger walking down the street looking ‘rad’ in one way or another, will out of the blue say “Hey! You look great! I love those shoes!”

Now, part of that is because I notice these things. I like colors, patterns, I appreciate and have studied the human form in the artistic context. But the other reason behind my public outbursts is knowing how good it feels to have someone pay a random compliment. I love seeing the smile I get back from a stranger. Feeling at home in your skin, feeling comfortable in what you’re wearing, knowing that people are seeing you that way… these are important things.

However, when this becomes the a standard greeting for women/girls in general, particularly in the business setting, suddenly things aren’t ok. By commenting on a woman’s appearance, even if it’s a compliment, shifts them from ‘authority on topic of conversation’ to ‘model.’

[Never mind the fact that she’s obviously the one who knows how to prepare a slide]

I’ve seen this happen at conferences. I’ve seen it at tech conferences where a woman is assumed to be ‘just the pretty face hired to work the booth’ or at a bike conventions [really is just one step up from the auto shows] were I’m surrounded by vendors who have hired scantily clad ‘female accessories’ to aid in ‘product display.’ As soon as a woman’s appearance is broached in conversation in a space like this, she’s just another prop.

Lisa Bloom wrote a great article about the battle we have to fight with this “How to Talk to Little Girls.” I’d say this applies to any and all women.

I’m not saying you can’t tell someone they look great. It just shouldn’t be the first topic of conversation.