User>Driven

The consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton does a study of innovation each year at the largest corporations in the world hoping to describe what works and what doesn't. In their 2006 study I think they tried a little too hard to add value by breaking the successful strategies they observed into different categories. All of them really came down to intelligently listening to your market, but they nonetheless presented some good principles and at least one good story of corporate User>Driven behavior.

One key principle they uncovered was that it was more important what process you use to develop products and services than how much you spend on it. "As in years past," they said "we found no statistically significant connection between the amount of money a company spent on innovation and its financial performance." What they found instead was getting close to customers was the key thing.

"It's engineers and marketing product managers spending hours and hours on job sites talking to the guys who are trying to make their living with these tools," said John Schiech, President of the DeWalt division of Black & Decker, one of the subjects of the study.

DeWalt has grown from $150 million to over $2 billion in sales of their power tools since 1991 by listening closely to current customers. In field studies, for example, they observed that builders couldn't cut large crown mouldings in one pass using traditional 10" miter saws. They brought the first commercial 12" miter saw to market, priced it a premium, and quickly found themselves with a best-seller.

Plantronics also practices market listening through focus groups and shadowing of both their corporate and consumer telephone headset customers. BAH had no specific tales of successful innovation at Plantronics, but described their process of applying "strategic filters" to help choose which products to bring to market. Those filters are all related to the expected financial performance of the products over the next 1-3 years.

The largest of these companies, Siemans AG, uses these same market listening techniques in their individual divisions but adds a greater layer of oversight, allowing them to pick and choose where to invest based on heir perception of longer term market trends such as the movement to personalized medical care, the need for portability, urbanization and other changes in demographics.

BAH tries to cast these companies in different roles, saying they are driven by customer needs, market needs and technical innovation, respectively. I don't see that in these examples. I think each company is actively researching and responding to market needs and the differences are really just in the time-horizon each is planning for. It should be no surprise that the larger companies are looking farther out.

In the Siemans study, BAH does quote one executive saying "You've got to be somewhat skeptical of what they [customers] see as the technical solution, and instead depend on your own core set of people who can creatively link new technology to the future market." BAH seems to think this is unique to Siemans and other technical innovators thinking long-term. This is no different than what DeWalt did with the miter saw, though. DeWalt's customers didn't ask for a bigger saw, DeWalt observed the current practice of cutting each piece of molding twice and came up with a solution that saved their customers' time. It may have been a more obvious extension of a current product, but the process of innovation in that case, like the others, was driven by observing unmet needs in the market.

This study just reinforced for me a few key principles of good product design:

• Pick your target market, both in terms of whom you are targeting and when you plan to bring the product to market
  
• Determine the needs of that market, ideally by studying first-hand the problems they face or that you believe they will face in your target time-frame
• Design your product to solve those problems in a way that can be brought to market affordably and profitably

Well, the votes are in and, unlike in the Democratic primaries, the winners and losers are clear from the voting. Thanks to everyone who nominated their most and least favorite products and services of 2007 and to everyone who voted on those nominations, either publicly via comments or privately via email.

Apple Wins the 2007 User>Driven Hall of Fame

With multiple nominations for Leopard, the iPhone, the iPod Touch and AppleTV, Apple had the critical mass to lift them head and shoulders among others. Yes, Apple is a company and not a product or a service, but the consistency of nominations and votes for their products and services prompted me to award them the title collectively.

"This is easy. The best product is Apples' Leopard OS. The worst is Vista. I would have said the iPhone is the best, but the opportunity to compare / contrast Apple and MS for each of their OS releases was too compelling."

"iPhone anyone??"

"I'd have to second (or maybe third) the iPhone as best. If this is truly a competition of design then it wins hands down. The small technical and pricing issues with it don't come anywhere close to outweighing the elegance of the UI and user experience. That said, I'm waiting (seemingly forever) for the 3G version :)"

"ON THE POSITIVE side, I'm going to nominate the iPod Touch, especially in light of the software upgrade announced on Tuesday. As soon as Some Bright Mind figures out how to rig an audio in microphone and get VOIP working on it, it will become my must-have device."

"I'm going to go ahead and cast my ballot for Leopard. I'm really most intrigued by its contrast with Vista, the way it shows off what an OS can do if it's not hobbled by coming from Microsoft."

HONORABLE MENTION goes to the Blueline Power Cost Monitor for the greenest product nominated. I used this at home and with what I learned I was able to reduce my electricity usage by about 25% on a sustainable basis. By translating usage into dollars in real time, it quickly helps you learn what sucks the money out of your wallet and look for ways to save.

Samsung u540 V CAST Music Phone Wins 2007 User>Driven Hall of Shame

There was enough complaining about this one particular low-cost music phone from Samsung that it had to be the winner overall. (It was nominated twice in the first two responses to the contest announcement.)

"Every time I pick it up I accidentally engage two or three different buttons. Most times, my fumbling gets me to one step short of snapping a photo. And if you are not careful, it will snap shut on you while you are trying to open it to answer the phone"

"Worst product is my wife's Samsung cell phone."

"I keep my votes to the...Samsung phone (worst), as it has only proved itself worse every day."

DISHONORABLE MENTION goes to iTunes movie rentals for their 24-hour policy. Renting movies right from your TV or your Mac and moving them easily between devices seems like a dream come true - unless you are one of those people who have a hard time finding two hours at a stretch to watch an entire movie (and who doesn't?). Pause your movie until tomorrow then try to pick it up again on a different device and poof! It's gone.

Nomination Awards 

As promised, User>Driven t-shirts go out to those who nominated the winners. Glen was the first to mention Apple in his post about Leopard vs. Vista. Gina (my sister - full disclosure) jumped in early with the Samsung u540. Congratulations and thanks for playing our game!

Apple Insider reports that "Google on Wednesday said it has seen 50 times more search requests coming from Apple iPhones than any other mobile handset -- a revelation so astonishing that the company originally suspected it had made an error culling its own data."

Maybe that's because using the net on more traditional handheld devices is so gawdawful. I've had numerous internet-enabled phones but I've never found the usability adequate enough that I wasn't willing to wait until I got back to my computer to get to what I wanted. By putting a real browser and a usable input paradigm (in other words no more Blackberry 3 clicks for every 1 you'd normally have to make) in the iPhone, Apple has made the mobile net usable.

Another one for the water is wet category, I guess. Now if they'd only add 1 32-gig model and Exchange compatibility. 3G would be nice, too. 

Thank you to everyone who wrote in nominations for the 2007 User>Driven Hall of Fame and Shame. We have 14 nominations for the Hall of Fame and 7 for the Hall of Shame. Post your votes below as comments by Saturday, February 9th. The votes will be counted and winners declared on the 10th. The original nominators of the winning products or services will receive User>Driven t-shirts from Zazzle.com!

Nominees for the 2007 Hall of Fame

• Traditional kitchen Egg slicer
  
• Black & Decker 18V Pivot Vac portable vacuum cleaner
• WordPress blog hosting service
• GM OnStar auto safety and security system
  
• Apple MacOS Leopard operating system software
  
• Apple iPhone connected device
  
• Apple iPod Touch wifi MP3 player
• AppleTV media server
  
• Original Microsoft Zune wifi MP3 player
  
• Eyefi 2-gig SD memory card with built-in 802.11 wireless
• Blueline Power Cost Monitor
• DD-WRT open source wireless router firmware
  
• Windows Home Server software
  
• Google Apps online applications

• Samsung u540 v cast music phone
• Apple iPhone connected device
  
• Apple iChat video chat service
• Apple iTunes movie rentals
  
• Microsoft Windows Vista operating system software
  
• Yahoo! online services
• 2008 Honda Accord automobile exterior design
  

Some of you may have noticed a few additions in the above lists. I've added my own nominations to both lists, things that impressed me (favorably or un-) in 2007.

I've nominated AppleTV for the Hall of Fame because it's worked so well for me as a music, video and photo server. It really has been a set-it-and-forget-it device for me from day 1. I wrote a blog entry on it back in March '07. I liked it then and I like it all the more as Apple has added new features. In particular, I was pleased when Apple announced movies (and TV shows, I hope eventually) for rent instead of for purchase through iTunes and directly through AppleTV. In my original comments I suggested that Apple should allow me to download content directly from the device instead of always requiring me to go to my Mac and use iTunes and then sync. They've listened to customers like me and gone and done that via a software upgrade. (Steve Jobs even mentioned customer feedback on this feature in his MacWorld 2008 keynote speech.) That's user-driven!

A feature of this same new service pushed me to add iTunes movie rentals to the Hall of Shame nominees, though. I approve of renting these kinds of bits, but the time limits on rentals make no sense to me. Rentals last up to 30 days from the time of download and 24 hours from the time you begin watching. I think a simpler model would be to allow you to watch it all the way through 1-3 times. This would prompt people to buy and download content that they mean to watch someday without worrying about it expiring before they get around to it. I think people will become reluctant to sign up for season passes to TV shows, for example, unless they religiously watch the shows as they arrive. The 30-day restriction bothers me less, though, than the 24-hour one. I personally have a trouble watching a 2-hour movie in one sitting. I have kids and it's hard for my wife and I to sit down to watch something until late in the evening, by which time we usually only have an hour or so before we have to go to bed. We have a good thing going now with Netflix where we can watch half of a movie, find a good place to pause, and pick the other half up the next evening. The Apple rental model, though, would cause the movie to expire just as we were sitting down to watch it on day 2. With the 30-day restriction in place, I just can't fathom the purpose of the 24-hour window. As far as I can see, it accomplishes nothing but keeping me away. This is a common restriction (Comcast OnDemand works the same way), but I had hoped for a more thoughtful approach from Apple.

I've also nominated the 2008 Honda Accord's new sheet metal for the Hall of Shame. This is a popular car that's been accused of blandness for many years, and I am assuming that Honda decided they needed to liven up the design a bit as they did with the smaller Civic. I personally find the new design simply ugly, however. They've taken an elegant and simple design and made it look bulky and complicated. It looks sporty from a few specific angles, but from most it looks quite awkward. The design is similar to, though edgier than, the new Toyota Camry with similar squared-off lower bodywork meant, I assume, to look like the custom bodywork you see on tuner cars. Given these cars are usually sold to more mature folks, though, this seems an like odd design direction. Maybe I'm just getting old. There are also design cues in the high beltline and overall bulk from the very successful Chrysler 300, and in the deep crease along the Honda's flanks and the bulbous rear on both cars that seem lifted directly from Chris Bangle's work at BMW - neither of which have impressed me.

See the reader comments at the bottom of the 2007 Hall of Fame and Shame announcement for background on why each of the other nominees should be considered. Post your votes as comments below by this Saturday and we'll soon find out what products and services you think were the best- and worst-designed in 2007. Thanks!

Well, it's that time of the year again and time for the second annual User>Driven Hall of Fame and Shame.

Last year, if you can still cast your mind back that far, a number of products and services were nominated by readers, but in the end, Netflix won the Hall of Fame award for their innovative CD-by-mail service and continuous improvement program for their online user interface.

The Comcast HD DVR won the Hall of Shame award for "frequent crashes, unresponsive remotes, poor navigation and searching, and the lack of basic features found on competing DVRs that have been on the market for many years."

Like last year, I'd like to invite readers to submit nominations for products or services that they thing are incredibly well or incredibly poorly designed. Last year's instructions, slightly updated:

Take 10 seconds right now and think of the one thing (product, service, website, software, gadget, whatever) that really works for you, that's so elegant in its design and operation it must be the result of a good feedback loop between the product designers and its intended users. Write down your first thought in reply to this entry.

Then take 10 more seconds and think of the one thing (same list) that really irks you every time you have to use it because the product designer clearly did not take the time to think about how it would really be used or try it out on one real-life person before getting it to market. Write that down too and hit reply.

Even if your favorite product or service isn't new for 2007, if you used it or became aware of it this year, put it down.

Last year I nominated a few items but this year it's all up to you. Just click the little comments link below to add a comment telling everyone why your most and least favorites are deserving of praise and/or scorn. Let's hear it!