Archives / August 2009

Next few days, catch me at twitter.com/markhurst.

I love this. Garrison Keillor on golf:

The socially redeeming aspect of golf lies in the vast number of lawyers and bankers and managers who play it, and when you think of the damage they would do if they were at the job instead, you can see why golf courses are a wise investment for any municipality. ...

I don't play golf. I don't need to. I'm in the arts. We have all the opportunities for suffering that a person could possibly want. Great projects that one devotes years to turn out to be public humiliations, and the harebrained impromptu tossed off in an afternoon becomes a classic: This happens all the time.

Why did Reuters refer to Pakistan's "Muttahida Quami Movement" as the "Muttonhead Quail Movement"? Blind use of Outlook's spellcheck.

(See also the similar case of the twelve apostates.)

Hat tip to Paul.

From a Gootodo user...

Feedback: Love it ... I'm much more productive with a 'zero' inbox and couldn't do it effectively with gootodo.  I also love being able to type a 'todo' as an e-mail in my Blackberry and have it captured for later consumption in a user-friendly way.

Question: What guidance do you give people around how to manage mid-term deliverables?  (e.g. I have something I need to finish by a week from now.  If I have bandwidth within a given day, I'd work on it, but no need to necessarily touch it that day.)  If I put a number of these in my 'today' to-dos, I get a muddled to-do list, not much better than a crowded inbox.  If I leave it as a to-do for the actual due date, I don't necessarily see it as something I've got coming in the future unless I cheat ahead, which seems inefficient.  Is there a way to segregate a list within a given day of immediate to-dos vs future to-dos, but still see them all?

My response...

Appreciate your kind words on the tool! As for your question... I definitely wouldn't redate it for the due date of the todo (I think due dates are way overrated in todo list tools out there - I mostly ignore them)... instead, I'd redate the todo for the first day you need to start working on it.

Today's list, then, should be all the todos that you need to work on TODAY, at least a little bit. If you've advanced a given todo enough for the day, redate it to tomorrow to pick it up again to do more work on it.

If you want to prioritize and/or segregate what you're looking at in the list, drag-and-drop the most important todos to the top of the list, and the less important ones to the bottom of today's list.

Try it here: Gootodo.com

Gel '09 speaker Marion Nestle writes in The Atlantic:

The public deeply distrusts the integrity of the organic standards, the honesty of the inspection process, and the claims made for the benefits of organic foods.

When I reviewed the organic program in preparation for writing What to Eat, I was impressed by how everyone connected with organics thought the system worked well and was honest. That's not what I'm hearing these days.

See also: Gel '08 speaker George Vaillant in The Atlantic (on "what makes us happy")

Different age groups respond differently to
how they are contacted by automated systems:

With Gen Yers, you want to send a text message and then follow up with a voice call, which is exactly the reverse of how to deal with a GenXer: call first and then follow up with a confirming text message, while for baby boomers call first and then follow up with email.  And the strategy for seniors is to use voice prompts that speak slower and can be repeated.

... calls that avoided the use of Social Security numbers but could authenticate the account holder with some other specific information, such as an airline frequent flier ID or bank account number, increase the probability of action by 30%.

On several US towns that have improved healthcare while decreasing cost:

The stories of how these communities reformed their health care systems vary, but two common themes emerge. First, most moved away from fee-for-service, finding other ways to pay doctors.

Secondly, collaboration replaced destructive competition. Rather than engaging in medical arms races--with each hospital in the community buying the same exorbitantly expensive and redundant equipment--hospitals competed to see who could be more efficient, eliminating unneeded hospital beds, along with unnecessary hospitalizations.

Someone just asked me, "How does someone become a Gel speaker?"

I get this question often enough that I thought I'd go ahead and write the manual.

If you want to be part of Gel - the conference and community - just buy a ticket already. (Two upcoming events: Gel Health and Gel 2010.) Attendees make the event. And even speakers themselves are essentially attendees throughout the event, except for the 20 minutes they happen to be on stage. If people only are interested in Gel to get on stage, that's generally a clue to me that they're only interested in exposure and not really in Gel itself.

With that said, for someone who has a specific desire to be on stage at Gel for 20 minutes, no matter any other outstanding experience you could have the rest of the time as an attendee (once again - just sign up already), then here are my suggestions...

How to become a Gel speaker

Do something amazing that hasn't been done before, and that hasn't been spoken about a million times at other conferences. And actually create or do something direct and real, not something about something else. (In the language of Gel, create a good experience, not just some abstract ideas.) And do it for awhile, so it has some longevity, and results, backing it up. At Gel we look for the real thing, the enduring thing, the good and authentic thing, not just a shiny exciting theory or the momentary blip of hype.

So - what doesn't work: "I have a new framework about design/marketing/experience/happiness and have written a book/won a design award/landed a big client with this idea." Nope.

Also what doesn't work: "I'm so great, and my career as a designer/consultant/author/whatever is so impressive, that I'll allow you to put me on stage to give an infomercial about my services." Uhh... no.

And by the way, if you're from a marketing agency or consulting firm or design house, buy a ticket and we'd love to have you as an attendee... we generally don't look for vendors to be on stage. (Please don't ask to speak about the book on marketing you just wrote. Lots of other books and lots of other conferences cover marketing already!)

What does work: I've created a customer-centered business over 20 years and have learned some timeless lessons that I can share. (See Danny Meyer or Chip Conley or John Williams.) Or, I'm working on making healthcare more patient-centered, and here's what we've tried so far. (See Bridget Duffy). Or, I had the insane idea to create 365 skulls in a year and actually did it, and here's how I managed to do it and what I learned. (That was Noah Scalin.) Or, I've helped free over 200 wrongfully convicted people from prison, including my co-presenter, and here's what that's like. (Video here.) Or here are a bunch of real-world examples of how to look at design in a different light. (Thanks, Seth Godin.) Or I researched how Las Vegas designs its customer experience, and here's what I learned. (Natasha Schull.) Or here's how I brew good beer, or tell a good story, or write a good song, or design a good, I mean actually good, ad campaign. Or a bunch of other awesome speakers, all at Gel Videos.

And whatever you do, at all costs, never ever ever dispatch a PR person to write the conference organizer a note saying, "I have a client who's interested in speaking at your event." My thought is always, wow - they want to speak at an event but haven't figured out how to write an email themselves! Either that or they're too important to talk to the conference organizer, so they send someone else to do it for them. (One major exception: I pay attention to any recommendation from a past Gel speaker, or from any longtime Gel attendee.)

One last thing, maybe particular to Gel, it really helps not to have spoken before at other major events. If you're "on the circuit" already, it's unlikely that there's a fit with Gel. This is why I generally don't invite speakers based on any application I get from them (or, of course, their handlers)... usually good Gel speakers are people who have not spoken about their work, and so they're not out there trying to get a speaking slot.

In other words, anyone thinking of applying to speak probably is more suited to participate as an attendee than on stage. (So sign up already.)

But think of it this way. If you're doing great work, and are applying to lots of conferences to talk about your work, there are PLENTY of other stages to pursue. Just consider Gel more of an event that you should attend. So sign up already. (Two upcoming events: Gel Health and Gel 2010.)

P.S. Two more suggestions. Be responsive over email. And be nice.

Three things New York City can teach you about good experience. I just came across these all today and thought I'd share the contradictions.

Over at Herald Square, not far from Macy's, the new JC Penney's gets reviewed by the NYTimes fashion section, with amusingly (and perhaps predictably) snobby results:

J. C. Penney has always trafficked in knockoffs that aren't quite up to Canal Street's illegal standards. It was never "get the look for less" so much as "get something vaguely shaped like the designer thing you want, but cut much more conservatively, made in all-petroleum materials, and with a too-similar wannabe logo that announces your inferiority to evil classmates as surely as if you were cursed to be followed around by a tuba section."

The rest of the article is complimentary, in a faint-praise sort of way, ceding that it's "a clean new space in Midtown to buy affordable clothes in hard-to-find sizes, as well as attentive service from attitude-free professionals."

Lesson: Thin is in.

But over in Brooklyn it's hip to be round - that is, to have a fashionable potbelly. If macho is out, and the recession doesn't allow for metrosexual fashion choices, then "the Kramden" is the way to go. Even if trucker hats are out, the the look (if not the Dude) abides.

Lesson: Thin is not in.

And above all, a good experience is the High Line, one of the best new arrivals in New York City: a completely free public park repurposed from an old elevated train track.

Perhaps a glimpse at New York's post-peak-oil, climate-changed future? Low impact, community-minded, green construction fostering native plants, overlooking an attractively decaying pier, and (just missed it) sail traffic in the river. In the future the air is cleaner - and humid. Anyway, that's what I experienced in the moment below:

That vision is perhaps what the founders of the Water Pod have in mind... a waterborne experiment in art and sustainable living, covered here and pictured below:

Lesson: Out is in. It's cool to be outside!

The Times has been giving this good coverage...

• Drivers and legislators dismiss cellphone risks

• U.S. withheld data on risks of distracted driving

• Whirling dervish drivers:

Studies show that drivers who talk on cellphones are four times more likely to be in a crash and drive just as erratically as people with an 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level. ...

The tech industry is our drug dealer, feeding the intense social and economic pressure to stay constantly in touch with employers, colleagues, friends and family.

It also explains why Christopher Hill, a 21-year-old from Oklahoma who killed a woman last September when he ran a red light while on his cellphone and rammed into her S.U.V., tried to keep dialing and driving with a headset his mother gave him two months after the accident.

• Cabbies stay on their phones despite ban

...and see also Two paths to take in the digital world, which compares the problems with constant texting (especially for teenagers) vs. a different path to happiness.

As always, more on the topic in Bit Literacy.

Families realize that bits have taken over their mornings: "he constantly feels the tug of waiting messages on his BlackBerry, even during morning hours that are reserved for family time."

(Only way to engage bits properly is to actively be disciplined in letting them go. more in Bit Literacy)

Next coupla days I'm at http://twitter.com/markhurst.

From Forbes.com, how to write an effective email, in which I'm quoted a few times. Get to the point, then end the message as soon as possible.

And apologies in advance to Peter Post for my facetious remarks about his steam-powered computer... I kid, I kid! (Just hope he's not as thin-skinned as some other authors.)

I cover email writing in more detail in Bit Literacy, by the way.

I'm happy to announce the first Gel Challenge, with a theme of "listening."

We want designers, thinkers, innovators - that is to say, YOU who are reading this - to create new and better ways of listening, environments for listening, tools for listening, projects or sketches or proposals that spotlight good listening. The topic comes up so frequently in Gel talks that I know it will be a rich source of new ideas.

There's tremendous talent in the Good Experience community - I've met a few thousand of you in person at past Gel events, so I know this - and this is your chance to show the world what you can create.

I'll spotlight the best entries online, and I'll choose one or two entries to show from the stage at Gel 2010 next spring.

Anyone is eligible to send in an entry.

Entry deadline is Tuesday, October 27. Go for it!

Guidelines, and current teams, are here: http://gelconference.com/challenge

From an amusing review of a redesign with a less-than-desirable outcome:

Network Solutions has decided that the service called "Domain" was much too obscure and difficult to understand and so it's much clearer if we now call it "nsWebAddress". Huh?

Also, "Web Site" was so obscure that it was better changed to "nsSpace" or "nsBusinessSpace". And you know those "SSL Certificates"? Well, that was way too confusing, so let's call them "nsProtect".

I'm sure that someone in Network Solutions' marketing department got really excited about all these changes. I'm also betting that they don't actually use their own product.

Ironically, Network Solutions announced the redesign with a page saying, "You've spoken. We've listened." Really?

Quoting this column:

The point is not to go ask your customers what they want. If you ask that question in the formative stages, then you're doing it wrong. The point is to go immerse yourself in their environment and ask lots of "why" questions until you have thoroughly explored the ins and outs of their decision making, needs, wants, and problems. At that point, you should be able to break their needs and the opportunities down into a few simple statements of truth. ... unless you put a face and expectations on that consumer, then disagreements about features or product positioning or design come down to who can pull the greatest political will - rather than who has the cleanest interpretation of the consumer's need.

Lots of people avoid Starbucks because it's just one more chain store in the neighborhood, opting instead for a mom-and-pop coffee shop that has more heart, is run by neighbors, keeps the dollars in the community, and so on.

In some of these neighborhoods, Starbucks is responding by removing its logo from its stores, so that people think they're at a neighborhood shop.

A Starbucks PR person says that the undercover strategy is for "amplified focus on local relevance," so that "customers will feel an enhanced sense of community." In other words, Starbucks is pretending to be authentic.

How will customers feel when they inevitably find out who runs this faux neighborhood place? This is no Disney experience. A faux European main street is fine at Disney World, because you know you're entering a fantasy when you enter the gates to the park. It's a totally different matter when someone puts up the pretense in your own neighborhood.

This is a shame, says the Huffington Post article quoted above, because "the company's coffee-buying practices are admirable... and of course CEO Howard Schultz has won deserved praise for providing health-care benefits and stock options to even part-time employees. ... [so] why go into hiding?"