I’m reading Made to Stick. The timing is excellent….

1. There are updates that you need.
2. There are updates that you want.
3. It is the responsible thing to do.
4. It is easy.
5. You are responsible for your delinquency.
6. It’s not about technology.
7. Listen to the real experts.
8. Your valuable time is your valuable time.
9. Your favorite geek’s valuable time is not your valuable time.
10. You will thank me later.

A couple related posts about doing updates are also very relevant.

This is a cross-post from the J Street Technology – Blog.

Engaging in Conversation

By way of introduction, I am Toby Getsch, a Program Manager and SharePoint MCTS here at J Street.  I’m excited to engage in some conversation and start leveraging blogging and social networking more – all while trying to promote and bring awareness to the SharePoint practice and other great services.

To get started, we’ve done a few things to open up the dialogue.  We’ve turned on comments here on this blog and will be monitoring them to make sure your input and feedback and conversation is heard and you know that it is valued.  On each blog post we’ve enabled both Facebook and Twitter buttons for you to share/tweet about the post.  We’ve added J Street Techand CartGenie Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.  (@JStreetTech and @CartGenie)  We’ve integrated some more social links in various other places.  And, we’ve also enabled a mobile browsing format so you can use your favorite mobile device and still have a great viewing experience.

Any time an organization makes some changes like this, there can be a variety of results.  One thing we’re aware of is that it increases your access to us.  We have to take that in with everything else going on, and also try to engage in it.  Please know that we’re working hard to provide excellent service.  To that end, we’d like to request that you continue to use the regular channels for support requests.  Those are linked here and available at JStreetTech.com.

In short, we are definitely listening!  And, now we want to spread the J Street love in more places.

Thanks for your time.
~Toby

Stay tuned!  And, let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see me write about.

There are many paths to select from, and you may struggle to find the one that works for you. However, the one that keeps coming back to solve your problems and make your life better and absorb your disorganized state of being… that’s the one that you’re likely to end up sticking with. Hello SharePoint 2010!

V1 was cool. (SharePoint Team Services)

V2 was improved. (Windows SharePoint Services)

V3 was brag-worthy. (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server)

V4 has both mass appeal and cult following, both common and dramatic entrance and both depth of story line and pointed action moments. It’s like totally, astoundingly awesome! (Microsoft SharePoint 2010)

Shameless Plug: I work as a Program Manager and SharePoint MCTS at J Street Technology.  We do SharePoint.

Over the years I have had various online sites and have made a few transitions.  I have liked the various URL’s and hosting setups that I’ve had over time.  However, I’ve come to like “simple” a lot more.  I also think that all of the sites and blogs would benefit from being consolidated to make it easier for readers to find things.

I don’t know how it will all shake out just yet.  I would like to see one primary URL with a corresponding primary blog that is associated with that one primary URL.  And, I don’t know exactly when I’ll make the time for the transitions.  I do know they’re coming, and now you’ve been alerted.

Thanks for reading!  :)

Twitter and retweets are nice, but discussion in a closed system among people who care about similar things and can hide certain “friends” makes for a better medium than other places.  It’s actually open communication and open discussion, inside of a closed system.

I’m all for transparency (appropriate transparency), which means that not everyone should be a friend of yours on your personal Facebook account.  It does mean that if you want to have an open Facebook page, then you should make a Facebook fan page and let anyone add you to that.  It’s totally impossible to be a “friend” with thousands of people.  That’s what acquaintances are.

I could be wrong and you may disagree.  However, look around at where comments get made and where web site traffic comes from.  Do some analytics.  Referrals come from Facebook, because people want to talk about things there, not totally out in the public.

What does this mean?

This means that you can have multiple content sources, but you need to think about how you want to make it easy for people to discuss.  Check out http://kevinrose.com and look at a post or two.  Sure he’s popular and blah, blah, blah… But, there are two links for every post.  One goes to retweet on Twitter.  And, one goes to share on Facebook.  Look at the numbers next to each.  Facebook “wins” because it is a closed system that allows for and encourages open discussion.  That’s not contradictory.  That brilliant!

This trip back was done with everything I own able to fit into my truck with the top carrier.  It was not really that tight of a fit.  That’s mostly because I don’t have very much stuff.  I love that (for me).  I know that most people (in America) chose not to be that simple.  However, for me, it has become a mantra of the past few years.

I think this mantra carries over into the tech world.  Simplicity rules.

As a technologist and consumer of various technology, I have watched a lot of gadgets and programs and computer systems.  I’ve watched as people design and build things.  I’ve watched as end users gobble up or reject things.  The one solid constant is that simplicity rules.  That doesn’t mean that there should not be advanced options.  It does mean that defaults should be secure and simple, not just fastest to completion and fastest to sell a product.

Part of our information overload is due to too many products that are not designed well and ‘simply’ put, have too much crap.  For me, I decide to simplify and not consume as much.  I decide to make a personal choice to have less.  That is not for everyone.  But, it is one idea to help the glut of unorganized chaos not have such a negative force in my life.

Now, my motives and thoughts are not always to be the most profitable.  I’ll give you that.  My motives are not always to get the biggest numbers of users.  I’ll give you that.  My motives are more often to make the best, to solve a problem or to fill a niche.  Designing systems and processes that have a smaller scope is a different complexity that designing for the masses.  (That’s something that I hope to learn a lot more about in the near future and in the coming years!)  For now, I’m commenting on some feelings and some observances, not on everything and not totally comprehensively.

When we put in a CD or DVD and want it to play, we push play.  When we leave the house and want to secure it, we lock the door.  When we want to go online to view something, we want it to just work and the Internet to just be there.  Yes, I do understand the work it takes to make technology be simple.  But, I think there are things that we’re doing wrong – like making devices and systems and processes with too many options.

This post speaks more to the point of what I’m trying to say here.  Computers shouldn’t make people feel like idiots

Here are a few quotes that I think we should take to heart and should make it into the new systems we build.

“People don’t know how to use computers. And not just stupid people. Millions of people. People who are adults. And that’s pretty damn lame.”

“For those of us surrounded by the minutiae of computers all day, it’s easy to forget there’s a world of people out there who just don’t get it. And it’s not their fault. It’s ours.”

“(Note: It’s not just about making a computer or an app more accessible for people who don’t get it. It’s also for people who do get it because this way is better.)”

“You can crank up the snow machine. You can set up the slalom course perfectly. You can shape all the moguls so they’re just right. But if people can’t ever get on the ski lift, there ain’t gonna be any race.”

In short, we need to cut features.  We need to eliminate designing for false target users when our audience is not “everyone” and we need ot make things that work for a real group of target users.

We need to shape the market and redefine the market and help the market by making simple things that just work.  We need to educate the market and facilitate growth by making things that people will use… We cannot just feed the market and expect that it will figure it out.  Many times it will not.  And, many times it will find another way – if we don’t adjust and make things to be simple.

When the consumer says, “I don’t get it.” that is our fault as designers.  It is not the consumer’s fault. We need to take responsibility as technologists and designers and developers and IT pros and builders of any kind.

Take note: Simplicity rules.

P.S.  It’s been a little bit since I’ve posted here.  There have been very few times like this, lasting longer than a month, even going all the way back to 2003 or 2004, when I started blogging.  And, when it has happened, it’s been due to a good reason, like I have a bad attitude or I’m burned out or I’m moving across the country or, or, or… The point is, that it’s a new year and a new season and, well, here I go again…  (Actually, I do have several other blogs where I did post.  So, it’s not like I have not been blogging.  It’s just on this particular blog that it’s been a little while.  Anyway…)

We need to make information simple.

We need to listen and organize and purge.

We need to be patient with those around us who adapt at different rates.

We need to revisit our approach.

I just watched this “Web 2.0″ video again.  It is information overload.  Yet, it also is about managing external perception.  It is about social networking and Twitter and blogs and hyperlinks and sharing information.  (It’s also linked with several other FAQ related videos, right here on this blog.)

The Machine is Us/ing Us

We need to slow down.  We do not need to speed up.

We need to stop multi-tasking.  We need to say no.

We need to say less, spend more time being the expert, and less time marketing.

I’ve said “we” a lot here.  That’s because “I” think “I” have some ideas that “I” think will help make other people’s lives more enjoyable, more simple, more balanced, more about what “we” want our lives to be about.

Stay tuned!