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

HT: my friend Carrie who shared it on Facebook

Kevin Bales: How to combat modern slavery

Are we truly free?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

I kinda like the song.  I’d like it even more if it was praise about how well the airline handled the blunder.  Yeah, deal with mistakes (already).

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!

Here’s there video about the contest.  I think this video is pretty cool on its own.

And, now the contest is extended through December 4th.

P.S. awesome ways to start 004

Am I missing anything?  Is there a batch of reasons why I (or anyone for that matter) might not want that?  The only thing that I can think of is that there may be some sort of profit motive for a certain platform.  Other than that, why would platform restricted be desirable?

I work with SharePoint, a lot.  I like it when it works everywhere.  I don’t like it when it doesn’t.  It’s painful when I try to do training and studying and the web sites I’m using are not available and do not render correctly – (or don’t let me check out and pay for the things I just shopped for… yes, that’s what spurred this post) – because they’re not supported on various platforms (iPhone, Mac, PC, Windows Mobile, TV, DVR, set top box, in car navigation, mall kiosk, seat back touch screens in airplanes and busses, touch screens in the kitchen or on whatever wall I’m near and need a display, etc.).

This isn’t about the technical challenges.  This is about actually desiring versus not desiring to have ubiquitous, platform agnostic living.  Maybe, if we start to think that way, we’ll start to design and build and live that way.  Maybe.  One thing is certain.  If we do not think that way, we will not get there.

I recently listened to a couple podcasts about leadership and read a blog post that talked about leadership.  Being behind on my listening and reading, they all ‘happened’ to come back-to-back-to-back as I was catching up.  I’d like to share.  I do not have any expectations that you will read or listen to all of this.  I just want to “put it out there” and to make it available.

From what I know now and what I have experienced in my life up to this point, I think that great leadership is the most desired quality for any organization.  I think a lot of people can figure things out and a lot of people can learn how to manage and get things done.  Leadership is different than that.  Leadership takes a willingness and desire to inspire, guide, model, listen, challenge, adapt, create, adjust, quit, start, build, reflect, document, and learn.  There are a couple more verbs that I think are critical.  Leadership requires that one must be personally responsible and one must be personally accountable.  I think managers are plug-and-play.  I think leaders are yearn-and-strive.

What are your thoughts about leadership or about this view of leadership?

I’m listening.