Agile Innovation and 1 Dollar

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Last year I stepped in to lead the development of the UI for Avaya’s
next generation desktop phone.  The time pressures were such that there
were only 90 days to complete a major innovation, and numerous
obstacles that made progressing a challenge.

The approach used to get that done has some interesting intersection
points with the value of the 99 cents music download and the $1.50
cup of coffee.  Let’s see, innovation, being agile about innovation and
the value of 1 dollar… hopefully I can pull that together in the next couple
of hundred words and make it an interesting read at the same time.

Before I go further, there’s a great read by Charles Mauro on unwrapping
what makes the game Angry Bird such an innovative success.  Be sure to read
his blog when you get a chance.

To innovate rapidly and be a success at it, you need great people on the
bus.  You also need protection, someone who will protect your time and
priorities, and who also will run interference when you need it.  But that’s
been written about regularly, so let me go back to this intersection point of value.

Let me ask you a question, “What if you could only define innovation by
the value the user assigns to it?”   How would you go about determining
the user’s criteria for their rating card?

During this sprint, several predicatable ways users assign value emerged,
tying innovation, agility and decision making.  Let me list three for you:

1. The innovation has to make sense and be recognizable. It has
to form a gestalt that the user has experienced or can rapidly adopt based
upon previous experience.   Translation – if you do this right, the user “gets”
how to use the product very quickly, because the product is using structures
that the user already recognizes.

2. The innovation has to coincide with the mental sequence that user’s
follow to use a tool, like your innovative product, to solve their problem.
If you get this right, then the product seems intuitive.  That means it
works through a series of steps that the user is already familiar with, and
they are sequenced in a way that they don’t disrupt the user’s anticipations of
what should be done next.

3.  Each level of Innovation has to be consumable.  It has to be
entertaining, and it has to do so at the detail level such that the user
could decide to buy it (if it were for sale) at the $1 level.  Think about
this for a moment.  When we are faced with choices, including determining
if a new “innovative” product is of value, we often look at small dollar, but
consumable features.  It’s the small things that we “consume” that
we’re most comfortable assigning value to.  It’s easier to decide on a
.99 cent single track music download, then paying $12 for an album.

When it comes to innovation, the small things and whether or not
they please or satisfy (or substitute whatever consumption word you prefer),
in a way the user can easily identify is critical.  There are a number of
ways to go about this, but one over-arching key is to verify, verify,
verify that your assumptions about product value are validated by the
user at the $1 level.  The faster you can test specific innovation features,
the more agile and accurate the innovation.

Bottom Line:

Innovation is best done as an agile exercise in which the value is based
on being recognizable, intuitive, worth a dollar, and verified with
repeated, rapid testing.  Borrowing from the manufacturing world,
you want your “cycle time” between innovating and verifying the
user experience to be as short as possible, as you test to see if you
have hit the combination of perceptual gestalts, cognitive sequences
and consumable value that get a thumbs up from the user.

Monday, February 21st, 2011
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ManagePro Ranks #2 in Value Delivered in Aberdeen’s Business Intelligence Axis Report

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ManagePro beat heavyweights such as Cognos, Microsoft, Hyperion and
SAP for Value Delivered in Aberdeen’s Q1 2009 BI software review.  We
were delighted that our value-add rated higher than all of the large
companies included in the review, placing 2nd only to Qlick Tech, a
reporting program that sits on top of SAP.  When you look at who’s
on the list and compare the sizes of the relative organizations -
it’s a bit of the David and Goliath story. 

Yes we deliver a lot of value in both the performance management and
project management areas, but here’s one of our secrets.  We begin
by delivering primary core features, like one click access to progress
updates, details, todos, and scorecards, at a very simple, immediate level. 

All the additional powerful features are there if you need them, but we
don’t want them to get in your way… when you don’t need them.
But beyond the software, one of the biggest value-adds is the way we
engage with our customer base, should they/you decide to participate.

We know that nothing is simple at work, and yet the best solutions deal
with complexity through simple basics, which we keep striving to deliver
to you via ManagePro and its business intelligence tool set. 

I think a quote from Apple’s Steve Jobs says it very well,
“…when you start looking at a problem and it seems really simple with all
these simple solutions, you don’t really understand the complexity of the
problem.  And your solutions are way too oversimplified, and they don’t work.

Then you get into the problem, and you see it’s really complicated. And then
you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That’s sort of the middle,
and that’s where most people stop, and the solutions tend to work for
awhile.  But the really great person will keep on going and find, sort of,
the key, underlying principle of the problem. And come up with a
beautiful elegant solution that works.”

Or as Mark Rafter coined it – “Jobs is striving for the simplicity on the
otherside of complexity.” 

At Performance Solutions Technology… so are we.

Bottom Line:

Make sure you are taking advantage of the tremendous performance
management and business intelligence capabilities under the
hood of ManagePro, starting with the powerful basics of having:

1. Clear descriptions of each of your projects and tasks in the Details -
    keep everyone clear about expectations
2. Current Progress Updates – latest updates at your finger tips
3. Action Items tracked in your Todos – no details slip through the cracks
4. Key documents attached – for no hassel searching
5. Establish metrics and track with scorecards every core process.
6. And finally stay engaged with us, we’ll help you raise your business to a
    higher level.

Links:

Performance Management Software

 Leading Performance Improvement

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
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MPro Mobile Application Feedback from Avaya

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MproWeb MobileDesign Target: Highly functional “Add-On” application for existing ManagePro and MproWeb users, providing 5 basic functions for the logged in user with minimal learning curve:

1. Today’s View (list of items scheduled for Today)
2. To-do list
3. Event list
4. GAPR Outline view with basic related data records
5. Email outbound of records

Feedback: PST requests feedback from Avaya team members in the form of comments attached to this blog entry. Please provide your first name and last initial for reference as well as the phone model being used. In terms of type of feedback requested, the following areas at a minimum would be very helpful:

1. Ease of Use / Relative Learning Curve Imposed on the Use – What % of the application is immediately obvious how to use, and what % takes _ minutes to feel comfortable with?
2. Transition from previous use of ManagePro – What features felt like it required a learning curve transition from other versions of ManagePro, and what level of obstacle did that transition(s) represent?
3. Intuitive Design – Are there any parts of the application that left you wondering “What do I do next?
4. Feature Functionality – Did the features work without gliches?
5. Wow Effect – Compared to other mobile/Blackberry applications in the marketplace, what’s the relative Wow effect when using MPro Mobile? 6. Price Point – Based on other known applications what would you expect to pay for this type of functionality? 
�
Configuration: Make sure the browser application in your phone has the following enabled:
 

Blackberry Devices (320 pixel supported, layout issues with 240 pixel phones)
1. Enable Javascript
2. Enable HTML Tables
3. Enable CSS Style Sheets
4. Enable Javascript Popups
5. Use “Mobile” view (not “Desktop” view)

Nokia Devices (Actual Settings Unknown, in general
1. Enable Javascript/Jscript
2. Enable CSS Styles and HTML Tables
3. Enable Cookies

Palm OS Treo (Blazer Browser) (Some known layout issues in Details view)�
1. Set Small Font
2. Use “Wide” mode
3. Enable Javascript
4. Enable Cookies

Windows Mobile Devices�
1. Use “Fit to Screen” or “Desktop” mode.

Also, make sure your device is not set to “WAP” or “Optimized” mode; some phones have an “optimized” mode for browsing which basically ignores the entire layout configuration and displays all elements in a vertical list. Note: The application does not support two users logging in simultaneously with the same name and password. The last person entering in that mode will cancel out the previous users’ session. Bottom line use your own login name and password.

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
Posted in Product-Development | No Comments »