Why ‘Me’? Brilliant deconstruction of MobileMe
Monthly Archive for June, 2008
Marketing blowhards like to pronounce that their new product is a ‘game changer’ or some new type of never-before-seen hybrid. Technology pundits frequently proclaim that ‘in the near future’ we will all be doing this or that, ‘like never before!’. Rarely are any of these bursts of hot air borne out by actual facts.
After watching the WWDC keynote, however, I have a profound feeling that this time is different. What Apple has wrought with the new iPhone SDK, iPhone 3G, and MobileMe seems clearly to be a momentous, singular shift in the technology continuum. This, my friends, is a game-changer.
The wicked, once-mythological concoction of real mobile Internet access, location-based functionality (especially GPS mapping), multi-device synching, and an open development platform into one easy-to-use handheld device inexorably alters - accelerates - our technological trajectory. Many ideas once written off as pie-in-the-sky sci-fi are now, literally, within our grasp.
Family functions, friendships, work environments, education, exercise routines, hospitals, doctor visits, game-play, shopping, socializing, - everything - is going to change, and not in some theoretical distant future, but right before our very eyes, starting next month.
Video of the eye-popping MIMVista app:
Closing in on three years with my current employer. At first, things were new! and different! and I had to expend great energy to adapt to the quirks of the new environment: different people, work flows, org structures, and of course, new products.
Those were interesting times. Here I was, head full of the great (and lame) things that I experienced with my old job at Wells Fargo, now tapped into the pulse of Bank of America’s user experience design group. My eyes were fresh, my hopes and expectations not yet re-formatted (crushed?) by the new ‘realities’.
The upside of this temporary naivety? Fresh eyes. That is, having not yet been indoctrinated into the new environment and culture, and having still-vibrant recollection of life in my old organization, I brought new ways of looking at things, a temporary condition that comes to an apex maybe 6-12 months into such an experience. That moment one has learned enough about the new reality, yet still have strong memories of past experiences that ideas of new, better ways to do things still flow freely.
But the window of opportunity does not last forever. Eventually, soon, the organizational structure, politics, brow beatings and red tape of the new reality become routine. Aspirations of change, improvement, or flat-out new ways of looking at people, products, or problems begin to dissipate, overtaken by numbness and apathy. The once-fresh eyes grow stale, the voice of change grows muted, and the great velvet tomb begins to encase you, as you grow comfortable with the ‘way things are done around here’.
Last Monday, I attended an IxDA event at the Adaptive Path studios. The talk, “Herding Cats and Taming Lions,” was given by Jon Littell, a user experience director from Hot Studios. I had no clear expectation of what I was to hear, and so with an open mind. The event was great, with a pleasant pre-presentation meet & greet period, and great turn out. Also, the cheese and crackers were dee-lish.
Littell brings his background in Psychology studies to bear in his approaches to facilitating, and proved to be a great presenter, offering a wealth of psychological concepts that can be tapped to understand individuals and get the most out of people who are taking part in group brainstorming.
A couple of key concepts that I was able to retain include the notion that any facilitator must enable participants to express themselves in a way that is in line with their own needs. Using personality type maps, Littell pointed out that people are motivated by- and like to express themselves in different ways. I’ve been part of many brainstorming groups and I will say that the quality of the facilitator is usually essential to extracting the value hidden within the hearts and minds of the brain stormers.
He highlighted the efforts of an outfit call The Grove, a band of consultants who practice a method called ‘graphic facilitation’; roughly, a way to guide conversations using visual cues and mapping to capture ideas and propel the collective thought processes. Also of note is the de Bono Hat concept, also conceived as a means to enhance the thought process, but more specifically a method to describe unique psychographic profiles that then may be adopted by individuals or groups as they engage in disucssions.
My descriptions above are clearly inadequate in their attempts to capture Littell’s presentation, but the larger point remains: the IxDA hosts terrific events that draw a group of talented designers and terrific speakers. People pay thousands of dollars to attend ‘conferences’ that contain lots of the kind of ideas that you can find in talks like this, for free.
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