Fixpert

Every so often, I help a co-worker of mine (I will refer to him as “Phil”) by reprogramming his cell phone so that his ringer is not so loud at work. He is a smart guy, and though he doesn’t have a technical background, he is proficient on a computer. In fact, he uses a computer all day long for his job.

I think if Phil put his mind to it, he would certainly be able to re-program the phone himself. Which leads me to this post. I think that instilling confidence into our audience — whether on the web or on an electronic device — is an important component of good interface design. Something about Phil’s phone intimidates him, and eventhough he is embarrassed when his phone rings so loudly (keep in mind, embarrassment is a strong motivational tool) he doesn’t even attempt to change the settings himself because he is sure he won’t be able to figure it out. In fact, he is more willing to cringe and avoid eye contact with his colleagues as his phone rings loudly, than pick the phone up and start pressing buttons.

There are implications here not only for physical product design, but also web design:

• Are we offering so many features that even the most basic features go unused?
• Are we using industry jargon — or sometimes jargon specific to our company — to label our interfaces?
• Are we creating interfaces for our internal customers (inside the company) that are ineffective or unusable for the actual customers?
• Would you want to use your own product?
• Would your parents?

I know I’m not the first person to ask these questions, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on this. I am also interested in hearing how web designers can use their industry expertise to influence the decision-makers in our companies to make decisions that are good for the online customer. The traditional sales method of throwing as much in the customer’s face as possible just does not translate to the web, so it’s up to us to educate our bosses, and our boss’s bosses.

CNN Money published an article today about a significant spike in nationwide bike sales during this time of increasing fuel costs. While I know that the increasing gas prices can be problematic — particularly for the working class — at least the country is getting fit, getting some fresh air, and hopefully remembering how fun riding a bike was when they were a kid. I hope that those who have turned to their bikes as an alternate source of transportation will continue to keep it in mind even if gas prices decline.

I have noticed that sometimes adults who already own a bike and would like to ride just don’t know how to oil their chains and get their older bikes running again. I would suggest that you look to your own community for help. You can take your bike in to a local bike shop for a tune up which will probably be pretty cheap. Also, many cities now have “community bike shops” that are run by volunteers. These shops usually offer free bike repair and maintenance classes, and let you use their tools for free in the shop while they talk you through doing your own repairs. See how riding bikes builds community? You don’t dilly dally around your local auto shop and chat with the repair guys and other residents as they work on their own cars, do you? I didn’t think so!

I’ve read so many blogs that mention Getting Things Done, a book by David Allen which outlines a method for creating a stress-free, yet productive, life. I have been so busy lately, I turned to this book in desperation. In fact, I’m so busy that I bought it through iTunes as an Audiobook and I’m attempting to listen to it on my headphones as I work — there’s no time for reading! I’m about an hour into it, and I’ll let you know how I feel about it once I begin implementing his suggestions.

One thing that this book prompted me to do this morning was to pay extra attention to what a distraction email is for me at the workplace. Ok, maybe the word “distraction” is not fair, since these emails often relate to what I’m working on or provide helpful information. However, when you consider that I am working on 3 major (very involved, very high-priority) projects at the moment, large blocks of productive time are sacred — so you can see how email can be distracting.

After keeping track for the first 4 hours of this morning, on average, I receive an email that requires some action from me every 2 minutes. This might be unusually high because it is a Monday morning, but I will continue to track this number and let you know how it progresses during the week. Having a new task every two minutes is insane, particularly when most of these don’t relate to the 3 large projects that I am working on. Also, most of these tasks are undocumented and my manager is unaware of them unless I keep him informed of my email volume.

It’s a pickle. I’m not exactly sure what the solution is. If I completely turned off email, I would hold up other projects where people need information from me to proceed, or I may even be ignoring important site errors. I’m interested in hearing how email is helping or hurting your productivity. It seems email can often become an additional to-do list that everyone else in your life has control over.