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Windows 8.1 will evolve… and respond to consumer feedback
The Financial Times reported today: “Microsoft is preparing to reverse course over key elements of its Windows 8 operating system, marking one of the most prominent admissions of failure for a new mass-market consumer product since Coca-Cola’s New Coke fiasco nearly 30 years ago.” One of the most prominent admissions of failure since New Coke? What gratuitous hyperbole.…
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A FlashBuild – the Flash Mob for product development
Customer involvement and user feedback is at the core of building great software experiences that people want and love. It’s a bit old now, but I just stumbled on this impressive way to build an app with customer feedback at the core. Nordstrom innovation lab built an iPad app in just one week to help…
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Whose line is it anyway? (Don’t block your colleagues)
In improvisation theatre (yes, I was a theatre nerd in high school) there is a concept called blocking. Essentially, whenever you have an interaction with someone on the stage in improv, your interaction should allow the next person to pick up the thread and run with it to continue the scene. In other words, you…
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The users lose
When the giants of the tech world play the game of thrones, it’s the users who pay the blood price. About two weeks ago Twitter removed the Instagram inline preview of Instagram photos, meaning Twitter users can no longer see Instagram photos their friends have posted directly in the twitter stream: users now need to…
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The stand-in Lumia 920
Can’t wait for your Nokia Lumia 920? Although shipments have started, not everyone has been able to get their hands on one yet. But here’s an inventive solution constructed by my friend Geoff to “get a feel for the Lumia”. Almost as good as the real thing!
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Inspiration from Tennyson (and Bond)
Inspiration is oft revealed in the unlikeliest of places. Such as, for example, the latest Bond film Skyfall, where M quotes the marvellous Alfred Lord Tennyson and his amazing work, ‘Ulysses‘: Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which…
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The Product Owner – the poster
Being a Product Owner sure is a lot of work! Following my talk at the recent ALE unconference in Barcelona, I re-made the iconography used in my talk and turned it into a poster: The Complete Product Owner Poster. The poster is available in three colour combinations, and is printable on any normal office or…
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Apple Maps and the Tall Poppy Syndrome
Ever since Apple launched iOS6 with their brand new Apple Maps, the web has been flooded with reports, posts, tweets and even special tumbler blogs dedicated to pointing out how ‘catastrophically bad’ Apple’s Maps product is. The cacophony reached a crescendo on Friday with this post from the normally respectable Business Insider, pointing out how…
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The “tweet pitch”: an elevator pitch in 140 characters
What’s the one sentence that describes your product? We all know about the Elevator Pitch – the 30 second pitch that you would deliver to your CEO or to an investor whom you meet in an elevator, where you have until the elevator doors open to pitch your great idea. I’ve written before that it’s…
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Microsoft gives all its employees a new phone, tablet and PC… and I think that’s real smart
Geekwire reported on Friday that Microsoft announced at their annual employee conference that every full-time employee will receive a brand spankin’ new Windows 8 mobile device, Windows 8 computer and a new Surface Tablet – for work and private use. With over 90,000 full-time employees, this is not an inexpensive exercise… with a generous estimate…