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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: September 02, 2002 A Culture of Numbers -- "Any part of our work that could be measured and put into a spreadsheet was reported and circulated and compared to others. The problem I saw was this: The most important aspects of our job, the ones that really counted (such as having satisfied customers), could not be measured." (Comments: This is often the case with usability; you can't always measure the most important things during testing. You need to have a feel for what people are trying to convey. This is a little dirty secret that most usability analysts don't like to talk about. A ton of usability is done at the gut level. Along these lines, I have come to believe that, in general, women are better at usability testing than men because they seem to have better intuition and communication skills.)
Reader Comments...
There is power in numbers. Where I work, the projects and departments that get funded are the ones that demonstrate need. Your word, your expertise is not good enough. If you cannot pull out a wad of numbers, you don't get money. In such an environment, everything you do is quantified numerically. Innovation is slow. Sure, you can run to fill existing needs, but you have a tough time justifying proactive action to meet future needs. It's like fishing. Profits are down because fewer fish are being caught. You notice the obvious: 1) There are fewer fishermen at the river because many have retired or left for other fishing companies. Your boss gladly jumps to hire new fishermen, increase salaries and benefits to improve retention, increase the training program, and buy new fishing equipment. Problem solved? No. Your boss rejected your ideas about researching fish populations, catch sizes, water temperature, water quality, river flow/volume, etc. The river is dying and he'll never know it. Existing data gathering supports itself at the cost of future data research. (at least where I work)
Obvious question: What is the CRM business doing besides selling software? Would not the implication be CRM is a contact management with delusions of grandeur? Posted by: (the other)JS on September 3, 2002 07:28 AM
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