Here's a link to one of the best articles about project management I have read in a long time. Although I am not a fan of the SAW movies, the author has raised some serious points to ponder.
Wednesday 27 January 2010
The client is always right
The deadline, with regards to website development, and the agency, have for as long as I can remember, not been very good roommates. In the end it's always a case of client blames agency and angency blames client, which in the end really means that the client is right. Now if you go from that point of view, where the client is always right, isn't it time agencies start employing proper project managers? People that understand not only the entire process back to front, but more importantly, they understand the client and the client's needs. Or perhaps have even once in their lives been a client.
Wednesday 03 June 2009
What's the use of going halfway?
Imagine the person who designed the pencil never got around to adding the lead or the designer of the car never adding wheels. Delivering an unfinished or half finished product or service is currently a really big pain in my... day.
I live in Sweden at the moment and as seems obvious, most people here speak Swedish. Most Swedes however, also speak English. When we talk about services such as websites, and yes it is a service you offer your clients, most try and be bilingual, but fall well short of doing a proper job. The first group of companies try and squeeze the entire Swedish side of the website into 3 or 4 English pages. What do they think English people want when we read their website? Surely they want or need the same as the Swedish users who read the other side of the site?
Then there's a second group of companies who try a bit harder, but also fall short, because they don't translate all the content. There's still so many Swedish words left on the English side. Here again, what do they think English people can do with a mix of Swedish and English? For this example I've chosen our local travel company here in Gothenburg, called Västtrafik, or as their web address reads, vasttrafik.se. They're notorious for not thinking of anyone other than the Swedish population, as if no tourists ever come to this part of Sweden. I did a rough count on Västtrafik's website and the Swedish part has more than fifty pages, whereas the English side has less than ten, and still so many Swedish words scattered around, they may as well have not done anything. The sloppyness with which they did it makes me as an English speaking person feel unimportant.
Below are a couple of pages from the English side, which shows exactly what I mean. It's really sad to have launched the website like that, sort of halway done, as if they couldn't care. But obviously, there's always a legitimate excuse. I would love to hear what it is though.
There are quite a few companies who do get this right, my bank SEB is not one of them unfortunately. The companies who get it right, think the process through properly and execute it professionally. To them I take my hat off, you've been a big help while I've lived in Sweden and while I've been learning Swedish.
Here's my solution for companies who want to not fall into the trap of the top two. If you're not going to do it properly, don't do it halfway. Rather create a single page, with 3 clear messages. Message one, is an apology for not having an English website. This is very import, because it will make the users feel important and that you did think of them. Message two is a short clear description of what you do and what your services are. This is however not an invitation to write your working history. Keep it very short and simple, because remember you're only creating a single page. Message three is an invitation to contact you via telephone or email, because you can help them in English with whatever they need. That's the way to do it. In this way the user has clarity as to why it's the way it is, but more importantly the user has a clear alternative.
Providing proper service is very easy to do. It does however start with thinking about your clients and their needs first.
An update
I just had to add this. After I wrote to Västtrafik to complain about their new service, I received the following reply, which is below. You'll notice 2 things. One is, that even though I wrote my query in English, the reply came back and the lady greeted me and said goodbye in Swedish. Again, assuming everyone understands Swedish. The second thing you'll notice is that the response was sent from a "no-reply" email address. I have a big problem with that, because I would like to respond to her answer with more questions, and will now never be able to, because in order for me to do that, I have to go back to their website and start a new query. When I start a new query, I cannot just copy and paste their response into my new query, because it limits you to 500 characters. The other side of the coin is that they have just missed a golden opportunity to enter into a "one to one" correspondence with one of their clients. What did they choose to do? They chose to send a once off email, thinking that their answer will suffice, which in this case it did not.
When will companies realise that they have these brief opportunities, where they can satisfy their clients, if only they keep their eyes and ears open. What should Västtrafik do to fix this? For one never respond to queries via a "no-reply" email, because it shows that your company is not very transparent or open and as I wrote above, when you do something, why do it halway? "Hej" translates to "Hi" or "Hello" and "Med vänliga hälsningar" translates to "Kind regards".
I live in Sweden at the moment and as seems obvious, most people here speak Swedish. Most Swedes however, also speak English. When we talk about services such as websites, and yes it is a service you offer your clients, most try and be bilingual, but fall well short of doing a proper job. The first group of companies try and squeeze the entire Swedish side of the website into 3 or 4 English pages. What do they think English people want when we read their website? Surely they want or need the same as the Swedish users who read the other side of the site?
Then there's a second group of companies who try a bit harder, but also fall short, because they don't translate all the content. There's still so many Swedish words left on the English side. Here again, what do they think English people can do with a mix of Swedish and English? For this example I've chosen our local travel company here in Gothenburg, called Västtrafik, or as their web address reads, vasttrafik.se. They're notorious for not thinking of anyone other than the Swedish population, as if no tourists ever come to this part of Sweden. I did a rough count on Västtrafik's website and the Swedish part has more than fifty pages, whereas the English side has less than ten, and still so many Swedish words scattered around, they may as well have not done anything. The sloppyness with which they did it makes me as an English speaking person feel unimportant.
Below are a couple of pages from the English side, which shows exactly what I mean. It's really sad to have launched the website like that, sort of halway done, as if they couldn't care. But obviously, there's always a legitimate excuse. I would love to hear what it is though.
There are quite a few companies who do get this right, my bank SEB is not one of them unfortunately. The companies who get it right, think the process through properly and execute it professionally. To them I take my hat off, you've been a big help while I've lived in Sweden and while I've been learning Swedish.
Here's my solution for companies who want to not fall into the trap of the top two. If you're not going to do it properly, don't do it halfway. Rather create a single page, with 3 clear messages. Message one, is an apology for not having an English website. This is very import, because it will make the users feel important and that you did think of them. Message two is a short clear description of what you do and what your services are. This is however not an invitation to write your working history. Keep it very short and simple, because remember you're only creating a single page. Message three is an invitation to contact you via telephone or email, because you can help them in English with whatever they need. That's the way to do it. In this way the user has clarity as to why it's the way it is, but more importantly the user has a clear alternative.
Providing proper service is very easy to do. It does however start with thinking about your clients and their needs first.
An update
I just had to add this. After I wrote to Västtrafik to complain about their new service, I received the following reply, which is below. You'll notice 2 things. One is, that even though I wrote my query in English, the reply came back and the lady greeted me and said goodbye in Swedish. Again, assuming everyone understands Swedish. The second thing you'll notice is that the response was sent from a "no-reply" email address. I have a big problem with that, because I would like to respond to her answer with more questions, and will now never be able to, because in order for me to do that, I have to go back to their website and start a new query. When I start a new query, I cannot just copy and paste their response into my new query, because it limits you to 500 characters. The other side of the coin is that they have just missed a golden opportunity to enter into a "one to one" correspondence with one of their clients. What did they choose to do? They chose to send a once off email, thinking that their answer will suffice, which in this case it did not.
When will companies realise that they have these brief opportunities, where they can satisfy their clients, if only they keep their eyes and ears open. What should Västtrafik do to fix this? For one never respond to queries via a "no-reply" email, because it shows that your company is not very transparent or open and as I wrote above, when you do something, why do it halway? "Hej" translates to "Hi" or "Hello" and "Med vänliga hälsningar" translates to "Kind regards".
Tuesday 14 April 2009
The 10 commandments of good design
Designers of today are trying more and more to outsmart one another by designing a better website, design a better product or better communication. The more and more they try and better their design skills, the closer they all seem to get to a similar set of principles or commandments if you will.
In the early 1980s, Dieter Rams came up with 10 principles that he said was all that design really needed, to be qualified as "Good design". The list is below, but you can read the whole article on vitsoe.com.
Good design is innovative. Good design makes a product useful. Good design is aesthetic. Good design helps a product to be understood. Good design is unobtrusive. Good design is unobtrusive. Good design is honest. Good design is durable. Good design is thorough to the last detail. Good design is concerned with the environment. Good design is as little design as possible.
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