Tap ~ Swipe ~ Scroll ~ Chat
Not a new dance craze. Re-imaging product design in a modern world.
Recently a teacher friend of mine needed help in her classroom — she is guiding high schoolers on preparing for first job interviews including writing resumes, what to wear, and how to greet. I volunteered to assist with mock interview day and here’s what happened.
7:10 First Bell (warning!). 7:15 Class begins. Stragglers arrive, students talking, some partly asleep, taking roll. 7:23 Overview of mock interview day, brief intro’s from myself & 4 other professionals. 7:33 Breakout room with first student interviewee.
After 3 individual interview sessions, I was struck by one commonality, in spite of the varied means in which each student wanted to engage with the world (Elizabeth wants to pursue being a Nurse or Doctor, Elijah wants to work in Construction and/or be a Personal Trainer, Will desires to be a guidance counselor / therapist / life coach) they ALL said they desire to help people.
Later in class I was asked to provide an overview of what I look for as an interviewer, and how I approached my first interviews. Here are a few suggestions:
- Give yourself extra time to prepare both physically & mentally. Review your notes & research on the company, the position, and your experience. Give yourself your time — you are worth it. Then…
- Arrive early.
- Take a mint.
- Smile.
- Breathe deeply. Know that everything will be okay.
Less tactically & more generally, here are some suggestions for how to be a team player, critical thinker, problem solver & valued contributor just about anywhere:
- Focus on customer service — that is a skill that translates to any work environment.
Example: If a customer request cannot be accommodated, it’s okay to acknowledge that kindly and then ask the customer questions — why is that product / service / feature helpful or important to them, think about how the business can consider that in the future; keep track of or research similar requests, and bring back for further internal discussion. This might just be a new part of the company you can help build, by focusing on customer service.
2. Identify & consider ways and means that people are familiar with to relate to your customers on their terms.
Example: In general people like social media; want to feel connected, be connected. Specifically, the options of watching, reading, hearing are all various learning styles. The popular social apps as shouted by the class include YouTube, Instagram, SnapChat, FB. When I asked what they liked about the apps, they said — staying connected, easy to use (intuitive), they didn’t need training on any of the apps. They learned by doing. Sharing. Popups on new features. No manuals, user guides, or training sessions. Relating on their terms.
3. Try talking to someone new for 3 minutes.
Practice the art of conversation. Ask thoughtful, relevant questions. Actually listen to the reply. Then inquire more. Try to learn something about this person & what drives them. See if you can find the “hot topic” that motivates them or inspires him or her. Try to understand & observe the presented point of view without inheriting it. Then, as you process the conversation, consider this perspective relative to your business or role therein. Try to apply that conversation to your product or service, for continuous improvement. It could be someone on the train, in a class, or at a conference. All it takes is 3 minutes.
Let’s translate all of that to the corporate product design in a modern world. Building an app today is fantastic — but let’s first acknowledge we’re not building an app for those of us already in the corporate world. Rather, we are building an app for the future, for these students, 14–15 year olds, as they will be the corporate end-users in 2–5–10 years. They’ve just declared to me the apps & features they love — so why not build a corporate app to accommodate and utilize those concepts?
How do we do that? We re-imagine. Take an industry that’s 20+ years old, that’s been led as it can best be, and now turn it sideways. Modern technology, features, and design allow flexibility, scalability, and even a touch of fun(!) to previously boring administrative tasks. For example, let’s take filing an expense report. That’s just not enjoyable any way you look at it. At least not today, even with the best-in-class available on the market. (And by the way, young adults have no concept of an expense report or why it would exist.)
Now, imagine if the T&E industry could modernize in such a way to incorporate tapping, swiping, scrolling, chatting, video, pop-ups, for purposes of staying connected, getting work done, ease of use, by design.
And, imagine if we can modernize in such a way that the system is all-inclusive, all-welcoming, for people of all abilities and walks of life. Appealing to various learning styles & abilities, whilst eliminating manuals & user guides & training sessions, by design.
And, imagine if we can modernize to not only receive human interaction & feedback directly, i.e., online inquiry, but also interpret system data to aid user experience, aid evolving business rules & guidelines, aid revenue retention, and perhaps above all, to further help people, by design.
Ultimately, we can build an app that embraces these elements in such a way that it’s so easy to complete what were previously painful admin tasks, thereby helping them, maybe even making it fun…and allowing them to then focus on their priority of helping people in their respective ways. Imagine.
That is how we tackle designing a modern product for future generations in legacy industry. That is what I learned from mock interview day. Ultimately, that is how we re-imagine corporate product design in a modern world. (If this sounds interesting to you — we’re hiring!). With that, let’s dance!
