Puzzlin' in the Heat

In which I go out on a limb (what’s new with that) and see whether the “new Google Plus One generation” are still listening.

I’ve noticed that when it comes to introducing new stuff, Google puts a lot of effort into development and execution.  The stuff they build is very high grade, strong, and cool.  But I’ve also noticed that deliveries can arrive with surprises that aren’t always good.  There has been more than one time where a release missed significant areas of usability and/or cultural awareness that brought either negative publicity or negative perceptions from users. 

Secrecy may be necessary to a certain degree on a business level.  Having the tech and social press brightest bad-mouth your product in the trades is free publicity (on the premise that “there's no such thing as bad publicity.”) The cat-calls from Wave’s exit and Buzz’s months online were ample and loud.  So perhaps this was deliberately (cunningly, even) executed?  If so, well done!  OTOH, this doesn’t always result in happy users, especially when the changes include implementing policies that either didn’t exist or weren’t enforced earlier.

What solutions might there be?  Can a team consistently anticipate needs or issues 100% of the time, in an 80/20 world? For one or five business units perhaps, but this is an order of magnitude larger:  Rumors go viral in minutes.  The spammers, yammerers, and general clamor make life like having bees live in your head.  There are many different user types here:  Students; Developers of the professional and hobbyist variety; business people; retirees; writers of all kinds; teachers; clergy; spammers; a few pirates; media representatives trying to understand business propositions and on and on.

Google could take a page from Microsoft, in its early releases of IE (back when they were minimally outdoing Netscape and crushing them with brand recognition) and leverage its loyal base.  MS called new releases ‘Beta’ because they knew the early adopters would find and report the bugs.  Of course, this was said with tongue in cheek.  With Google, things could be different: I think it’s time Google formally engage a group of users for overall usability review before major releases.

Engaging active users helps ensure a product fit for the widest variety of backgrounds.  It can provide needed vision to identify where user expectations intersect, so changes can be sent out ahead rather than come as a surprise.  I have 20+ years in requirements, QC and Acceptance.  I don’t code but I know usability.  While I’m in school, I would consider helping if I had the chance.  I know other people who have similar talents and interests, who would feel lucky to add their efforts and thoughts.  This would not be a hard thing for Google to explore. 

Ivory-tower requirements are secure, but risk being incomplete and can cause untoward public attention.  Engaging non-employees can bring risk of leaks; these can be mitigated with NDA’s and short-term contracts.  


If these alternatives haven’t been balanced recently, and even if they have, Google should consider which risk is greater over the longer term.

Ketchin' Up

It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me.  I have lost all sense of time or responsibility when The Circles call.





One of the things I've told myself is that to justify existence here I should put down at least some of what's going on inside the Brainway. With the new stimulus and excitement of new people, all checking out this Buzz Google Plus thing, well, I'm feeling lucky the old melon hasn't just exploded. Poof.

Friend Denis Labelle introduced Christina Trapolino to the gang yesterday. Christina's articles appear to be through the eyes of someone early on a new adventure, which is really refreshing. Welcome!

Christina's is the kind of writing that excited me in the early Buzz days. There were a group of folks in different parts of the planet who would arrive, pronounce on one thing or another, and depart for a few hours while the words silently cook, a Sous-vide treat for others strolling by.

Content of the highest caloric quality, side-boys lined up at their feet heaped with fresh produce from other fields. Ratatouille with shaved Gruyere melted atop; grilled banana & peanut butter finger sandwiches, collards in broth of crawdads, with neck bones and vinegar.

Media merchants came in of course, looked around - and headed for the doors. A while later, they came back (although I've no idea why - most of them declared the place useless for business) and plated tales to the curious, of quests for the elusive business customer. Lying still in deep eddies, slowly watching and waiting for the right temptation to pass by in the current, he waits there still. The merchant still talks of the beast, but secretly wonders if the day of their meeting will ever come.

Google Office Apps: Not for Everyone

I just finished reading Mike Elgan's article in Datamation on the new Google Office moves. The Goog has been busier than just about anyone this past month, managing to aggravate people from Beijing all the way West to Cupertino in a relatively short time.

First, a rollout of some new mostly-integrated and improved apps (Mail/Buzz/Reader/Wave) with an audacious plan to provision every user on Day One with "friends" (no way was that an oversight.) Later by increasing the drama by "un-friending" Steve and the Apple folk. Today Tom Foremski wrote in his blog that The Goog is pushing 10%+ of all internet traffic on it's own private network. And today we see representatives in Congress talking up the devious and generally mean Chinese government and what is the US gonna do about that anyway? And now the moves are being put on the venerable office suites from Microsoft, IBM and Sun.

I don't think they'll win every battle The Goog has begun this month.  Although it does get points for trying. The desktop may be only partly won, for two reasons.

First, The Goog's products lack functionality in a couple of key areas important to the corporate sector:

• Task management is something that Microsoft alone has working well. It plays with other tools including Access, Project and SharePoint. A space where IBM does will with Lotus/Domino, but OpenOffice has nothing. None of this is a surprise, given the audiences underwriting these three: Microsoft and IBM were principally focused on large corporate accounts who could afford to invest in functionality to maximize the usefulness of their business people. Sun sponsors OpenOffice, an Open Source product for good will to the many folks who need to get their charts, memos and spreadsheets formatted and printed while keeping the price to a minimum.
  
  
  
• Database management for the desktop may be seen as a luxury for many, but while I've worked in business the dBases/R:bases Paradoxes and Accesses have been essential for driving out financial information on both scheduled and ad-hoc bases. IBM integrates this functionality; OpenOffice, not so well. One could say, OpenOffice not at all.