Day 55 - CURE / USECON

Day 55 - Wednesday / Daisy only 9 days to go


Today was a late start at CURE due to last night I was invited to a meeting which finished about 9:45pm, but then continued 3:30am, boy was that an interesting night. The dinner was to fair well a number of members of the lodge as they were heading off to new locations. Quite a number of the members are diplomats for different countries. The meeting was interesting as it was held in French, I did not understand but I new the work so could identify sections of the evening.


I arrived at CURE around 10:30am attended to some emails then had a discussion with Dr Ernst Kruijff. We discussed some of my findings and questions that had been raised over the last day or so. These were of interest with respect to how I address what I am doing. The question that was raised in my presentation yesterday was "During my travels where did I see UX and the understanding in organisations?" What I believe was that we are at the verge of a tipping point or in fact just over that tipping point. This I strongly believe in no small part to what Steve Jobs has done with the Apple products. Not to claim that they have the only technology that addresses this issue but the fact that he has raised the profile of user experience. Its pervasive entry into the market has given people a taste of what can be done with you have good design and experience together. It has raised the questions with people so why can't we do this with all our technology. Lots of people are trying to shoe-horn the Apple solution to fix all but its more that we should understand the fundamentals of what it is that Steve Jobs and Apple have achieved. 


Looking at the outcomes that are wanting to be achieved and understanding how to approach the issue from a different perspective, as Steve would say Think Different. Yes, Apple has a big lead but I believe that the work of Google and Microsoft over the last couple of years are starting to level the playing field. Other companies, manufactures are also looking at how we interact with physical products and addressing design and function at that level. So yes we I believe are just starting to cross the tipping point and things are starting to take on what was professed in the past that this technology is there to help and make life easier. 


We are not their yet but we are starting. My trip here to Vienna and my time with CURE and USECON has been of great value to the questions that were raised and the perspectives. As they say the more we learn the less we know, so I have to keep reminding myself to keep focused. 


A couple of other good questions were what is Usability or User Experience (UX). There are many interpretations of this science. The other is how do you quantify UX, unless you understand what it is trying to define a measure is also difficult. More areas of research. :)


The other areas is understanding approaches in how to approach a piece of work and derive the value proposition for the business to engage in this type of work. As I started off with the four perspectives I believe it is an alignment of those perspectives which will give the answer to these questions. Better understanding of business and their outcomes and then communicating the message of the value to business with out the jargon is the main part. 


So to Dr Enrst Kruijff and his team thank you for your time and having this opportunity to discuss my research.