
Secrets of When and How to Talk to Customers at a Startup
Jason Lemkin says forget building wireframe UI’s and start out interviewing 20 customers, because you just won’t understand your customers until you do. Here’s the gist of why you need 20 interviews before you do anything else: And you have to do 20. I know it’s hard to get to 20. But it’s the right […]
Good Customer Experience Trumps Good Customer Service. Bad CUX Trumps All. A Tale of Chukka Boots and Photoshop.
Good Customer Experience trumps Good Customer Service, even if you are Zappo’s. My wife quit buying shoes from Zappo’s after they sent her the wrong pair of shoes for the third time and she had to return them. They didn’t do it all on the same transaction, it happened over a fairly long period of […]

Why Did Mailchimp Decide to Get Less User Friendly?
Mailchimp is the third email service I tried for my boostrapped company, CNCCookbook. I generally like the service because it makes the email chores easier. When you’re a bootstrapper with limited resources (heh, I’m a one man SaaS company), that’s important. Did Mojo Jojo take out the original chimp and start implementing plans for world […]
The move to “rich” mobile apps
Many enterprise vendors and customers view mobile UI as just another more convenient portal to their back end processes. A growing number of companies are, however, building “rich” mobile apps to get more face time with their customers and even using their apps to reengineer their processes to delight their customers. Here are some examples […]

Enterprise UX in an “age of invisible design”
I was reading this Wired quote about Dieter Rams’ philosophy about product design: “It doesn’t draw attention to itself; it merely allows users to accomplish their tasks with the maximal amount of efficiency and pleasure. At its best, it is invisible.” And thinking, in contrast, how loudly “visible” enterprise software UI is. It is a major competitive […]

SAP’s UI makeover: Taking a measured approach to 300,000 screens
Last week I discussed how Sage Group plc is creating a data cloud that will bring new navigation, capabilities and functionality to Sage customers. It’s an approach that sets the stage for an overhaul of their product line. Today, I’ll cover the efforts SAP is undertaking to breathe new life into existing products. First some […]
Planview brings modern UI/UX to Enterprise 11
Recently, I spoke with Patrick Tickle, EVP of Products for Planview . Planview is an Austin, Texas based project-portfolio management (PPM) solution provider. I’ll admit I have a soft spot for Austin tech companies as they are near so many relatives, friends and the family ranch. I’ve covered Planview before. They’ve got some really nice […]

The NY Times Breaks Its UI
What is it with these guys? Everything was fine and the Times decided to improve its online reading experience. But the gesture backfired and turned my tablet into slate. For a few minor improvements, the UI is now completely FUBAR. Let’s back up. I use an iPad to read the paper and I like it. […]

6 Ways The Pundits Are Dazed and Confused About Google Reader and RSS
One of the you-betcha-surefire Pundit strategies is that when something is getting a lot of heat, like the current flap over Google dropping Google Reader, you can get a lot of attention by disagreeing with the crowd. You want to do so in the most colorful possible way, in fact. It’s a common form of […]