Early in our Ript™ project, we met with reps of a large, northwest software company.

We had asked them, “what does you’re company think of women?”

They showed up with a stack of e-mail and no answer. Realizing they hadn’t managed a coherent response, one of them said:

“we build software for people and we believe women are people.”

1. (they) build for people
2. women are people
3. therefore (they) build for women

This is analogous to saying, “all cats have four legs, my dog has four legs. Therefore my dog is a cat.”

The statement is packed with generic assumptions. At it’s worst, such assumptions can cause harm. At the least, they speak to an insensitivity to the needs and desires of women consumers.

Oxygen’s research confirms women are men’s digital peers and dominant influencers of purchasing decisions.

Businesses in other industries have found their women customers provide original insights into their products. Responding to those insights has lead to better solutions for both women and men.

“… women consider a longer list of criteria when selecting consumer products and stores than men do. …If a brand takes the time to understand her list, they’re going to over-deliver to men and still reach women” — Lisa Johnson, author of Don’t Think Pink

So, a better answer would have been, “we build software for women and we believe that leads to better software for people.” Still a little glib but it would definitely result in better software for those women!

We aspire to create playful & purposeful tools that:

• address real needs in the lives of women
• go beyond user interface conventions
• support collaboration between friends and family
• are accessible on whatever platform best serves the user

Our CEO is a visionary with a love of audacious challenges. We share her belief that we can be of service to women and create an opportunity for our company if we improve the software they use.

We acknowledge the pride of place women hold as our customers and seek to innovate by listening to them.

That’s my answer to why Oxygen is building software.

Posted: September 7th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none

I’m prone to brand loyalty and I’m pretty loyal to JetBlue Airlines.

I flew with them during their scheduling crisis. I was lucky and my flight was not delayed or canceled. Having flown during that window, I just received an e-mail from JetBlue apologizing but more importantly laying out a specific commitment to their customers for how they will deal with service interruptions in the future. This includes a customer bill of rights with specific remedies.

A good way to prove you are worthy of trust is to respond with real change when you’ve disappointed those who trust you. I’m curious to see how this plays out for JetBlue.

Posted: February 22nd, 2007 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 1

[my grandmother, Aoki Nobu's manekineko in front of a ceramic cat painted by my daughter, Miya]

In January, I had the privilege of meeting, John Maeda. One of the perks of working for Gerry Laybourne is the circle of associates she can bring to a wicked problem.

By coincidence, Mr. Maeda and I both grew up in Seattle. My mom is Japanese and I remember visiting his family’s Star Tofu Bakery. The whole Maeda family worked together to make the tofu the authentic Japanese way. Served as hiyayakko, chilled and fresh, it was the best tofu I’ve ever tasted.

In a grand display of traditional Japanese customer service, John described how his father would open the door for his customers as they arrived and again as they left.

This image struck Gerry as a deep truth her company should strive for in its relations to its customers.

As my team works on a consumer software initiative for Gerry, we need to embrace the guiding principle that our work is all for the end user. Business value derives from serving their needs. We have tried to embrace this principle by using our agile practices to rally around our product owner’s vision, testing our software with prospective end users and listening to them. Feedback from prospective users has changed both our feature set and our release roadmap.

In how we approach our customers we must always welcome them with courtesy, listen to them respectfully, serve them as best we can and thank them on the way out.

Mr. Maeda’s observations about Oxygen.

Posted: February 7th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none