If you had to say to your Team that fewer than 8 out of 100 people know the difference between a search engine and a browser, would they believe you? Would it make a difference to how you built software? You know, those geeky bits that express technical prowess, but user ignorance?
“How do you get your boss to approve something, the customer service people to understand the pain a system is causing, or the folks in engineering to see things your way?” asks Seth Godin in a recent blog.
“Powerpoint was invented for this precise function, and we all know what’s become of that. Here’s a new way that’s extraordinarily effective: Make a video. Take a Flip or cheap video camera and interview your customers. Ask them questions and show the answers to your Team.”
Ji Lee at Google masterminded this man-on-the-street interview, asking over 50 passersby of different ages and backgrounds in the Times Square in New York, “What is a browser?” Watch the many responses people came up with.
“Invest an hour,” Godin suggests, “and suddenly, it’s not you who’s talking, asking, complaining or being ignorant. It’s your customers.”
Go on, give it a try.
