Perceptive HR Technology

In the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, kudos to Seth Godin for writing Purple Cow.  It’s all about how to be remarkable in whatever it is you’re doing in business — and it has made a difference in my work.  About a year and a half ago, the Lawson HCM product management team used the book as a guide to figuring out how we were going to differentiate our product from others.  We went through this elaborate process to identify a set of ideas, measure their potential impact and rank them relative to one another.  We gave each other pats on the back for the great ideas and then what?  Promptly forgot all about it.

But the thought process stuck — and it influenced our decision making significantly.  It heightened my awareness to two features that folks last week consistently told me were differentiating — the notion of a user experience tied to the ’space’ where people work and the ability to drive business processes in a unique way (action requests).  And at the end it all ties back to the same core issue — user experience.  Make it relevant and easy, and folks will like it.

But then there are visual widgets (charts, graphs, icons and the like). The reality of things is that if you show someone two forms — one with a pie chart, the other without — they pick the one with the pie chart.  In all honesty, it matters less about what the chart says or does than the fact that it’s there.  Put it in, and it’s cool quotient goes way up!  I like to call it the ‘Nintendo effect’ — or should I rename it the ‘Wii effect?’  I have a love-hate relationship with widgets — they have to be there, but I’m always frustrated at how hard it is to use them well.

It must be human nature, and as long as I get the kind of kudos I heard last week I’m sticking with the pie charts….where folks tell me they want them.  And I promise to make them do something interesting — no superfluous widgetry here.

By the way, check out Seth Godin’s blog at http://sethgodin.typepad.com.