“Every $1 invested in usability returns between $10 and $100″ – IBM

Reference: http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/DS01

Our Software industry has changed radically over the past few years. It is for the first time in years that technology has closed in the *familiarity* gap. “What is the familiarity gap, Anup?” you might ask.

See, originally products were always thought of to work a certain way – the way that the users were most familiar with, mimicking real world behaviors – but they never did, largely because of technical limitations. The end product always worked differently and wasn’t intuitive enough, and thereby never bridged the familiarity gap. You could not open up an app or a site and just start using it in the most natural intuitive way without a 100 page user manual or a 3hr training.

Contrast that to the apps and well designed sites today, if you need training to use a system, the product team dropped the ball.

There is a whole new paradigm of user interface design called NUI (Natural User Interface). The success of the iPhone and touch screens has only scratched the surface of the art of designing experiences that connect with you as a user and are an *extension of your behaviors*.

If you ever listen to Bill Buxton speak (http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/DS16) you will notice the importance of the Design of Things to come.

Bill often compares physical designs like buildings, objects etc to software or systems and identifies commonalities between the two and provides us with guidelines to build products and systems that facilitate building wonderful products.

For many, UX equates to designing a pretty looking website, or providing “lipstick on the pig” to an existing site. WRONG! Tony Hsieh shows that user experience trumps over everything. It affects each and every aspect of your business including your people and your product. That is where Zappos comes in. Buying shoes is an ordinary proposition. Buying shoes at Zappos.com is an experience in itself. Nothing can be more rewarding than a Zappos experience.

What Software Industry can learn

The future of our industry lies on designing not just your software, but your business, your technology and your customer service in a way that all these elements seamlessly blend into a superior product that delivers more than you promised. And that is what I call as the “Design of Things” to come.

Companies that understand the importance of design will be the only companies that will survive moving forward. Apple is leading the way (think iPhone, iPad), Microsoft has slowly started showing signs of excellence on certain areas (think Zune HD, Zune Software, Bing and Kinect (think gestures)) and the rest of the companies will eventually follow suit or perish.

It is only when you give design, technology and business an equal footing in building a product that you can come up with beautiful, functional and memorable products.

Read the above sentence very carefully, I mention the fact that design, technology and business each have an equal footing. Corporate Managers will rebuke the above statement. I won’t be surprised. But the price you pay for not following this simple advice is very high. I have personally seen at least one startup with around $50 million in funding bury itself to the ground because the managers’ inability to change to accept this cold hard fact. If only they had listened…

It is a very tough job to change habits, but our industry must realize that these old habits need to die for the good of our industry. Millions of people use our products, some make a living using our products. Can we subject them to the pain and frustration on a day-to-day basis? I think not. It is morally incorrect to build products that frustrate users on a day-to-day basis. They will find alternatives, they always do.

So say you agree to all that I have to say. You’ll tell me, “OK Anup, I am ready to make this change. Tell me how.” I will welcome your decision with a smile and tell you that change will be slow, but certain. It has to be carefully orchestrated so as to not run your business to the ground. It has to be planned and not just in timelines, but also in resources, personnel and technology.

The next article I write will talk about the importance of personnel and finding the right change agents either within your organization or on the outside. Help is readily available, at prices far cheaper than you can imagine.

Anup

Anup Marwadi is the founder of a Web Design and Development company HyperTrends (@anupmarwadi, @hypertrends). He and considers himself a student for life and has a strong interest in Lifestyle Design and dabbles with related interests on a near regular basis.

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