How to create a difficult “user interface”

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You can Havidol!

Are you suffering from Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder (DSACDAD)? Some people actually think they are…and now there’s new treatment – Havidol!
Great spoof on a fake drug and condition, dreamed up by Australian artist Justine Cooper.
The website promoting Havidol is well-done and almost convincing. I enjoyed doing something similar with some colleagues a [...]

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Delighting customers

This blog isn’t really about customer service. But I can’t resist linking to this post, since it comes from a company that clearly believes in operating with a “customer first” set of principles. I especially enjoyed #3, about Lands End.
Also, the author has a great sense of humor, witnessed by this self-description at the end [...]

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How not to write a press release

I saw this company news release/overview in the most recent edition of PharmaVoice (a publication which I like, by the way), and almost gagged. Clearly, this was written in Modern Geek, and the wording used is solely intended to confuse, obfuscate, and impress with indecipherable buzzwords.
I’m not impressed. And no matter how many times I [...]

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Samuel Adams – a glass above?

When I saw this, I didn’t know whether to laugh, admire the brilliance – or whip out a credit card and buy.
Can’t do the latter yet, it’s not available until March.
I guess I’ll give them full credit for trying to advance the image of craft beer by creating special highbrow glassware – if you’re going [...]

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Picking bad apples

Very interesting article out of the University of Washington, on the outsized negative influence of “bad apples” in the work environment.
Here’s an excerpt:
William Felps, a doctoral student at the UW Business School and the study’s lead author, was inspired to investigate how workplace conflict and citizenship can be affected by one’s co-workers after his wife [...]

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A Winning Enterprise

Quietly, steadily, they’ve ascended to the #1 spot among car rental companies in North America. They’re privately-held, profitable, and they develop people.
It’s not a secret why – Enterprise is founded on solid principles.
Here is what they believe and practice regarding customer service (also here). I have a profound respect for companies such as Enterprise that [...]

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How not to succeed in a call to action

I was working out on an elliptical machine a few days back, and saw an ad the defied comprehension. DirecTV was advertising for new employees – they showed clips of lots of happy DirectTVites in their various roles, and then had a call for action to go to their website to apply for jobs.
OK, so [...]

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