The Disney UX
I recently returned from a vacation to one of the pioneers of UX, Walt Disney World. And the thing that impressed me was the experience that Disney wanted you to have. They want it immersive, consistent, friendly, themed, thrilling yet safe, familiar, and helpful. They succeed pretty much 100% of the time. And the only time when they didn't they handled it with grace, especially with the family that wanted to get in to the Princess dinner and had been waiting "a very long time" (Not the words the dad used).
Little touches like "Hidden Mickey's" kept the kids (and parents) engaged. After the an afternoon shower, cast members came out and squeegeed tables and pavement. "The Year of a Million Dreams" is fantastic. We got to experience it first hand a couple of times. One was our first night in a park after driving all day. We wanted to ride "Soaring" in Epcot and we had a dinner planned at 8:25 that night. It was about 7'ish and we asked the cast member at the "Soaring" ride if we could see the ride and make it to dinner. She said no, however she could help us. She talked with a co-worker and we were then told about the "Year of a Million Dreams" promotion and where upgraded to "First Class", aka "The front of the line". This enabled us as a family to ride a ride (our first in the parks) and make it to dinner. It set the mood for the whole trip.
I enjoyed the experience at Disney World so much that I started to wonder what would happen if we as software architects and developers approach our craft with the same artistry and care that is used in the creation of parks and what I call "old school" Disney films. (Think "Jungle Book", not "High School Musical"). Would we see more time and thoughtfulness on experience? And I don't just mean the UI themes and colors, I mean the way every part of the system comes together, from the web services on the back end, to the interaction model, to the way the application handles your data and privacy. They all require an artistry that is not really alloted in the regular "Line of Business" application today. Why? Simple. To many outside forces usually work against software teams in most business environments of today. And maybe that's one of the reason's they fall prey to disruptive software and products, like the iPhone, TIVO, Flickr or Google. Think about products that have small teams or visionary leaders. Sure you can think about Jobs and Apple, but what about the people at OXO, Surface, Fingerworks, XBox Live, or Bungie? They all worked to bring an awesome product. Do you remember the motto for Quake 3? "When it's done" And people waited for it and appreciated that time was being taken. People still like that today. How much did Halo 3 sell the first week? And remember it's not just the game, it's also the online multiplayer experience that makes the game last past the 10 hour mission.
How would you change your software process and team? Would you make sure you have a product lead for each project or someone that has the vision? Would you storyboard your app? How about even a paper prototype with someone who uses it? How about changing your process to something a little more Agile? Educate your management on the value of UX. What would Walt do? What will you do?
Sean