UX Greatness Part 1 of 3

Three things to have UX greatness.  Covering just one today.

  1. Good enough isn’t good enough.
  2. Eat bad babies.
  3. Invest in your future.

Good enough isn’t good enough
Most products, services and expectations are pathetic.  Flying on a plane is a horrible experience, even when it’s good.  Most cars look exactly like 20 others.  Innovation is a label people put on a new can of soda.  The world is filled with sucks to good with just a few sprinkles of great.

My son was hitting baseball.  I said, “Hit harder” and he tried to hit harder.  I repeated myself a few times and finally I said, “Hit it like you are a nuclear bomb and you are going to explode through the ball.  The energy of your hit will crack the earth in half and send the ball rocketing into space.  Your scream will echo for a hundred miles.  Let everyone here remember the moment you swung that bat.  Swing like your life depends on it.”

He finally swung with his full energy.  I say to you, “Good is not great.  You have to go further.  Exceed your customers expectations.  Give them something to talk about.  Something spectacularly better.  A million times better than the competition.  Don’t just meet functional requirements.  Figure out a way to change the game.  Do your job like you want to change the world!”  Maybe, just maybe, you will succeed.  Do your job like it’s a paycheck and you might not even keep that.

Comments

2 responses to “UX Greatness Part 1 of 3”

  1. Dan Avatar
    Dan

    Have you ever considered teaching a class on UX design? I think you would be great at it. And unlike most professors, you probably don’t need a PhD to do this. (It there even a PhD is something like that?) You can teach a useful class on a topic that most people don’t think about (it would be antithesis of everything you hated about Buffalo). I know that many professors in Executive Masters programs are not full-time professors and only teach in the evenings or weekends (since that is when the classes are). Just a thought.

  2. Glen Lipka Avatar
    Glen Lipka

    A friend taught a class at Stanford and invited me to guest lecture a couple of years in a row. I loved it. Stanford is gorgeous. However, you have to put alot of time/effort into the curriculum. Time that I, fortunately/unfortunately I don’t have.

    Things I would do with extra time: 1. Build the social sales software I described a few weeks ago, 2. Write a UX handbook book and publish it as an eBook. and 3. Teach.

Whatya think?