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BOSTON: JULY 12-13 CHICAGO: JULY 16-17:
CREATING CUSTOMER-CENTRIC WEBSITES AND INTRANETS
http://tinyurl.com/262ret

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UPCOMING MASTERCLASSES
Boston: July 12-13
Chicago: July 16-17
Aarhus: October 3-4

http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/seminars_upcoming.htm

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TASK MANAGEMENT, NOT CONTENT OR TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT

Websites will achieve maximum value when they focus on the tasks
of their customers, not the technology or content.

Who will use this? How will they use it? These should be two of
the most important questions asked when managing a website.
Until they are answered with absolute clarity, the website does
not have solid foundations.

The Design of Everyday Things is a groundbreaking book by Donald
Norman. In it he identifies a critical and incredibly common
flaw in how a great many technologies are purchased.

Norman writes about a nightmare telephone system that his
university had installed that drove everyone crazy. "The
purchase took several years of committee work and studies and
presentations by competing telephone companies, and piles of
documentation and specifications," he writes.

"I myself took part, looking at the interaction between the
telephone system and the computer networks, ensuring that the
two would be compatible and reasonable in price. To my
knowledge, nobody ever thought of trying out the telephones in
advance."

In an article published in 2005, Norman suggests that good
design is based on a "deep understanding of the activities that
were to be performed: call this Activity-Centered Design."
Norman stresses that activities are not the same as tasks.
"There is a subtle difference," he writes. "I use the terms in a
hierarchical fashion. At the highest levels are activities,
which are comprised of tasks, which themselves are comprised of
actions, and actions are made up of operations."

I understand the distinction Donald Norman is making, but it is
a little too subtle for me, particularly when it comes to the
Web. The Web is a basic, task-driven place. Thinking about tasks
gives a greater degree of clarity and focus.

Communications sees the world from a content perspective. I see
websites that claim to have sections for students, for business
people, for families. And indeed they may have lots of content
that is vaguely directed towards an audience. But they often
don't have any useful tasks for the customer to complete.

I was at a telecom company website once, and it had a link for
students. I clicked on the link and the first sentence on the
page was. "A mobile phone can be used to chat." There were no
free text minutes to sign up to, no special discounted plan for
students to sign up to. Nothing to do except read incredibly
useless content.

When we put the task at the center of the web management
process, we cut away the clutter and the waffle. And we also-in
a very real sense-put the customer at the center of the process.
What we may find is that our most common tasks are useful for a
wide range of customers. If so, we don't need customer
segmentation on the website. We just need to focus on the task
and on making it easier and faster to complete.

Gerry McGovern
mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com

COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE AT GIRAFFE FORUM BLOG
http://giraffeforum.com/wordpress/?p=48#respond

Donald Norman: Human-centered design considered harmful
http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/human-centered_desig.html

SUBSCRIBE TO NEW THINKING (It's free!)
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PIONEER, BBC, TETRA PAK, IKEA AND ROLLS-ROYCE USE CUSTOMER
CAREWORDS. SEE WHAT IT CAN DO FOR YOU
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/mcgovern-carewords.htm
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RELATED LINKS

Management and leadership
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/class/leadership.htm

New Thinking Subject Classification
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/class/index.htm

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NEW THINKING NEW THINKING NEW THINKING NEW THINKING
By Gerry McGovern - http://www.gerrymcgovern.com
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June 25, 2007 - Volume 12 Number 25
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You may quote freely from this issue once you give proper
attribution. (A link to www.gerrymcgovern.com would be
appreciated.)

Permission to re-publish an individual issue is given, once the

following conditions are met:
* Gerry McGovern is given proper recognition as author
* A link to Gerry McGovern's website is published with the
following text and URL:

Content management solutions: Gerry McGovern
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com

* The piece is not modified in any way
* Subscription details for New Thinking are provided
* Gerry McGovern is informed of the re-publication

mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com

WEBSITE LINK FOR THIS ISSUE:
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2007/nt-2007-06-25-norman.htm

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Thank you

Gerry McGovern

Please send accolades to:
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Also, you might pass the word on to someone else, and encourage
them to subscribe.

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PUBLICATION SCHEDULE
New Thinking is published every Monday, 48 weeks a year (two
week break during August and December).
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