It always amazes me when I press the genius button on my iPod and an instant play list is created which is perfect for my needs, it rarely disappoints! Is it possible that my iPod knows my music library better than I do? Absolutely it does, don’t ask me how but it is damn clever.
Surely this level of functionality is a good thing I hear you shout? Well in theory it is, but we can’t overlook the effect that this and similar functionality has in raising user expectations of all the tools and services they use.
This manifested itself most recently during a round of workshops we ran for an intranet design project. I was amazed at the technical literacy of the employees involved and it became very clear that users are no longer satisfied with the status quo. Their understanding of the ‘art of the possible’ has grown exponentially and I regularly hear users say ”just make it work like Google.”
As expectations rise our job as user experience designers gets harder but it sure is getting interesting..
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Carolyn Clarke commented on 1 July 2010 at 1:47 pm
I agree, as I’ve seen impatience when working on a new intranet. Experienced (usually younger) users can’t understand why they can’t have the functionality of YouTube, Facebook and so on, quickly and easily. We explain that the physical network is old and won’t support video streaming and they just roll their eyes.
Often, in my experience, bolder new intranets are hindered by ‘1998′ thinking (oh heck, let’s be kind and say ‘2004′ thinking) from the IT Department and upper management. I fear that not catching up on intranet functionality and cleverness is going to start a dissonance within organisations, with more and more employees creating unofficial and even ‘underground’ communications networks amongst themselves. What then happens to a company’s control over privacy, its ability to block sites, and so on?
I’m already seeing iPhones circumventing the heavily-controlled ‘employee forums’ where I’m working. It’s better, it works, but then the upper management find out, will they sack whole call centres? I watch with interest.