Hayden Vink: Life In The Fast Lane

I spend a lot of time on my computer and, while I’m no Photoshop superuser, frequently push it to its limits.

The appearance of the spinning beach ball of death indicates it’s time to go easy, and give the computer time to work through the multitude of things I’ve asked it to do.

But occasionally – and yes, even though it’s a Mac – the computer simply can’t cope. The beach ball just keeps on spinning, and there is only one unavoidable solution: press Reset.

Provided I’ve been diligently saving my work, resetting the computer is just a few moments of downtime. I can almost hear the computer sigh with relief when I press the button, and feel its renewed sense of energy when it boots up again.

And when I log in after a reset, I’m more restrained in terms of the number of programs I start to use, choosing to open only the applications I need to help me do the work I need to do, and closing them when I’m done.

Reset and focus.

It’s a simple metaphor, but one that seems – now, more than ever – appropriate to apply to our lives and businesses.

We are experiencing what I’ve come to think of as a mass-rationalisation; a reshuffling of the cards and a tightening of the belts in all aspects of our lives – government, business, and personal.

In the good old days, we could afford to do more, try more, have more. There was more room in the margins, more fat to sustain the hard (but short-lived) times when things didn’t work out. People weren’t afraid of losing their jobs, so they spent more. Which means there was just enough extra cash to go around to fund your just-a-bit-different-than-the-other-guy business venture. People weren’t afraid of people not ‘being good for it’, so they were happy to extend credit, advance stock etc. And so on, and so on.

But those days are gone. And if we’re going to ride out the storm, we’re going to have to change tack.

Reset and focus.

What applications are you going to open when the power comes back on?

Here are three suggestions:

• QuitTime. If it’s tough going, then now is a good time – a really good time – to determine whether you’re in a Dip (a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing) or a Cul-de-Sac (which will never get better, no matter how hard you try). If you haven’t read it, Seth Godin’s book The Dip might just be the most important thing you read this year.
• iChoose. In 2004 (!) Barry Schwartz published The Paradox of Choice – Why More Is Less. In it, he argued that eliminating consumer choices can greatly reduce anxiety for shoppers. To put it another way, reducing the options makes it more likely that people will buy (and feel happy enough to keep on buying from you). Do you really need to offer four different types of transaction account, when one good one would do? (And at the very least make it easier for people to choose you from the sea of other people offering transaction accounts?!) Do you really need to offer 45 different sandwiches, when the five best would do? Now is the time to reduce your options. Doing so will be win-win-win: decreased costs (marketing, promotion, development), increased sales, and happier customers!
• PeoplePowerPoint. There’s an old Maori saying: “He aha te mea nui? He tangata. He tangata. He tangata.” (What is the most important thing? It is people, it is people, it is people ). Yes, you can now board a plane without having much to do with a person. And you can buy your groceries without talking to anyone too. But the role that real people play in delivering a great customer experience is still significant. Though people are usually the most significant expense for any business, the businesses who will weather the storm best will be those who truly appreciate that people are also their greatest asset. And, like most assets, they must be cared for to ensure maximum return. What things will you do this year – even in the toughest of times – to ensure that your people are your best advocates, that your people are working hard to give your customers the very best possible experience – ensuring that they’ll keep on being customers!

Got any others you’d like to recommend?

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastian8a/322423420/

. . and well . . and now resident in Pukekohe; potato-growing capital of New Zealand.

Normal transmission will resume shortly . .

Today’s thought: “when does mere decoration of the time become timeless monument?”

The people behind the Wellington Hospital renovations clearly thought these nursery rhyme tile murals from the old Children’s Ward needed to be preserved and have relocated them to one of the corridors in the new block.

It’s a nice touch of character and heritage in an otherwise soulless new space.

I consider myself a reasonably smart guy, but there are still a few things I struggle to comprehend:

• Why the Qantas inflight magazine on NZ domestic routes is called “The Australian Way”
• Why so many NZ design agencies continue to do spec work (and why so many clients – including government – continue to encourage or demand it)
• What it would feel like to have fangs and a split tongue (and why the hell you’d want to?!)
• Why you can’t buy movie tickets from a vending machine/kiosk at the cinema
• What it would feel like to die inside a black hole
• How a silicon chip works (it has been explained to me several times, but I still don’t get it)
• Why so many of the enterprises I’ve worked with buy/implement such appallingly inappropriate ‘enterprise software’
• How 300,000 people can die in this day and age because of their leader’s refusal to accept medical/scientific evidence
• What it must be like to live in Gaza right now
• What life will be like when the polar ice caps melt, and/or we run out of oil