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When Robots Attack
James Taylor over at the smart (enough) systems blog posted an interesting article last week. It was one of those that if it wasn't so serious it would be funny. His post iRobot - Elite CRM, stupid returns system details his experiences of buying 3 systems from iRobot and wanting to return 1 of them. As crazy as it sounds the only way he could do this was to return all 3 and then re-purchase the 2 he wanted. As Taylor points out this is a poor way of doing business in so many ways.
Taylor notes that iRobot received a 2008 destinationCRM award for their automated customer service system. However after his experience with trying to return a product Taylor notes " am sure the automated system for which they received an award is wonderful - I have not had to use it yet - but clearly they could do with making their return system a little smarter." It does make you question how much thought they really put into the design of their system or if they tried to get any customer input into the system.
This example points out the need for 2 essential elements in good application development - the end user perspective and adaptability. End user perspective can be obtained in a number of ways. It can be based on the developers knowledge of how the system is used, input from the sales team,or directly from the end-user themselves. How you get this input all depends upon the particular situation.
So why is all this important?
Taylor's example points out those darn end-users will always want to use your system in ways or to do things that you as the developer never imagined. If you don't get end-user input you'll constantly be surprised and deliver software the end-users find lacking.
The need for adaptability comes in because even when you get end-user input they will find new ways to use it or try to do things in a way even they hadn't thought of when you asked them. This may sound like a "no-win" situation but it doesn't have to be that way. If you consider the end-user perspective and deliver solutions that are adaptable enough to cover ever changing situations you'll be a hero to your end-users.
How do you consider the end-user perspective in your application development?
"robbie-robot" photo by jopemoro
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Posted by Mike on
April 7, 2008 in
Application Development
, Customer Service
| Permalink
Thanks for the link. One of the key problems when programmers consider adaptability is that of finding the hidden decisions - in my example, the decision about how much of a refund is due. If the implicit decisions are not called out and automated they cannot be evolved. Even if the business says the decision is always the same, this may not be the case in the future.
JT
James Taylor
Author of Smart (Enough) Systems
Posted by: James Taylor | James Taylor | Apr 8, 2008 12:32:41 PM
James,
Thanks for commenting. You're correct adjusting for the hidden decision is tough. Because of this you always have to think twice about hard-coding rules etc. and try to think of how it can be changed to match changing situations.
Mike
Posted by: Michael Schaffner | Michael Schaffner | Apr 8, 2008 6:55:19 PM
That is just totally crazy that all 3 had to be returned even though only one needed to go back. It just goes to show we have a lot to do before we can really rely on automated systems.
Posted by: new zealand travel | new zealand travel | Apr 14, 2008 6:39:27 AM
new zealand travel
Your right we have a lot to do. Two things that could have been easily done but weren't include consider the possiblitiy or returns when designing the system. Returns are not all that uncommon afterall. Secondly, the company could have empowered the customer service rep (CSR) to resolve the situation. It iRobot doesn't authorize its CSRs to think for themselves and therefore the only option was to "undo" the whole transaction. I think everyone would agree their solution was as you say totally crazy but for some reason they wouldn't give the CSR the latitude to figure out an equitable solution and live with it. Strange to say the least.
Mike
Posted by: Michael Schaffner | Michael Schaffner | Apr 14, 2008 7:31:13 PM