When Robots Attack Mon 07 Apr 08

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

If this topic was of interest, you might also like these:

• What can we learn from our favorite technologies?
• Letting Users Set the Business Tech Agenda
• Are You Ready To Throw Away Your Safety Glasses?
• Or the posts in the "Application Development" category