The Diversity Blog - SaaS, Cloud & Business Strategy » Back2Basics

Tools for the real world

Ben Kepes — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 09:02:16 +0000

Remember once upon a time when software, and technology in general, was held up as the panacea for all ills? It would bring us the paperless office, vastly reduced working hours, a longer life expectancy, and a better standard of living. I don’t think we’ve gotten here yet - stress related diseases run rife, workers toil countless hours in cubicles, and the international paper companies and printer manufacturers continue to prosper. That’s not to say, however, that technology hasn’t delivered on its promise to help us – it’s just that change takes time.

I’m going to tell a story that, despite having little to do with technology, is in fact another take on the same theme.

San Francisco’s Luscious Garage is an auto repair shop. While an auto repair shop is not a novel idea, what is mildly interesting is that Luscious is woman-owned. What really drew my attention was that they’re taking radical steps (for their industry) to change the way people interact with mechanics.

What a Difference a Minute Makes

Ben Kepes — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:19:38 +0000

OK, so the song talks about a day and we’re talking about a minute, but allow me some creative license here.

The recent SharePoint challenge demonstrates how real life users can save about a minute each time they use the harmon.ie sidebar to access sharepoint, to upload an email to SharePoint or upload a document and attach A link within email.

A minute seems inconsequential, a mere 60 seconds. But next time you’re doing something on the web, try enforcing a 60-second delay between tasks. That eBay auction you really want to win and that has only 30 seconds to run? Sorry, it’s gone now.

Enterprise Software Doesn’t Have to Suck

Ben Kepes — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:08:59 +0000

This blog is aimed at people, working inside the enterprise space, some of whom spend their days wrestling with unfriendly and difficult-to-use software. Software that is inflexible, semi unfit-for-purpose, and forces people to work in a particular way. Enterprise software doesn’t need to be this way. With this blog, I’m aiming to distract traditional enterprise IT away from the status quo, to a place where they truly see software as flexible, malleable, friendly tools designed to help people achieve an outcome.