Why should we not have any legally binding agreements on the services we offer? In the end, this is what our customers demand! Right? They want to be sure that their businesses - which are built upon our services - will run smoothly and delight their customers. They need insurance for that – ­they need an SLA.

No business will buy anything from us if we don’t give them some kind of technical service level agreement. Right?

Bollocks!

No SLA can compensate a business for its loss in customer satisfaction or loyalty. You cannot reimburse a bad customer experience. But you can design around it. So let’s design for this moment, this uncertainty: when your cloud goes dark,  your network goes down. Let’s design for that experience - and make it a good failure experience. Let’s turn the failure moment into a success moment.

Your customers don’t need an SLA. What they really need is an Experience Assurance (EA). They need someone who helps them to deliver a good customer experience despite a technical system failure.

…when driving on the highway before pulling over to the fast lane?

…when steering an organization into a transformation that fundamentally redefines its business?

As an individual or as an organization: knowing where you come from helps you to figure out where you should be headed.

A rear-view shows you what and who is behind you. Are they close? Are they following you? Are they trying to catch up? Can they follow you where you are going?

Rear-view means reflexion. Reflexion nurtures purposeful action.

So from time to time, take a look back before you shift gears and step on the gas.

The menu follows the availability of ingredients. Availability in this case is a function of the ferry schedule, the island consumption rate and the tourist presence. Service design this.

Local vegetable gardens and the trusty shotgun for hunting rabbits help to fill the supply/demand gaps. A timely harvest/kill to cooking workflow has the pleasant side effect of fresh and tasty food.

Om nom nom. Jia mas!

Availability is part of the service, not just the menu. How should a service change when its supply changes?

The reader The size of your flat/house/car in relationship to your needs. The time spent with family in relationship to the time spent at work. Your yearly salary in relationship to your performance and market value.

Truth is constructed, subjective and highly contextual.

As with any assumption or proportion: the opposite may also be true. Just not for you.

When who you know becomes more important than what you do, what are the personal, social and financial costs associated with opting out of the rat race?

Leave the rat race to the rats. Do what you love and enjoy the luxury of staying off the grid from time to time.

Reflection and deep thought inevitably increase the value you provide to your connections. You’re not the number of facebook friends, twitter followers or blog posts. It’s about the quality, not the quantity.

New year, new camera, new position in the org, new challenges, new photos and way more questions than answers. Let’s get going!

These are the times.

• over- or underestimated the target audience - or even worse, didn’t know about them at all.
• didn’t care about good interaction design: eg. prioritizing business considerations and technology constraints over ux, usability and a relentless drive for good design.
• didn’t know how to do good interaction design: eg. not testing, prototyping and iterating with real users, no skilled or senior designers inhouse etc.

I have seen projects fail, both from a client- and agency-perspective. Why is it, that large organizations with hefty budgets, good intentions and an affinity for human-centered design sometimes struggle with the little big details?

My guess: It’s all about love.

Here’s how it works: At the beginning of the meal, everyone puts their phone face down at the center of the table. As time goes on, you’ll hear various calls, texts, and emails, but you can’t pick up your phone. If you’re the first one to give in to temptation, you’re buying dinner for everyone else. If no one picks up, then everyone pays for themselves.

Kudos to the crew at Lift 2012 for giving this a shot. Since you asked: the tower crashed due to various simultaneous vibration mode calls.

What are we really putting aside when we stack our phones?

A small break can turn a utility into an image. What changes when function is no longer the first thing you see?

The workaround is visible, but so is the intention to keep going. When does a repair become part of the object’s design?

Zàijiàn China, until next time.

Two mats, two visual languages. What changes when a welcome is designed rather than simply stated?