Comments on: Innovation only occurs when people put their jobs on the line. http://ice08.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/innovation-only-occurs-when-people-put-their-jobs-on-the-line/ Conference blogging as it happens! Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:01:42 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Guinevere http://ice08.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/innovation-only-occurs-when-people-put-their-jobs-on-the-line/#comment-17 Guinevere Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:49:37 +0000 http://ice08.wordpress.com/?p=53#comment-17 I heard from several people this was a great session. It's too bad I couldn't be at it. I was at another one across the hall, so thanks for the recap! I heard from several people this was a great session. It’s too bad I couldn’t be at it. I was at another one across the hall, so thanks for the recap!

]]> By: Jon Lax http://ice08.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/innovation-only-occurs-when-people-put-their-jobs-on-the-line/#comment-16 Jon Lax Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:50:56 +0000 http://ice08.wordpress.com/?p=53#comment-16 Most clients are already doing this in offline. The person from the government proved my point. He had a belief that his TV ads were justified in their spend because he got press clippings. He couldn't give me specific ROI (I spend X I get Y) but clearly thought his spend was justifiable. He needs to get the same belief in online and that will require a bit of faith. Looking for proof of success before trying something is silly. One of the people in the audience asked why we couldn't tell him with any level of certainty if he spent X how much Y would he get. He used the example of a pen. I think this shows the disconnect. Using production or manufacturing analogies is approaching the problem from a point of view I don't agree with. Creating great user experiences is not a production process. While there are some things that are repeatable and somewhat predictable much of it isn't. Like anything there are always exceptions and some online activities have clear cause and effect relationships that can be measured and optimized. Typically these are activities where variables can be isolated and controlled (AdWords, display ads etc.). Most clients are already doing this in offline. The person from the government proved my point. He had a belief that his TV ads were justified in their spend because he got press clippings. He couldn’t give me specific ROI (I spend X I get Y) but clearly thought his spend was justifiable. He needs to get the same belief in online and that will require a bit of faith. Looking for proof of success before trying something is silly.

One of the people in the audience asked why we couldn’t tell him with any level of certainty if he spent X how much Y would he get. He used the example of a pen. I think this shows the disconnect. Using production or manufacturing analogies is approaching the problem from a point of view I don’t agree with.

Creating great user experiences is not a production process. While there are some things that are repeatable and somewhat predictable much of it isn’t.

Like anything there are always exceptions and some online activities have clear cause and effect relationships that can be measured and optimized. Typically these are activities where variables can be isolated and controlled (AdWords, display ads etc.).

]]>