Dropping support for the older browsers coupled with enhancements resulted in a slightly lower file size yet faster performance.

At a glance, an 8kb file size saving may look small, however the ability to custom build the library can make the file size even smaller and even faster in performance. The custom build lets you get rid of those functions that you don’t need and use a faster ‘minimal selector engine’.

Can we use it now?
We could, but it doesn’t mean we should. A website’s statistics will tell you if you should still use jQuery 1.9.1 to support older IE browsers.

And since jQuery 2.0 is fairly new, the existing plug-ins you dearly love might have some issues with it. Using the migration plugin to remedy this defeats the benefit of smaller size.

Where can we use it then?
Mobile specific websites definitely targets modern mobile browsers. Some web applications and e-services that specifies minimum browser requirements.

What’s the verdict?
At the moment, it makes more sense to continue using jQuery 1.9.1 while the web community as a whole makes the transition. This however sets a development roadmap so developers (especially plug-in developers) can keep in mind the jQuery 2.0 features to optimize their code moving forward.

HTML5 and CSS3 didn’t made sense in the beginning as well because old IE browsers don’t support it.

“Just as Vint Cerf and company, in 1969, had built The Internet for everyone as a platform that didn’t dictate what it would be used for, similarly, 20 years later in 1989, when he created the WWW, it would be an open platform.”

If you’re like me, you just read that twice. “built The Internet” in 1969? And then the world wide web wasn’t created until 1989? Aren’t they the same thing? Wikipedia, help!

The internet (according to Wikipedia) is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). While the World Wide Web (also according to Wikipedia) is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the internet. Prior to the World Wide Web, the Internet was a domain for computer scientists, researchers and the military. The average person would be more likely to build their own car from scratch than logon.

What Sir Tim brought to the mix was a standard for identifying and referencing documents on the Internet (Universal Resource Locators or URLs), a publishing language that allowed authors to incorporate these URLs into documents (HyperText Markup Language, or HTML), and a method for transporting these documents over the Internet (the HyperText Transfer Protocol, which we now use so regularly it’s almost invisible). Without these technologies, there would have been no World Wide Web and The Internet would be a very different place.

These days, most of the time when we use the term ‘the internet’, we’re talking about the World Wide Web. When you open up a browser on your desktop, or your phone or tablet, you are looking at the World Wide Web part of The Internet. The connections in the World Wide Web are hyperlinks – every link you click on takes you to another part of the World Wide Web, or changes the way you’re viewing this part of it.

So if the World Wide Web is only a part of The Internet, what about The Rest of The Internet? What does it look like, and what do people use it for? Chances are you’re familiar with a lot of the rest of the internet. Email travels over The Internet, as does instant messaging. The various app stores use The Internet to distribute their wares. Online games, including your games console at home? They’re on The Internet now, but they’re not part of the World Wide Web. In addition, true to its roots, The Internet is still widely used by educational and research institutes to shift large amounts of data from place to place.

Well, that was enough to satisfy my curiosity. The other quote I loved from that article was this one:

“We need more people to code, especially girls, it’s very cool.”

Couldn’t agree more, Sir Tim.

Another term that we frequently come across is Big Data analytics. In simple words, Big Data analytics is just processing and management of Big Data. Its simpler said than done of course. The volume of data is just so large that absolute analysis is impossible using conventional methods. More sophisticated techniques are needed for comprehensive analysis and this is where Big Data analytics comes into play. Big Data analytics helps to make sense of the data by using methods that understand the information. These algorithms are data driven and result in better insight.

But the question that arises is – do we even need Big Data Analytics? The answer to that is a resounding yes. Analysis of these large and complex datasets can be very beneficial in many cases. Examination of Big Data can help unearth hidden patterns and arrangements within the data. It can also bring to light hidden relations between two seemingly different databases. In a nutshell, Big Data analytics helps to extract useful and hidden information.

Naturally, such information provides competitive advantages and results in business benefits. For example, we can now explore relevant knowledge in large customer databases. Therefore, we can classify and predict customer behaviour. The right market approach can be selected hence enabling selective marketing.

In conclusion, the rise of Big Data and potential applications of its analysis should inspire companies to engage in Big Data analytics to gain a foothold in areas like in customer relationship management.

2013, The Year Digital Business Goes Mainstream

By Adam Sefton, Global Chief Strategy Officer, from our London office.

It might be quite strange to consider digital, a term and group of technologies we are all now so familiar with, as something that has not yet gone mainstream. However, the truth is that digital so far has been largely ignored by the wider enterprise and left to the attentions of technology and marketing departments. Chief Technology Officers, reporting into CFOs, with the remit to keep costs down and, perhaps if they’re lucky, boost operational efficiency and provide cost savings. And Marketing Directors, tasked with using technology to create spectacle; digital as a ’360 campaign’, to engage with consumers across as many touch points as possible.

But treating digital as simply a method of saving costs, or a novel way of creating campaigns, doesn’t achieve the strategic value that is on offer. The truth is that digital represents a new way of doing business. Tied up in the culture and values of the internet are opportunities to make your business work better, to create new methods of distribution, R&D and product development, to use digital innovation as a strategic advantage. To do this requires a different way of thinking. It requires an acceptance that in an era defined by the flux of new technology, a 3 year strategy will be out of date in 12 months. You need flexibility, you need to hypothesise and experiment, and you need to be comfortable with the idea of being wrong the first time if it means you’re right the second and third times. Strategies that can evolve, that can be influenced by learnings taken from implementation, that can find a home in organisations willing to be flexible, will see great success in the coming years.

And we’re beginning to see evidence of this change. According the Gartner, by 2015 20% of organisations will have a Digital Business Officer. PWC’s 2012 Digital IQ Survey revealed that top performing organisations were almost 80% more likely to have a Chief Executive that was an active champion of digital. Those that understand that digital has the power to redefine their whole business, and not just their technology and marketing departments, are the ones set to achieve the greatest success across 2013.

Ecosystem land grabs reduce interoperability

By Rob Curran, Strategist, from our London office

In the past decade or so, companies such as Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google, have been quietly building environments (sometimes referred to as ‘walled gardens’) in which to house users. Each of these companies have launched their own takes on services such as online music lockers, document storage systems, media stores, and a slew of other assorted web apps. Although cloud computing is by no means a new concept (Steve Jobs even described the benefits of keeping personal documents and data in the cloud back in 1997) it has recently been increasing the speed and fervour with which these proprietary ecosystem are being built.

2012 has been an year in which these ecosystems have matured, but most are still used intermittently, with users dipping in and out of each company’s applications and cobbling together a set services made up of offerings from a number of different web companies. 2013 promises to be a year in which consumers are increasingly pressured to choose one company, and swear allegiance to a single ecosystem. Facebook, Google, and Amazon will continue to fight it out to keep users within their own environments in an attempt to have customers manage their entire digital lives using only their own services. During this ‘landgrab’ period, where companies vie for ecosystem dominance, those who have yet to choose a team sometimes lose out, and in 2013 many users may find their digital activities hampered as interoperability becomes a rare luxury.

There have been several instances in 2012 in which the convenience of users has been sidelined as companies fight to keep users from migrating from one ecosystem to another. One such example is Instagram recently disabling the ability to view Instagram photos through Twitter’s card function. The move is intended to ‘encourage’ users to commit to using Instagram (and its recently launched web presence) for all their web photo needs. This will only become more frequent as web platforms seek to squash interoperability – ultimately duplicating each other’s features and promoting proprietary environments in the name of monetisation.

In 2013 web companies will continue to encourage users to jump ship and wholeheartedly commit to their services over those of a competitor – some will be subtle with their encouragement, others heavy-handed. While each individual ecosystem gets better at serving user needs, the fight to lock down users means that using a wide selection of services will undoubtedly become more difficult.

Marketing as Digital Services

By Shaun Rowland, General Manager of Reading Room’s Melbourne Office

Brands will develop more digital services that provide customers with real utility and benefit. The pioneer of this trend was Nike with its Nike + running servicewhich fulfilled a genuine consumer need which resulted in a deeper level ofengagement with its audience than could ever be achieved with traditional advertising. The application has become a ‘must have’ application for runners worldwide and connects them to Nike in a meaningful way. Other brands such as Chipotle and Dominos have developed apps which make the process of ordering their products as easy and as transparent as possible.

Brands will release apps which help consumers improve their lives in a way that is consistent with the brand proposition – BUPA in Australia provides an app which helps its audience make healthy choices when shopping for food. The first wave of branded mobile apps floundered because they didn’t effectively answer the golden consumer question: what’s in it for me? As always, what makes a digital service successful is uncovering real insight into audience behaviour and needs and then providing a service which consumers find genuinely beneficial. Brands stand a great deal to gain by becoming a trusted service provider to their audiences not least the huge amount of behaviour data that can be mined from such services which can be used to target content and offers more precisely.

Service design: User experience design breaks out of the screen

By Tom Voirol, Head of User Experience, from our Sydney office.

Over the last 15 years, we have seen digital communications agencies slowly catch up with the realisation that they need to apply user-centric design principles and methodologies to the way they develop user interactions. Now, increasingly, clients are demanding that user experience design (or UXD) be no longer confined to just digital interactivity, but that it encompass all aspects of the – well – user experience.

Businesses and forward-thinking government agencies increasingly understand digital communications to be an enabler for true, strategic business results. As a consequence, they are more and more trusting their digital agency to extend their scope beyond the interfaces of websites, smartphone and tablet apps, and shape the full 360° experience, including all offline touch points.  When a customer has received your email and decides to visit the showroom, will you recognise them and treat them accordingly? How can you acknowledge a pre-existing offline relationship when a customer starts using your app? How seamless does the entire multi-channel purchasing journey feel to your users? These are the kinds of questions the discipline of service design helps answer.

Service design makes use of many of the same techniques as digital user experience design, including user research, personas and prototyping. Applying them to the offline context, however, makes even more obvious the need to have a user experience strategy that is derived from and aligned with your organisational strategy. Giving your digital agency a seat at the strategy table is a great start to ensuring your customers are delighted, regardless how they choose to interact with you.

Headset launch will mark the next evolution in augmented reality

By Jenni Allen, Strategist, from our Singapore office.

Augmented reality (AR) headsets will generate heightened publicity of AR in 2013, with the projected launch by Google and other manufacturers.

Whilst AR has become more prevalent due to the proliferation of smartphones, its application has remained limited because to date it has been enabled via software applications. The launch of AR hardware onto the consumer market will, therefore, mark the biggest step in AR since it was initiated into manufacturing processes in the 1990s.  The headsets will therefore enable usage like self navigation and the ability to view a person’s social profile as soon as you look at them.

While the price points of the headsets will not enable mass uptake, it will enhance business and consumer understanding of AR potential and stimulate increased creation and demand, primarily of mobile applications. We will, therefore see a surge in the number of businesses experimenting with AR elements in their mobile marketing.

Whilst Europe has been the innovator in AR, here in Asia, the market has grown fast and the opportunities are immense, particularity when you consider the scale of the smartphone market within the region.

Whilst marketing usage will be the most popular application of AR in 2013, most interesting will be the continual growth of AR in e-commerce and m-commerce as a method of product engagement and integration within the consumer purchasing cycle. Indeed, in October, China based e-commerce company Yihaodian announced its plans to launch 1000 virtual supermarkets across the country. This move will soon see others follow suit.

The Humanisation of Content Creation

By Adam McLeod, Project Director, from our Canberra office.

Yesterday, we uploaded 8.1 million photos an hour to Facebook, 78 hours of video a minute to YouTube, and we sent 294 BILLION emails. And that’s not counting all the check-ins, tweets, friend requests, Yelp and Amazon reviews, and pins on Pinterest.

The sheer volume of information we create, upload and save is growing faster than the majority of us can comprehend.  We’ve created autonomous tools to try to filter, organise, and present this content; we create favourites and lists, use apps like Flipboard to aggregate our interests, and rules to control the flow of email.  Yet despite all this many users feel like they are drowning in the sea of content being pushed or pulled their way.

But where do your potential users go when they need specific and clear information to make a decision about your product or service? There are lots of ways for them to engage with you on social networks, but the top choice for information seekers is still your website. In a recently released report , 89.3% of potential purchasers went directly to the company website.

What’s happened is the web has gotten better at making data. Way better, as it turns out. And while algorithms have gotten better at helping us organise it, they aren’t keeping up with the massive tide of real-time data.

So how do you sort the chaff from the wheat, so to speak?

In 2013 we see a trend back towards the humanisation of content creation and curation.

There is a driving need for those content superstars in your organisation to carefully craft content for your website or social media channels that is sharp, to the point and well-structured to stand out from the crowd .  Check out thischeeky Google ad on the challenges your users can have finding what they need when the content authoring has been left to an amateur!. Have your people understand your users through quality research and analytics, learn how they like to be spoken to and how they like to consume information, and then leverage that understanding to your advantage to take the crown as being the source of quality information that truly engages and directly addresses your audience.

2013, the year Responsive Design is understood

By Darren Cousins, Senior User Experience Developer, from our Manchester office.

We’ve heard it many times now that the mobile internet is going to be huge. We are all agreed on this. However, how we approach this is only just being understood and for the most part is still often mis-understood.

The terms “Adaptive” and “Responsive” are so closely linked in the English language that it’s hard to describe one without using the other; a simpler understanding is required.  Adaptive is what we are capable of achieving right now, mostly layout and, if we are extremely diligent, adapting content to the users’ needs based on solid research. However, squashing images and moving things around the screen is NOT a mobile solution.

The truth is that real responsive is not yet possible. For this we need real time evaluation of a user’s bandwidth and to change the page based on the quality of that bandwidth.  Initial discovery research shows that bandwidth conditions fluctuate wildly, and do not directly correlate with the type of device being used, thus this final condition for true responsive may yet lead to more technical hurdles.

So if Adaptive design is not always desirable, and Responsive design is not yet truly possible, what other choices do we have?

The full desktop version?

Unfortunately, this is just not fit for purpose on mobile devices, and in fact is not at all what a user expects. To illustrate, in the commercial world of retail, when I walk into a Metro version of a supermarket, I wouldn’t expect it to look EXACTLY like my full size Mega version of the supermarket, likewise, why should mobile try and pretend to be a desktop?

The Tetris Media Query version?

Maybe, if research shows that users wish for all content to be visible and usable on page load and displayed in a format best suited to their device.

A highly targeted functional version?

Unlikely, unless very strong research has backs this approach, this could be potentially seen as alienating lots of user and will certainly gain the attention of the usability and accessibility advocates.  Offering a link to a version of the site with full content will avoid any potential conflict with users and experts.

A simplified design version?

This is an “old is new again” approach, which involves simplifying the design for all devices and thus removes any need for any extra effort to make it work cross browser and cross device.  This is effective but limited, not every client or every solution can be reduced to a simple “stack it high don’t be shy” approach.

There is no right or wrong answer to this, ultimately it will depend on user needs and technological requirements.

The coming year will see a greater move toward user research to ascertain mobile expectations backed up by more in depth traffic analysis to serve the optimum delivery for the best user experience.

The screen resolutions and media queries that have served us well to this point aren’t disappearing but they will be joined with data quality analysis, dynamically adjusting image quality size and backed by solid user research to ensure we aren’t over delivering or underwhelming the largest growing sector in internet usage and commerce.

Retail Growth will be underpinned by behavioural targeting

By Friendy Sin, Lead Technical Developer, from our Manchester office

2013 will see a rapid growth in the online retail business. In 2012, online accounted for a record high of almost 18% of the total retail sales in the UK. Clearly, consumers are feeling more confident than ever in online purchasing.

To help increase sales, larger companies such as Amazon and eBay have embraced behavioural targeting: the ability to track consumer activities on site, to ensure the relevant products are displayed to that consumer. Whatever products the consumer browsed on his first visit to the site are given more prominence in future visits.

And targeting doesn’t just happen on-site. Information collected about a consumer’s browsing history and search engine usage is all used to determine products that consumer is more likely to be interested in.

In 2013, we’ll see a growth in this method of personalisation and behavioural targeting, with retail stores outside of just the big players picking up and using this technology. Some content management systems, including SDLTridion, Sitecore and Unbraco, now offer this type of tracking and targeting. They have similar kinds of marketing suite extensions to allow content authors to define promotional rules, helping to display relevant content on the homepage and advertising banners.

As this technology becomes more common, and therefore more affordable, it is not just the large commerce sites that will be able to benefit from it. Small and medium-sized retailers will be able to use this technology to help them increase the relevance of their online offers, and with it the size of their online sales.

The ‘Mobile’ in Mobile Internet Becomes Redundant

By James Hirst, Project Director, from our London office

During 2012 we have seen that people are taking up mobile devices at an unprecedented rate.  Smartphone ownership is ubiquitous and tablet ownership doubled in 2012 alone.

So lots of shiny devices – but this is not a technical requirement that you need to build to – this is an indicator of how people live and work and should inform how your business operates.  These devices have sold in huge numbers because of what people want from the internet and business needs to respond:

Users want instantaneous access to information – I need to be able to take out my phone, quickly check the scoreline, timetable or diary appointment within seconds.  I no longer “go on the internet”, I’m always on the internet.

This means information and content should be made available through Apps, APIs and cross-platform adaptive websites.  Don’t think about how best to show your content on your website, think about all of the places your information might be useful and ensure it is available.

Users want contextual information – My devices know that I am sat in a car, in Yorkshire on a weekend.  So when I perform a search, start from the assumption that I might want localised results.  Consider that because I am in a car, make the info accessible to text to speech so I can hear the results not read them and as it’s the weekend, maybe screen my work emails (sorry team!).  My devices should know that I support Leeds Utd, so when I search for football results, how about prioritising their results, instead of making me search through 3 pages of different leagues and competitions.

For this to work, information needs to have context, it needs semantic organisation (consider OpenGraph) and that needs considering from the very start of any internet project.

Users want ubiquitous, seamless access – My devices know that I have many other devices.  I want my calendar, email and content synchronised across all my devices.  I want messages to find me at my desk, in my pocket, on my laptop and be available from all. If I change my preferences on one device, I want the same change across all devices.  If I email a company, I want the option for them to contact me back by phone, email or twitter  – with my devices and their preferences choosing the most appropriate way of contacting me.

For this to work, we need to better understand our users and give them the opportunity to manage their communications with us simply and easily. As this begins to happen, so the need to specify ‘mobile’ internet access will increasingly become redundant.

(Image of 2013 dog from Flickr, used under Creative Commons license. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mgewalden/8326634109/in/photostream)

The internet is a place of constant evolution – if you want to stay ahead of (or just keep up with) the pack then you need to plan beyond maintenance and regularly review and audit elements of your digital offering.

Browser support review
Google recently announced on their Apps blog that, with the Internet Explorer 10 launch on 26 October, they would discontinue support for Internet Explorer 8 (from November 15 2012)1.

With this news in mind, it might be time to review your current browser support framework – not only to ensure your site will be to support IE10 but also to review which browsers should continue to be supported.

This review should be an annual undertaking (at the least)– looking not only at desktop support but also reviewing mobile browser support and considering beta releases may have an impact your site in the next twelve months.

Mobile Audit
With trends indicating mobile will overtake fixed Internet access by 20142 and an estimated 48% of Australians aged 16+ years owning a smartphone3, mobile is going to be even more massive than it already is in just a few short years.

In the past, organisations may have sidelined mobile browsers when designing and maintaining their website (or jumped on the app bandwagon for a quick fix), but it is increasingly important to recognise the need for a mobile strategy up-front.

2014 still seems a while away, but a review of your mobile strategy now will allow you to stay ahead of the game in terms of customer expectations and will also enable you to plan and budget effectively. And if you don’t already have a mobile strategy, there is no time like the present.

Content audit
What do Google and customers have in common? They both prefer website with fresh, up-to-date content.

In terms of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Google favours websites that have new content4. Users also want to be confident that what they are engaging with is relevant, accurate and timely.

It comes back to the old ‘content is king’ cliché, so if you haven’t looked at your website’s content in a while then a content audit is probably overdue.
A content audit is not necessarily an onerous or expensive task; it can often be done in-house with an excel spread sheet5. The audit itself is a two-step process:

1. Creating a content inventory (cataloguing your content)
2. Evaluating your content with the following in mind: use analytics, define user journeys, consider website structure, consider copy quality and readability and plan for the future.

Developing a content plan is the next step on from a content audit. Content planning is different from content scheduling or updates; it is a process of continual review and improvement that focusses on meeting goals, position in the marketplace and customer satisfaction.

Strategy audit
Social media engagement, mobile, user experience, SEO, ROI, goals and metrics are just a few elements of a digital strategy, but before you consider these elements it is important to take a step back to look at the bigger picture – your business.
There is no point having a cutting edge digital strategy if it is not driven by business need. How do you determine if your current digital offering is meeting the needs of the business? By reviewing:

•  What goals does your organisation have? (i.e. attract more customers, reduce overhead costs, increase revenue)
•  Which online activities could benefit you? (i.e. developing richer and more engaging content, digitising customer support)6

Then comes the clever part: determining how you can optimise your online activities help you achieve your goals. A strategy audit can help here by assessing your current position, reviewing your competitors and developing a plan of attack that fits with your wider business strategic plan and marketing objectives.

Does your website need some TLC? Reading Room offers more than just brilliant design and user experience. We can help you to better understand your current position and develop strategies aligned with business goals.

References
1 http://googleappsupdates.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/supporting-modern-browsers-internet.html
2 http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/
3 http://www.nielsen.com/au/en/news-insights/press-room/2012/australia_s-multi-screen-report-for-q1–2012-shows-television-vi.html
4 http://nett.com.au/sales-marketing/5-steps-to-get-started-with-seo
5 http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/how-to-conducting-a-website-content-audit-013097.php
6 http://www.digitalbusiness.gov.au/planning-to-go-online/

The sixth rendition of the iPhone brings with it the biggest change to the external hardware in some time – a 4-inch retina display.

This new display means a number of things for developers and apps. The most obvious is that it means updates need to be made to accommodate the new viewport size; this in itself is fairly simple to do and requires only a small amount of time.

We now have more screen real estate – why waste it?

With the additional screen size, a number of apps have undergone clever  ‘re-thinks’ to maximize their impact.

The most common theme can be seen in Apple’s own new App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore designs, where the eye candy is placed at the top and key information features at an easily reachable position towards the middle and bottom (while retaining the navigation at the bottom of the viewport).

By rethinking the screen real estate we can easily start to see the potential for apps to maximise the middle of the screen for calls to action, rather than always positioning them to the top. This approach is much more usable and avoids forcing the user to jump from one extreme of the device to the other.

Clever cross-promotion

On a less obvious note, iOS6 has brought with it ‘smart app advertising’. This means if you have an app that you would like users to know about and you can position a banner at the top of your site which directly links to your app in the App Store. This is a nice touch and just a taste of the refinements that have really been the theme of iOS6.

With these two elements in mind, it might be a good time think how you could re-think your app to make the most of this new 4 inch display and ‘smart app advertising’ banners.

It comes as no surprise that educational institutions like the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane  have added video game related courses to their curriculum. Students now have the opportunity to study the  unique combination of art and technology that is video games and follow in the footsteps of game development  luminaries like John Carmack, Tim Schafer and Peter Molyneux. The advent of gamification means that the skills  they perfect will be useful in all kinds of scenarios and not just straight game development.

And so I find myself, with the generous support of Reading Room, presiding over the sixth annual 48 hour game  making competition. A gruelling test of creativity, technical ability and endurance as twenty teams of QUT game  design students create a working game in just two days. This represents the culmination of their studies and  counts toward their final grade. So whilst the prizes are hardly what you might call life-changing, the  competition is still fierce.

Starting at 4pm on Friday the 29th of September, you can follow all the action on the official site;  http://48hrgamecomp.com, and on the official Twitter accounts @48hrgamecomp and @overheard48hr. I’ll also be  posting an entry on the RR blog from the competition and dropping the odd Tweet via Reading Room AU’s official  account; @readingroom_au

While all of the speakers took a different approach to discussing how they implement innovation in their own organisations, a common thread appeared; implementing innovation needs research, user feedback and lots of effort, whether the solution is in the digital environment or not.

Speaker highlights

Asking people what they want is not research
People either don’t know what they want or want something entirely unrealistic. Research needs based on observing people and understanding how they live and what their motivations are, to identify what it is they need.

If you build it they still may not come
Building a solution that meets a need requires a ‘rinse and repeat’ approach that capitalises on feedback. So if you build it they may not come to the first iteration but perhaps to the 5th iteration after you have tested and tried again (and again).

It is ok to fail
If you don’t try and fail then it’s not really innovating. Take measured risks and try to think like the people you are innovating for (human insight).

Get management to allow you to fail
Setting aside a small amount you’re willing to lose on a prototype which turns out to be of no value can save you having to spend a big amount on a product/service that turns out to be of no value.

Work with what you know
It is ok to ‘borrow’ ideas. Take inspiration from existing success instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. The solution isn’t always drawn out and complicated. It can be quick and easy.

Innovation is a cycle – not a process
Just when you think you have implemented a dynamic, whiz bang solution that people love, there is no time to rest on your laurels, it’s time to start over again. Innovation thrives on momentum.

Flowchart

This process is contextualised in the following flowchart, which shows the steps to implementing a usable and innovative solution.

First things first: the complexity of a tool is totally independent of how effective it is. Unfortunately, I often see people discuss the complexity of a new digital tool and its broad range of features or unique database structure as a proxy for how effective it is – or worse, as evidence of how effective it is.

This approach is natural, for us an agency and for project owners on the client side. Complex tools look impressive. They represent a lot of effort. And the more effort expended, the better the end result. Right? Furthermore, it also shields stakeholders from criticism – who is going to lay blame when KPIs aren’t met when ‘look at all the hard work and thought that went into this tool!’ If you’re going to fail, it looks better to fail while overdoing than underdoing.

There’s nothing wrong with putting in lots of effort. Effort is great as long as it’s applied correctly. And while over-developing can be harmless, occasionally the added complexity will actually reduce the effectiveness of the tool.

Think about Facebook and the myriad of functionality it has, some of which I still haven’t even used. Had it launched in its present form, I’m willing to bet that adoption would be a lot slower. At launch, it was a simple tool that addressed a core problem: people wanted to connect via online profiles, but MySpace and Windows Live offered terrible user experiences. It was the simplicity of Facebook initially – in both functionality and layout – that made it so ‘sticky,’ encouraging growth.

Part 2: Press Release First!

So what’s the answer? I’ve recently been drawn to the Amazon approach to product development, which is to reverse engineer the final tool from the position of the end-user. In this fantastic post on Quora, Amazon product manager (and Quora champion) Ian McAllister outlines how they do it: press release first.

Yes, that right. Write the press release for your new tool before you even start planning development (even if you won’t actually release it). Why? The press release allows you to focus on the pitch behind the tool. You can go to Quora for a full breakdown of their approach, but in summary: “describe the product and the benefit”, “describe the problem your product solves,” and “describe how elegantly your product solves the problem.” If you find yourself developing solutions to problems not outlined in the press release or coming up with extra “value-adding” feature, ,then pull back and ask why? If the answer remains compelling, then at least ask when? Does this need to be in the first release? Can it wait until later?

This ties in with the “always in beta” mind-set, which is a good way of looking at most digital projects. Don’t strive for perfection on launch. Strive to hit the minimum effective level required to address the core problem, and then iterate from there. It gets you live earlier, it eases your users into the tool, and it means that you’ll have data and feedback to inform subsequent development of those additional features on your wish-list.

This is an approach I’ve taken recently, although mostly just in my back-of-the-napkin sessions (if any client wants to give it a go on an actual project then get it touch – I’m keen to work with you on it. It will be fun!).

In Summary

The effectiveness of your website is basically how well it addresses business and user problems. If that is best achieved by a static 2-page microsite then so be it. If it’s best achieved by a bespoke crowd-sourcing and collaboration platform then that’s fine as well. It’s just important to remember at the outset that effectiveness is not how big or complex the final solution is, it’s how well it addresses the initial problem that prompted the project. Start with and stay focussed on the user and their problems and I guarantee the final result will be better than starting with a laundry list of functionality.