the onda

Had dinner with some friend from other big companies tonight. Microsoft. Adobe. Etc. All hackers.

We discussed how lousy it was that we've gotten so far from what users want, whether it is office suites, PCs, or e-readers. How it is so impossible to get anything done when you work at a big company that has taken mediocrity to be the given for what the big system outputs. Sort of like the episode of the Simpsons where the food court outputs "chicken paste" for any of foods, no matter how ethnic they might be. Least common denominator flavor and we're all just OK with it.

During the spirited dinner debate, I mentioned the guy from the fruit company who said that committee product design got us all here. In his eyes, the problem was the dozens of PMs high tech companies apply to all new products. "When are you going to learn?" he said to me in the middle of his big once-a-year conference, "that the way to deal to with all of those Program Managers looking for interlock is to remind them that they are nothing more... than... note...taking...bitches!"

When I repeated this story tonight, it drew quite the chuckles from the crowd of engineers gathered. But you know what? It's cheap humor. Because the real problem isn't all of those note-taking-bitches, but the lack of passion and belief that there is someone who cares about what the enduser sees.

For instance:

I've got a NTB who emailed me this weekend because we can't get a new piece of hardware hooked up to a common home wireless network.

And I've got another one who emailed me to say that customers aren't getting their custom newspapers on-schedule as we promised them they would.

Meanwhile, others are painting their house. Or having quality time. Or watching TV. Or doing God-knows-what outside of delighting users with what technology has to offer.

And executives telling me to "manage the warts."

Come on people, as Arthur C. Clarke said, "the difference between any suitably advanced technology and magic is completely indistinguishable to any one looking at things from a current perspective." Let's get out there and delight. And if you are not into that, move on— there are plenty of meter maid jobs still out there for you...