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About affronti

Testing

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The Internet is a psychology experiment.

Building a product for the Internet is now the easy part. Getting people to understand the product and use it is the hard part. And the only way to make the hard part work is by testing one psychological hypothesis after another.

Great article by Scott Adams entitled “The Pivot” on his blog.

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The numbers raise a basic question about the ability of the new tech giants to launch small experimental projects — and how quickly they’ll pull the plug on a product that they love if it isn’t catching on.

“Paper Isn’t Catching On, And Facebook Has To Decide What To Do About It” via BuzzFeed

It’s amazing to see how big Facebook has grown across so many dimensions. The description of their innovation group (which sounds very similar to a team I once worked on at Microsoft) is a good example of how they have evolved into a mature tech company. Their primary businesses have become so large and established (read = depended on, like Facebook Login), that it becomes hard and sometimes dangerous to innovate directly inside them any more.

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After a weekend spent using devices tailored to them, enterprise users are rolling their eyes at the clunky interface that greets them Monday morning.

“The tech and pizza promise: Why your product must deliver more in less” via TheNextWeb

A great article that summarizes the news goals for building apps and experiences for enterprise users: they must be as tailored and desirable to use – if not more so – than the apps those users engage with for their own personal productivity and fun. 

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Employees are vastly more satisfied and productive, it turns out, when four of their core needs are met: physical, through opportunities to regularly renew and recharge at work; emotional, by feeling valued and appreciated for their contributions; mental, when they have the opportunity to focus in an absorbed way on their most important tasks and define when and where they get their work done; and spiritual, by doing more of what they do best and enjoy most, and by feeling connected to a higher purpose at work.

This was in the Times last Sunday and is an awesome summary of how to think about motivating and retaining great employees. It highlights simple but critical points like taking breaks to avoid burnout, helping employees gain a feeling of mastery by providing specific and customized challenges, and maintaining a constant feedback loop.