Month: May 2005

A Cultural Problem

Kevin HallBusiness

One of the challenges faced by companies large and small is that of establishing a functional, healthy corporate culture. There is not one type of corporate culture that is best. Apple, Google, and IBM have drastically different corporate cultures but all three have been highly successful. Culture Counts The popular notion of culture tends to revolve around geography and race. Historically some cultures have emphasized values that made them thrive, the emphasis in Japanese culture on family or the Puritan work ethic are positive cultural traits that have led to generations of prosperity and success. Other cultures are dysfunctional and embrace values that lead to failure. The people of the State of Michigan do not embrace higher education as a […]

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Message 2 of 1

Kevin HallUsability

Message 2 out of 1 Messages – My Answering Machine My answering machine recently told me I was listening to message 2 out of 1. This struck me as an odd numbering scheme. I know it’s been a while since Sesame Street but I’m pretty sure counting just doesn’t work like that.

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Fear Smells Bad On You

Kevin HallBusiness, Marketing

Do you reek of fear? When you go to the zoo do the lions look at you through the bars like their next meal? Do small children throw pennies at your head and laugh when you shout at them? Do your customers have any respect at all for your integrity or character? If you sense you’re failing this pop quiz perhaps you should read over James Archer’s recent post at Strange Brand. Mr. Archer takes on Adobe, Microsoft, and other companies that have let fear of failure overcome any ability they may have had to openly communicate with their customers and the general public.

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Pondering the Ponderous

Kevin HallBusiness, Internal Processes, User Experience

Inertia makes it difficult for large objects in motion to change direction. Large organizations suffer from an institutional inertia that makes it difficult for them to adapt and conduct business in new ways. This can apply to the way mail is delivered, phones are answered, files are stored, supplies are purchased, and a multitude of other areas large and small. Change is hard, changing how hundreds or thousands of people do their jobs is very hard. People are uncomfortable changing how they work. They may not like everything they are doing or understand it, but at least it is familiar and they know what to do at each step. People are often afraid of making mistakes and losing their jobs. […]

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Missing the Point: Web Applications

Kevin HallAccessibility, Web Design, Web Standards

I recently went to try online banking with National City only to come face to face with the following error message: Alert – browser does not meet requirements Your browser does not meet minimum security requirements for Online Banking. If your browser does not support 128-bit encryption, you will not be able to enroll in Online Banking. In addition, your browser version must be Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, or Netscape Navigator® 7.0 or higher I am browsing using Firefox 1.0.3, which shares a rendering engine with Netscape 8.0. However, the developers behind National City’s website have chosen not to recognize this browser. I’m guessing Safari, Opera and other modern browsers are also locked out of the online banking […]

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