The Kmiec Ramblings

What an awesome little discovery I made the other day. I stumbled upon this page from Google while looking for their “Don’t be evil” language. I’ve outlined the 10 principles and offered some commentary.

1. Focus on people – their lives, their work, their dreams: Amen! The more we can keep the user, the person, the mom, the dad, the teacher, etc. at the core the more we’ll be seen as useful. What this means though is that not every initiative is an ROI driven one.
2. Every millisecond counts: Yes, I don’t have time to wait.  A minute waiting for a site to load is just too long.  Heck 10 seconds seems to long.  We expect instantaneous results.
3. Simplicity is powerful: It’s very possible to convert seemingly complex things into very simple and intuitive experiences.  If it’s possible, why don’t we do it more?
4. Engage beginners and attract experts: I love this one.  Experts and knowledgeable members keep a community alive and useful.  But, a community of just experts is useless.  It’s like watching of doctors in a room trying to agree on the right course of treatment.
5. Dare to innovate: Don’t rest on your laurels.  Keep thinking ahead and more importantly, keep asking WHY and HOW CAN I MAKE THIS BETTER.
6. Design for the world: I’m a little torn on this one.  Conceptually I get what Google’s saying, if you design/develop/build for a small segment, you’ll never be able to scale and thus grow.
7. Plan for today’s and tomorrow’s business: Kinda straight forward.
8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind: This is one of the toughest things to do.  I can you delight and surprise me without making it too complex to comprehend.  I hate to say it, but this is exactly what Apple does so well.
9. Be worthy of people’s trust: If they don’t trust you, they won’t use you, and they won’t become your advocate.
10. Add a human touch: No one wants to be a number, a line in a database, or a 1 and a 0.  Make your experiences personal.

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