World Usability Day - 3 November, 2005

If only Disney were in charge of World Usability Day. Disney World is a shining example of delivering great user experiences. If only all the volunteers who are involved in World Usability Day can together achieve what a Disney World achieves then this will be a momentous world occasion.

This somewhat philosophical thought came after reading another provoking blog entry ‘from the pen of’ Kathy Sierra, the author of Creating Passionate Users. The item was entitled ‘Subvert from within – a user-focused employee guide‘. She wrote it after visiting Microsoft where she found many kindred spirits. There’s much good advice within this post. It’s based on her activities within Sun where it appears she was a mover and a shaker. So much so that according to her, she was asked to leave.

It’s that subversion word that’s the problem I guess. My dictionary gives the following definitions for subvert:

to try to destroy the authority of a political, religious, etc. system by attacking it secretly or indirectly syn. undermine
to try to destroy a person’s belief in something or somebody syn. undermine

If the organization is as off the scale as to need subversion, then you probably should give up and go somewhere else.

You would think it’s a no-brainer to deliver good user experiences to your customers. Yet so many large and small organizations take the lazy way out, work with minimum costs or untrained people, and hope the bottom line will justify their efforts. It shouldn’t take acts of subversion to make them see the light.

Hopefully World Usability Day on 3 November, 2005 will not be seen as multiple acts of subversion around the world. Rather it should be a blinding flash of the obvious to all business leaders. If you think you want to get involved, then Worldusabilityday.net is the site for World Usability Day local leaders and other event organizers.

Tags: World Usability Day, user experience, Disney World