Product Momentum Podcast

“Why, daddy,” says the curious toddler. “Why?” No parent has yet found a way to escape this exasperating line of questioning. We should be grateful. For as frustrating as the interrogation becomes, its purity of purpose cannot be denied. Focus on the why, the root explanation of the thing you are examining. This honest, unrelenting desire to understand requires us to rethink, reconsider, and clarify motives. In a similar way, UX designers and product managers can employ this technique to resist the impacts of “experience rot,” Jared Spool explains on today’s episode of the Product Momentum Podcast. Today on the Product Momentum Podcast, hosts Sean and Joe speak with UX design authority Jared Spool of Center Centre about the experience rot paradox. Experience rot is a phenomenon that arises when product owners perceive new features in a way that reinforces the “if one is good, more is better” philosophy. Jared shares several strategies to resist experience rot when building products: Focus on user problems without immediately jumping to the solutions Use data to inform features and problems, and collect this data before you need it Refine and redefine company culture to make the best product possible Read our blog post here The post 07 / Resisting Experience Rot appeared first on ITX Corp..

Time, technology, and innovative thinkers have revolutionized what the healthcare system stands for today. Regardless of these achievements, though, the entire system remains very health-centric, focusing only on what happens when something goes wrong and a patient must seek out help. Imagine a framework that flipped this concept on its head, putting the patient’s wellness at the center versus the health event. Imagine a system that gives users the tools and resources they need to create a healthy lifestyle that’s based on their wellness needs, motivations, and interests. Ultimately, a healthcare system that’s not just approachable, but promotes a better, more healthy existence for the entire population. This is what Renu Singh and Brian Harrington at the University of Rochester are working to achieve. In this episode, we sit down with University of Rochester’s School of Nursing team, Renu Singh and Brian Harrington, to get a behind-the-scenes look at a cutting-edge healthcare product they brought to market for University of Rochester employees, YoURHealth. Our hosts Sean and Joe not only look at how this power team brought this beautiful concept to life over almost 15 years, but also their process for continuously innovating the framework to provide care to the ever-changing needs of the different organizations it now serves. Listen to hear more from Renu and Brian, including: How they measure success for a healthcare product The importance of security in dealing with personal data How they involved the clinical team in building and deploying their product Read our blog post here The post 06 / Launching a Healthcare Product appeared first on ITX Corp..

As companies implement more technology and automation into their products and services, it’s all too common to shift their focus towards the numbers and forget that customers and users are human beings with problems, frustrations, and joys. In this episode, Sean and Joe talk with Kate O’Neill, Fortune 500 tech guru and adviser, about her experiences with the internet and how she uses human-centered design to improve an individual’s experiences with products. We should always be thinking of the human side of technology and software, considering how our users feel, think, and how to best communicate with them, to give us an advantage in how to better serve them, Kate O’Neill says. In the end, what we’re really selling is experiences. She calls this shift in focus in tech towards solving human problems the “digital technological disruption.” Kate does this work every day and shares a number of tactics for introducing more human-focused experiences into the software products you work on. She says, “if you want to go broader, probably the better option is to think about going deeper. How can you add more value to the people that are already your customers?” Sean, Joe, and Kate also discuss:  Methods for measuring success in building human-centric products Building trust, loyalty, and advocacy within a capitalistic system Brands that are succeeding at conveying meaningful strategy …and more in this episode of Product Momentum. Read our blog post here The post 05 / Human Experience in Products appeared first on ITX Corp..

The best way to solve a problem is to first examine the people who have encountered it, instead of simply looking at the problem itself. Doing so allows you to get a different point of view. Through creativity, in-depth research of the people using your product, and technology, teams can exponentially improve the way software products provide value for users. In this episode, Joe and Sean talk with renowned artist Sebastian ErraZuriz about how he’s shaking up the art world and training minds to be creative in technology. Sebastian ErraZuriz employs technology and design to extend the reach of his art in unique ways. He does not create digital products in the traditional sense, but his perspectives can be applied to your practice no matter where you work. Creativity can be learned, Sebastian says, and it is “the key to pretty much everything, especially in this new era.” But he also uses data, employs strategies from top companies like Amazon and Nike to inform his work. Listen to this episode to hear more about: The importance of stamina and persistence for designers The future of art and exhibitions in our digital age Sources of creativity and new ideas in your day-to-day life Read our blog post here The post 04 / Creativity in Technology appeared first on ITX Corp..

Interested in adding gamification techniques to your product? Gregg Gordon is the person to talk to.  In this episode, Sean and Joe discuss gamification as an important part of the system design process, and then have a great conversation with Gregg Gordon, CEO of SSRN.com. Gregg has over 20 years’ experience in gamification, a means for eliciting specific behaviors from your users. This technique depends on the premise that humans are naturally competitive. Some people are more competitive than others, but competition is the basis for our economy and drives many of our behaviors whether we admit it or not. Many products that you use on a daily basis likely employ elements of gamification. SSRN is an online platform that seeks to make research readily accessible to the masses. Sean, Joe, and Gregg discuss how SSRN uses gamification within the SSRN.com environment to both foster friendly competition and encourage users to increase their usage of the system. Gregg also notes that these techniques can provide value for the user while distinguishing your product from others. Listen to the full episode to hear more on gamification from Gregg Gordon, including: The importance of integrity, reputation, and trust in incentivizing users to do things that they already want to do Using product testing to ensure every choice is the right choice How it manifests in other industries Read our blog post here The post 03 / Using Gamification to Build User Experiences appeared first on ITX Corp..

In this episode, Sean and Joe discuss the different aspects of creating and measuring product loyalty and advocacy and then talk with Adam Bates from Amazon about how he works on creating loyalty within his own customer base. Adam is the Head of Product Management at Amazon and has over a decade of experience working in product. Advocacy is the goal for any software product that interacts with humans. Your users are priceless advocates for your product. Whether you’re building a website, a mobile app, or any digital technology that interfaces with people, the goal is to build product loyalty and eventually advocacy among users. Adam Bates discusses the loyalty ladder with Sean and Joe: first earning trust, then building loyalty, and ultimately earning advocacy. If you try to force customers to be advocates without first earning their trust and loyalty, for example, they will not be nearly as valuable to you. Customers need to go up the ladder, and Adam discusses how they do this at Amazon. Listen to this episode to hear more from Adam, Sean, and Joe, including: Methods of measuring product success and customer advocacy How Amazon understands and prioritizes their customers using data Using Kerry Rodden’s HEART metrics framework to measure user experience Read our blog post The post 02 / Creating Advocacy & Building Product Loyalty appeared first on ITX Corp..

Personas have been used by marketers for decades, and they are invaluable in shaping a product that will be valuable to users from different backgrounds and of differing abilities. In this episode of the Product Momentum Podcast, hosts Sean and Joe first discuss personas and their role in the software development process. They then proceed to interview Jeremy Durham from Paychex. Jeremy is the Director of Portfolio, Strategy, and Implementation at Paychex and talks about his experience developing personas for its software platform with a broad user base – virtually everyone that works does or could use Paychex software. Personas are valuable because they help everyone on your software product development team to empathize with the users of your products. A great persona is one that helps your team inform those subtle feature decisions that can inspire and connect with your users. In fact, an accurate persona that is representative of your users can make an impact on your product experience that results in a truly differentiated experience. Jeremy explains that it is important to clarify personas before crafting your overall vision, and especially before you start building your product.  Listen to this episode to hear more from Jeremy Durham, Sean, and Joe, including: How to use the DISC model to shape personas Integrating product lines to improve user experience Paying attention to your user base, not just industry trends Read our blog post The post 01 / Developing Personas appeared first on ITX Corp..