A summary of Kathy Sierra’s Keynote 2009 at NMC Summer conferencefaloiiii@gmail.com손민현

Which is better?A: How great company is…B: Or How great the product is…Secret answer C is… The users think “I kick ass”

Important thing is…A and B are not importantUsers want to be an expert of somethingBut companies only focus on the products

What if? How?What do you want to be really, really good at?What if you helped people feel that they are good at something, how would you help users to do that?

Being better is betterBeing really good at something is very powerful to peopleThe hi-resolution User ExperienceBecome richer & deeperBeing better is betterNobody focus on the things that they are not good at

The Kick Ass CurveGet that curves more quicklyPeople don’t want to be tool experts.It’s about what our tools let them DO

Nikon cameraThe company show us brochures which have beautiful colors and pictures before we buy itAfter buy it, it gives us black and white manualsIt is about taking pictures! Not about the camera

Let’s help people Convince people by all those cool picturesLet’s help them get really good at taking picturesBut one problem is your brain is not your friend

The brainYour mind and brain are in an epic battleThe brain is filtering everything coming outWe should work against thatWhat does the brain decide?We should get through that filterIt’s not what you decide

ChemistryBrains are tuned to pay attentionFeelings must be importantFeelings of joy, excitement, thrill, laghterBrain does not care about codes, but facesBrain cares about Faces with codes

Cheap tricksA better cheap trick is to get people to have an emotional chemical reaction which is really relevant to the topicsConversational book made people remember the same contents betterThink of anything that helps people get through the brain, pay attention

10 Ways to help Users 10 ways to help users get higher deeper & richer experience1. Focus on what the USER does, not what YOU doDon’t build a better [x], build a better [user of x]How do we build a better photographer, not a better camera?2. Give them superpowers, quicklyUser must do something cool within 30 minutes

10 Ways to help Users 3. Make them smarterWhat makes you smarter : brain training, puzzlesImproves your brain’s thinking abilitiesStand up with one leg -> just got smarter You just improved your balanceWe should think about how people get smarter

10 Ways to help Users 4. Don’t focus on [x], ask what [x] is a subset of …What is the bigger thing that your topic is part of?How do we find the relevant thing?Focus on the bigger thing

10 Ways to help Users5. Shrink the 10,000 hours2 ways to shrink the 10,000 hours : Learn the patterns, Shorten the durationLearn to do knowledge acquisition and representationAlways be practicingAfter 1-2 years, experience is a poor predictor of performance/ expertiseHow much practice time on Tiger Woods’ strength vsweakness? 80% on his strength

10 Ways to help Users 6. Make your product (or docs) reflect their feelingsReflect the way people are using itWhat FAQ/HELP think people feel – goodHow people actually feel – bad“Letting them off the hook” is a killer appHow you make them feel about themselves drives how they feel about you

10 Ways to help Users 7. How do you get them to answer and ask questions?No dumb questions, No dumb AnswersJust try it, take a chance it’s a part of how you learnWe allow them to feel comfortable to answer or ask questionsGet higher resolution experience – users become an expert and come back to help newbies

10 Ways to help Users 8. Do NOT insist on ‘inclusivity’Passionate users “talk different”Mesuring community successSuccess==more users kicking ass9. Make the right thing easy, wrong thing difficultIt’s not in the corner because you don’t use it, you don’t use it because it’s in the cornerMake it easy for users to have a breakthrough than to stay where they are

10 Ways to help Users 10. Total immersion jamsFrequency matters16 hours over two days vs 16 hours over two monthsAlways be closingLess camp, more jams“The surest way to guarantee nothing interesting happens is to assume you know exactly how to do it”Finally… 11. Be brave