Lessons from a Kindle

Over the holidays, I received an Amazon Kindle for my birthday. I turned it on, took a look at the first page, and swiped my hand across the screen to go to the next page.



It took me a good 3-4 swipes before I realized that I needed to press the ">" button to go to the next page.

That got me thinking. The Fortune 50 company that I work for always laments about "Habit Adoption" being such a challenge. Many blamed failed product launches on habit adoption issues. We dump tons of marketing money into helping people form different habits. Why had I formed such a strong habit from my iPhone that it took me that much time to unlearn it for the Kindle?

Because it's freakin' intuitive. Run your hand across the screen, the page moves with it. It's really easy to get used to something that's intuitive. My Fortune 50 company (and other ones out there) should put the challenge to our design folks to make the product so freakin' easy to use that you don't hafta worry about habit adoption.

Lessons from a Kindle

How to answer the "So what do you do?" question

Paraphrasing from the movie The Social Network:

Hot Stanford co-ed, getting out of bed: Where do you work?
Lucky guy still in bed:  I'm an entrepreneur.
HSCE: So you're unemployed?

One thing that I've wondered about is if my social status would take a hit if I didn't have a full time job (I don't have that much social status to begin with). How many people would understand I did it by choice? Although analyzing the situation more, the lucky guy was asked that question the next morning. Continuing with the dialogue:

Lucky guy: You ever heard of Napster?
HSCE: Yup
Lucky guy: I invented it
HSCE: Wow, I slept with the guy who invented Napster.

The moral of the story: If you don't have a full time job by choice, you can increase your social status by doing something cool, even if it doesn't make money. I.E., if you're gonna quit your job, go invent Napster!

How to answer the "So what do you do?" question