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The basics are most important
The recent events in Haiti have reminded me of some basic truths of good experience. Such as, it's a good experience to have a roof over my head. It's a good experience to be healthy, and have access to food and running water and electricity. And so on.
I often write about the importance of basics. But here we see basics as a matter of life and death.
On the other side of the spectrum, it's easy (I'll speak for myself) to get wrapped up in the details of, say, the flow of a website, or the tactics of a product design. What a poorly worded tag line! What an awful color scheme! (Or what a great tag line, or what a good color scheme.) And so on.
Of course, there's a legitimate value to the concerns of the designer, the product manager, even, dare I say, the customer experience consultant. I just think it's important to keep things in perspective - so that when we brush something off and say "hey, it's not life or death," know that we're lucky to be able to say that.
I've thought for a long time that any discussion of good experience - whether at a conference, or in a book, or in an ongoing newsletter! - should be careful to include voices from all parts of the spectrum. What use is an exploration of good experience, after all, if it runs around and around the same territory?
When I ran the first Gel Health conference recently, I tried to include voices that weren't otherwise being heard in other healthcare or "patient-centered" conferences. Just for the reason above: we have to keep things in perspective. A color scheme is a lot less important to some patients than the availability of any care at all.
One of the speakers whose message continues to resonate with me was Dr. Jim Withers, who founded a street medicine practice - bringing healthcare directly to the homeless population of Pittsburgh - over 25 years ago. Street medicine is now practiced in dozens of cities worldwide, thanks to the efforts of Withers and others. Here's his Gel Video.
I have others, too, to post along these same lines - as well as a couple of book recommendations - but I wanted to start off this thread by pointing out the value of keeping perspective when considering the experience. The basics really are the most important.
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P.S. If you want to help Haiti, three good options for a donation: CARE, Doctors Without Borders, and Partners in Health (also at StandWithHaiti.org).
A favourite phrase is "be brilliant at the basics". We do all tend to get buried in details, but doing the job right every time (or, if not, remedying it the right way every time) is key to success.. no amount of genius marketing can sell past any failure in the basics.
I am struck by the overwhelming lack of logistical coordination in Haiti. There is food and water that is sitting in the ports not being distributed to people who need it. There are healthcare workers willing, able, and ready to fly out immediately to help the overwhelming number of injured, but prevented from entering the country due to increased security. It seems to me that if you provide food, water, healthcare (the basics), there would be far fewer security threats. For me, this is a stunning and heart-wrenching example of how bureaucracy triumphs over plain old common sense to the detriment of the greater good; sadly an all too familiar story in business and government these days.
If these guys on the ground who are so concerned with security had a little more creativity or could look at the situation from a different vantage point, they might realize the amazing opportunities available to them. Rather than respond to an increased threat of violence by desperate people, they could actually address the root causes of these people's desperation. And, by providing food, water, and medical care where needed, they would not only be addressing the needs of the Haitians, they'd be reducing the security risks as well.
I find it hard to understand why this isn't what's happening.
Amen to the above! A lifeline needs to be set up. As News people etc. find the needs - individuals in there own vans could shuttle in the correct supplies. Heck with the bureaucracy - bring on the thinkers...