WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:06.290 Mike Bifulco: This is Tiny Improvements. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:07.369 I'm Mike by ko 00:00:11.334 --> 00:00:14.393 As winter is turned into spring this year, I've been doing a whole lot of walking. 00:00:14.934 --> 00:00:18.084 Most days I do a steady four or five mile lap around my neighborhood. 00:00:18.683 --> 00:00:21.594 It's a great way to get some fresh air, get some exercise and get some 00:00:21.594 --> 00:00:23.094 mental space to balance out the hours. 00:00:23.094 --> 00:00:24.354 I spend sitting at my desk. 00:00:25.253 --> 00:00:28.674 It's also a fantastic time to listen to some podcasts and audio books. 00:00:28.704 --> 00:00:31.644 And I got to tell you, one book in particular has taken hold of me. 00:00:32.244 --> 00:00:33.504 I can't stop thinking about it. 00:00:34.074 --> 00:00:36.384 It's called unreasonable hospitality by will. 00:00:36.384 --> 00:00:36.924 Guidara. 00:00:38.254 --> 00:00:40.894 Guidara is a restaurant or in a hospitality expert. 00:00:41.344 --> 00:00:44.164 He's known for his work at 11 Madison Park, a three Michelin 00:00:44.164 --> 00:00:45.664 starred restaurant in New York city. 00:00:46.324 --> 00:00:48.334 Get are also, co-founded make it nice. 00:00:48.394 --> 00:00:50.884 A hospitality group that includes several other restaurants and 00:00:50.884 --> 00:00:51.964 bars that you may have heard of. 00:00:52.754 --> 00:00:55.544 In the book, you'd already talks about the principles of hospitality that 00:00:55.544 --> 00:00:58.154 he's learned over the course of his career in the restaurant industry. 00:00:58.604 --> 00:01:02.654 He talks about the importance of listening to customers and anticipating their needs. 00:01:03.644 --> 00:01:06.944 Guitars teams are the best in the world at providing a memorable experience. 00:01:07.304 --> 00:01:09.614 They look for the small details about their guests that they can 00:01:09.614 --> 00:01:10.904 use to make them feel special. 00:01:11.354 --> 00:01:14.744 They go above and beyond to make sure that every guest has a great experience. 00:01:15.434 --> 00:01:17.504 They do this while trimming away the unnecessary of the 00:01:17.534 --> 00:01:19.154 superfluous and the extraneous. 00:01:19.334 --> 00:01:21.344 They're not just about making people feel special. 00:01:21.494 --> 00:01:23.954 They're about making people feel unreasonably special. 00:01:24.554 --> 00:01:27.434 One thing I love about the author is that despite working at some of the top 00:01:27.434 --> 00:01:30.994 restaurants in the world, he describes himself as more cheeseburger than caviar 00:01:31.334 --> 00:01:32.264 that hits home with me. 00:01:33.834 --> 00:01:36.474 Although unreasonable, hospitality's largely about restaurants. 00:01:36.504 --> 00:01:39.654 It's not just for people who work in food service it's for anyone who wants 00:01:39.654 --> 00:01:42.954 to create a welcoming, inclusive, and memorable experience for their customers. 00:01:43.224 --> 00:01:46.784 In other words, it's for everyone who works in product design, if you're reading 00:01:46.784 --> 00:01:48.614 this, that almost certainly includes you. 00:01:50.004 --> 00:01:53.004 From his time in the restaurant industry, he talks about the importance 00:01:53.004 --> 00:01:56.354 of creating a welcoming environment, making people feel special and going 00:01:56.354 --> 00:01:59.474 above and beyond to make sure that every guest has a great experience. 00:02:00.134 --> 00:02:02.444 As a designer, I found myself nodding along with a lot of 00:02:02.444 --> 00:02:03.584 what the author had to say. 00:02:04.034 --> 00:02:06.074 The principles of hospitality that he talks about. 00:02:06.074 --> 00:02:09.794 Like making people feel welcome, anticipating their needs and creating a 00:02:09.794 --> 00:02:14.024 sense of community our common to some of my absolute favorite end user experiences. 00:02:14.504 --> 00:02:17.504 The most memorable products I've ever used have gone out of their way to make me 00:02:17.504 --> 00:02:19.064 feel like I was part of something special. 00:02:19.904 --> 00:02:20.924 Here's some examples. 00:02:21.644 --> 00:02:22.484 How we feel. 00:02:23.234 --> 00:02:24.944 The gorgeously designed how we feel. 00:02:24.944 --> 00:02:28.184 App is a mood tracking in journaling tool that is pleasant to use 00:02:28.364 --> 00:02:31.184 visually appealing and has just the right amount of instruction. 00:02:32.304 --> 00:02:33.954 The first time I fired it up to log my mood. 00:02:34.254 --> 00:02:36.684 I was immediately struck by how nice it felt to use. 00:02:37.014 --> 00:02:39.384 The app lays out a huge number of selections for current 00:02:39.384 --> 00:02:40.884 mood on a two dimensional axis 00:02:41.244 --> 00:02:43.764 from left to right is unpleasant to pleasant. 00:02:43.794 --> 00:02:46.434 And from top to bottom is high energy to low energy. 00:02:46.804 --> 00:02:50.194 It's a simple, intuitive way to distill a complex set of feelings into 00:02:50.194 --> 00:02:51.814 a satisfying two dimensional grid. 00:02:52.654 --> 00:02:55.774 The real magic comes after the first few times you log your mood, the app 00:02:55.804 --> 00:02:59.014 gently and progressively presents, short, thoughtful videos to help 00:02:59.014 --> 00:03:00.604 you understand your feelings better. 00:03:00.974 --> 00:03:03.884 it's Like having a therapist in your pocket and it's so well done. 00:03:04.064 --> 00:03:04.634 I'm hooked. 00:03:06.524 --> 00:03:07.514 Next is to pool. 00:03:07.814 --> 00:03:10.274 My team uses Tupelo for remote pair programming. 00:03:10.874 --> 00:03:13.364 The app is fast, reliable, and beautifully designed. 00:03:13.604 --> 00:03:15.404 You can feel that it's been made for devs. 00:03:15.674 --> 00:03:18.134 And it helps my team to work more closely together, even though we're 00:03:18.134 --> 00:03:19.274 spread out across the country. 00:03:19.784 --> 00:03:21.554 So what stood out to me about tubal? 00:03:21.644 --> 00:03:24.824 Well, at the end of most calls, you're presented with a UI asking you to rate 00:03:24.824 --> 00:03:27.777 the call on a scale of one to five with an open text field for notes. 00:03:28.287 --> 00:03:32.217 In my experience, most calls are a perfect five out of five, but if I ever have 00:03:32.217 --> 00:03:35.457 a less than perfect call experience, which is a vanishingly rare occurrence. 00:03:35.457 --> 00:03:38.547 At this point, I'll leave a short note about what seemed to go wrong. 00:03:39.346 --> 00:03:39.916 Here's the thing. 00:03:40.276 --> 00:03:43.546 The tuple team has never failed to follow up with me about my feedback. 00:03:43.816 --> 00:03:46.546 Their reps are friendly, helpful, and so knowledgeable. 00:03:46.816 --> 00:03:49.786 Good customer service is such a difference maker and to pull nails it. 00:03:51.026 --> 00:03:52.286 Designing for hospitality. 00:03:52.946 --> 00:03:56.236 So how can we apply the principles of hospitality to our design work? 00:03:56.566 --> 00:03:57.526 Here's a few ideas. 00:03:58.336 --> 00:03:59.476 Do an experience audit. 00:03:59.806 --> 00:04:02.086 Take a look at your product from the perspective of a new user, 00:04:02.476 --> 00:04:03.586 what's the onboarding process? 00:04:03.586 --> 00:04:05.866 Like how is it easy to find the features they need? 00:04:06.696 --> 00:04:08.406 Are there any pain points that could be smoothed out? 00:04:08.856 --> 00:04:11.946 Are there moments that you wish you could show them a better experience based on 00:04:11.946 --> 00:04:13.326 what you might already know about them? 00:04:14.586 --> 00:04:16.056 Next, take a look at your competition. 00:04:16.206 --> 00:04:18.906 What is the typical experience look like for your competition's users? 00:04:19.236 --> 00:04:21.786 How can you differentiate yourself by offering a more welcoming, 00:04:21.816 --> 00:04:23.496 inclusive, and memorable experience? 00:04:23.796 --> 00:04:26.286 Is there a way to identify a niche in the market that you can 00:04:26.286 --> 00:04:27.636 serve better than anyone else? 00:04:28.686 --> 00:04:30.186 Finally talk to your users. 00:04:30.276 --> 00:04:31.776 You just can't beat conversation. 00:04:32.196 --> 00:04:35.706 Reach out to a variety of your users to see what they like about your product. 00:04:35.916 --> 00:04:38.796 Talk to your best users, ones who may be at risk of churning. 00:04:38.826 --> 00:04:42.666 And if you're able ones who already have churned take note of any commonalities 00:04:42.666 --> 00:04:44.886 and differences in the conversations you're having with these people. 00:04:45.636 --> 00:04:46.626 What can you learn from them? 00:04:47.896 --> 00:04:49.906 Now, take the idea and go parabolic. 00:04:50.026 --> 00:04:51.136 Once you've done your research. 00:04:51.336 --> 00:04:53.736 I think it's helpful to ask a more pie in the sky question. 00:04:54.186 --> 00:04:55.146 In a perfect world. 00:04:55.176 --> 00:04:57.186 What would you do to blow your users' minds? 00:04:58.086 --> 00:05:00.966 What would make them feel like they specifically are being seen? 00:05:01.456 --> 00:05:05.356 Write down these ideas in as simple of a format as you're able to a sentence or 00:05:05.356 --> 00:05:07.666 two is fine, then ask yourself, honestly. 00:05:07.966 --> 00:05:11.176 How close can you get to these ideals with the resources you have available? 00:05:11.506 --> 00:05:13.816 Move the needle as much as you can and keep iterating. 00:05:14.206 --> 00:05:16.426 You'll know when you've hit the mark, your customers will too. 00:05:18.146 --> 00:05:21.506 Check the links in the description of this podcast to get yourself a copy 00:05:21.506 --> 00:05:23.156 of unreasonable hospitality by will. 00:05:23.156 --> 00:05:23.276 Gadara. 00:05:23.306 --> 00:05:23.666 Tara. 00:05:24.056 --> 00:05:25.376 I think you'll freaking love it.