Adapting Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to technical communication

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1943) can be applied to anything that has to do with human needs and motivations. Adapting this to the technical communication domain, project teams can plan their efforts so that the documentation first meets the primitive or the basic needs of the end users before meeting their higher needs.

Primitive needs have evolved over the years and must be met for most (if not all) users. For example, a native Spanish engineer using German machinery would, before anything else, expect the user manual to be available in his native language. Else, the engineer will end up spending more time troubleshooting, looking for a colleague who knows German, or maybe calling customer support.

Higher needs should be met for growth, efficiency, and better experience. The higher needs in the hierarchy only come into focus once all the needs that are lower down are largely satisfied. In our example, the Spanish engineer would next expect the document to be aligned with a typical engineer’s mental model and the tasks.

Public sector customer disservice

MTNL, the Indian Government owned telephone service provider in Mumbai has a customer care division that can be reached only if your phone is alive and kicking (not dead). More often than not, one needs that support when the phone line is down. The next best option then is to lodge a complaint on their IVR enabled number using another phone. All you get in return is a 'docket' number. And then you wait...indefinitely...and pray. You don't get a turnaround time and you don't get to speak to a human.

As a public sector company, it has made commendable advances in technology, but it has a long way to go when it comes to really caring for its customers. They treat existing customers as if they have nowhere else to go (which, btw is true in most cases), and new customers, well, they don't want any. Their efforts to acquire new customers don't go beyond their marketing campaigns. The customer facing employees just don't care. It’s not their job.

Not so 'Home(ly)' page

A website's homepage is the most important page from a business perspective and the least important one from a visitor perspective. Designers must spend the most time and resources on the homepage so that the users spend the least of theirs there.

A user rarely visits a website for its homepage, unless the goal is met end-to-end on the homepage. Most often, a homepage is just a launch pad to that goal. If a user is spending too much time on the launchpad, the chances are it is broken. The best homepages focus on quickly launching the visitor to her goal. Is google the best homepage?

"Conditions Apply"

Who hasn't passed over an otherwise persuasive advertisement just because there is a small asterisk pointing to a hardly readable text that says "conditions apply". Obviously the "conditions" are not worth mentioning as a part of the ad. There is more to the ad than meets the eye. The advertiser is deliberately hiding stuff from the audience. The information in the ad is incorrect and/or incomplete. All these thoughts may come to a person’s mind while looking at a print ad or viewing it on TV.

Consumers now expect a fair amount of transparency in the buying process. They are not so easily sold to these old tricks any more. Eventually they will know what you were keeping under the wraps. And the later they know, the more your brand suffers. The not so attractive terms and conditions must be disclosed with a perspective early on to help consumers make an informed decision. Although this may mean a drop in your lead generation, but the ones you have will be more qualified leads.

It’s an effective way to weed suspects from prospects.

Harry Potter didn't make it...

No. Its not about how the story ends- I haven't even read it yet. It's about the book that I had ordered from this shopping site called Indiaplaza.in that spent millions making promises it couldn't keep. It claimed that the book will be delivered on the date of release. It was delivered 3 days after the release date. One of my other friends in Delhi got it a day after I got it.

In those three days, I tried their phone 20 times and sent 3 emails to them demanding an explanation/cancellation/compensation (whichever is convenient) for the torture I was being put to. But they were prepared. The phone was kept off the hook and no one answered the email.

Also, in those three days, I spoke to at least 10 people about how I felt cheated by Indiaplaza.in. I also wrote a review on mouthshut.com so that everyone knew that these people cannot be trusted. My friend must have done this word of mouth bad publicity too. Now that's a huge damage to their brand. It's a lost opportunity, especially when there are no genuine shopping websites in India. The millions spent on acquiring new customers are going down the drain because they have lost potentially loyal customers.

Isn't that common sense? Whatever the reason for the delay, they definitely didn't see this coming and were not prepared to handle customers like me. A simple apology with a logical sounding explanation would have gone a long way...

Advice for new managers: part 1

The central mistake new managers make is egoism. On the surface, the change is all about you: you’ve been promoted, you have a new job title, you have a new office. Perhaps you’ve been waiting for this change for some time, while watching peers or friends get promotions, and now finally you feel you’ve received the respect you’ve earned. Congratulations! But be warned: how or why you became a manager has little to do with doing the job well. The sooner you recognize how different success as a manager is from success as worker, the better off you’ll be. Good managers are rare (how many have you had?): so if you’re new to the game, and would like to be a good one, this essay is for you.

 

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