Nov
18
Story listening
I’ve always been curious. Too curious. I annoyed my teachers by asking questions they didn’t have answers for. I just couldn’t help myself. In my techie days I sometimes annoyed clients by asking too many questions. But listening to their stories about how they did their jobs gave me information about what I could do to make their jobs easier. They would tell me what they wanted and as I drilled down with questions, I discovered what they really needed and had not thought possible.
For example, when I worked for Occidental College, the faculty wanted “online registration.” To them, that meant that the Registrar staff would have terminals to enter data at registration. To me, it meant having students registering themselves in their classes. I listened to what they described and when I asked more questions, I heard that making the process good for the students was just as important as making it good for the faculty. You see, at Oxy, the faculty serve the students, not the other way around.
The result was that I designed and programmed the original version of Oxy’s registration system, “Reggie.” The students, the faculty, and the Registrar staff all loved it. So did I.