Ruko

Design idealism & Product pragmatism. All views are my own.

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

@taxfix_de @hector_hiad I am also waiting for a response! Pls get in touch. Your app has a bug and not letting me complete my tax return - I already tested on multiple phones and same issue 🙄 @taxfix_de

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

@thomas_k_r Oh yay! Reminds me of cafes in Tokyo, serving tea & cakes late into the night… 🍵

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

@hpdailyrant You must have had a lot of influence / respect!

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

Please get in touch so we can discuss further. I did not even get a response until after 17 days.

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

@Ryanair @askryanair My luggage didn’t come out for 4 hours until 2:30AM and I missed my train as a result. I submitted my claim following your procedure and have been told that I can’t be compensated by a CS who clearly didn’t even read my claim.

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

@Martin_Jordan As a service designer and a new German resident struggling with non-digital public services, this is the most disappointing thing I heard all year 💀

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

@hpdailyrant When I went back to my hometown in Japan this spring, I saw that the bookshop I used to go growing up was still there. Obv couldn’t help myself so picked up a few books and mags :)

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

Day 2 done too 💪 posting a day late being too tired yesterday 😅 Thanks to organisers & the community for a UX immersed weekend. #uxce23

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

First day done ☑️ #uxce23 with
@jngo @daisylumley @lilsquest Mariana, Gen, Juan & many more lovely people 💪

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

My first @SDDBerlin! Good to chat with Berlin-based Designers and hear great talks before the packed weekend at @uxcampeurope

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

Nice use of a #serviceblueprint to visualise a system of multi-products & services. I’m curious about how this is kept up to date and made actionable!

[Brian Chesky @bchesky]

We created a blueprint of the Airbnb experience and used it to improve our service end-to-end

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

@swardley @causalislands @jngo I agree and love that piece of advice!

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

Deeply fascinating journey into Wardley Mapping. Thank you @swardley @causalislands ...& @jngo for recommending! Can't wait to explore more.

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

In Berlin, more than 10,000 people came out for the #fullscalefreedom action on the anniversary of the full scale invasion of Ukraine.

Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey, Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksii Makeiev, U.S. Ambassador Amy Gutmann, and German politicians took part in the event.

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

😂😭

[Shreyas Doshi @shreyas]

Apple Pie Position:
A statement that instantly elevates the person who is saying it and is simultaneously hard for anyone else to push back on, and so everyone avoids the personal risk and just nods “yes”, even though its actual value in this specific situation might be relatively low, zero, or even negative.

Because everyone in the workplace wants to come across as smart & competent, especially during meetings, Apple Pie Positions end up being frequently employed by your colleagues.

Examples of Apple Pie Positions
(trigger warning: might feel too painful at times)

1) “We need to define the success metrics for <whatever is being discussed>”

Also seen in the wild as:
“How will you measure success here?”

2) “Do you have any data to back that up?”

(narrator: it is either impossible to get useful data in this situation or the effort to get useful data would be greater than just doing it)

3) “We need more scalable team processes”

4) “We have too many meetings”

5) “We need to sync more often”

6) “This is a two-way door, so let’s just decide quickly”

(narrator: it was actually a one-way door. or, it was a two-way door with a hungry lion on the other side of the door, so we kinda died)

7) “We need more metrics before making a decision here”

8) “We need a better go-to-market motion to improve product adoption”

(narrator: the problem is you’ve built the wrong product, no amount of GTM sorcery is going to fix that)

9) “We need to clarify our expectations from people in this role so we can set them up for success”

(narrator: the problem is that you’ve hired too many people whose work overlaps with other functions)

10) “We need better internal documentation!”

(narrator: yes we do. we also need 50 other things so let’s just finally admit that this ain’t happening. besides OpenAI will solve this for us in 2024, right?)

11) “Let us not forget [quote one of the company’s core values].”

(narrator: sometimes used as a weapon to justify one’s position, especially when faced with objective & rational counter-arguments for an issue)

12) “We need to replace our team meeting with written updates”

Fast forward a few weeks/months:

“People are missing live interactions with team members, they don't know what's going on across the team, nobody's reading the written updates. We need a meeting”

13) “Our current org structure doesn’t set us up for optimal execution of our strategic goals. That's why we are announcing a re-org”

14) “We must not slow down our shipping velocity”

(narrator: usually applied to push back against a fairly rational measure that will cause a minor delay in shipping the product but will prevent bigger problems for the customers or the company further down the road)

15) “We need to post-mortem this”

(narrator: you should have pre-mortem'ed this, so you wouldn't have had to deal with an ugly post-mortem. and the systemic changes rarely happen and somehow we are doing another ugly post-mortem 3 months from now. repeat)

16) “After 13 amazing months as CxO, Bob has decided to leave for other personal pursuits. The company wouldn’t be the same without his contributions”

(narrator: this is not how it actually went down)

17) “We need an offsite so we can align the teams better with our strategic priorities”

(narrator: we said the same thing for the previous 6 offsites. it almost seems like we are doing offsites more than we are being onsites)

18) “Remember, we are a mission-driven company”

(narrator: particularly effective when justifying below-market salary / stock for current and prospective employees)

19) “We need to go on a customer listening tour to understand our customers better”

(narrator: no, you need to pay more attention to the customer research that’s already happened over the past 18 months that we haven’t done anything about. you then need to translate that into differentiated features, instead of just building me-too tablestakes)

20) “We need more apple pie”

(narrator: 🥧yum. yes we do)

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

Cool way to approach strategy, as smt that needs to be experimented and adapted. Often we think strategy has to be a big incomprehensible PPT / Service Blueprint etc, but a good one is not.

[Jess - UI Goodies ♡ @jesseddy]

I love the idea of an emergent strategy or at least a blend of an emergent and deliberate strategy, especially given the current pace of technological advancements. 🤝 It is a must. 👏

Here are some features and benefits of emergent strategy.

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

@joulee Boredom &amp; wish to play, maybe? 🤔

[Ruko @RukoKuga]

@andybudd I feel like the biggest difference between PM and Designer is what they prioritise? as a PM you need to consider ROI and biz impact for every feature, (design) trade offs but designers can mainly focus on user impact.

[Trung Phan @TrungTPhan]

SAAS, explained