Productivity software that isn't

I recently came across David Allen, his company and his organizational system that he calls "Getting Things Done." He's a success coach and mentor, and has published a couple of books about the Getting Things Done system (you can see them here and here).

Unlike other systems I've come into contact with, this one seems both powerful and simple -- and very action- and performance-oriented. Not much theory, just how to get from A to B quickly and efficiently, without repeating yourself or forgetting things. It also seems to fit with my own idiosyncratic (aka "organizationally challenged") view of things (dis)organizational.

The David Allen Company contracted with NetCentrics, Inc., to write an Outlook add-in that implements the Getting Things Done system. Unfortunately, like so much software today, it's not a well-polished implementation. In this genre, this is especially inexcusable. It's irony that borders on hypocrisy.

I decided to download and install the software. During the installation the installer kept telling me that Outlook was running, even though it wasn't. I jumped through a number of hoops to get try and complete the installation, to no avail.

Adding to the fiasco was the fact that the support site was anything but supportive. I had to search the FAQs and the Knowledgebase, even though between them there are only 29 articles available (eleven and eighteen, respectively). None of my searches turned up any useful results. Then they wanted me to register with their site just to ask for help on software I didn't yet own.I couldn't just fill in an email address, fill in the problem and click "Help Me! Please!" Finding email addresses to circumvent their support request page took even more time.

So, this "productivity software" is, so far, anything but that. It wasted about an hour of my day, and I have nothing to show for it. Sad. Very sad.

The really sad thing is, the "error" is completely unnecessary. Most installers of any value today can schedule installation steps to occur after a reboot. However, instead of taking the time to implement this approach, the offered solution was to have the end-user press Ctrl-Alt-Del, fire up Task Manager and manually kill any running versions of Outlook. YIKES! (not to mention that fact that that solution didn't even work). Most users see Ctrl-Alt-Del as the work of the devil, reserved for super-power-users and those people at the other end of tech support calls.

Considering that the target end-user is someone who is using the Getting Things Done system (e.g., overworked, non-technical knowledge workers, executives, marketers, etc., rather than overworked technologists), I'm sure this product's market penetration is a small fraction of what it could be. Most users will just walk away from problematic software, rather than fight with it, or even complain about it. Add to this the fact that these particular end-users are, by definition, very busy people, not likely inclined to waste time fighting with new software.

What did NetCentrics do wrong? Basically one thing: they didn't fully consider their target audience (Tom Peters adherents might say they didn't go for the WOW!). Plus, I'm also betting that they haven't done much, if any usability, testing or surveyed their users.

I wrote them an email explaining to them my views on all of this. Hopefully, they'll take to heart the fact that they're supposed to be improving end-user productivity, not impairing it. If something changes, I'll mention it here.

Back safe and sound -- weeks ago!

So, the STS-114 mission, Return to Flight, is complete, the astronauts are safely back home and now they're fulfilling their NASA Ambassadors of Goodwill duties.

By all accounts the mission was a success, except, of course, for that one errant chunk of foam that fell off during launch. Other than that, the flight was flawless. In my book, NASA is back on the job.

Kudos to NASA. Kudos to the crew of STS-114.