Start Menu
(Management)
To care or not to care
I am not sure if this interests you:) I enjoy discovering new things and particularly the small/big ones that others don't get to see.
I haven't kept too many shortcuts on my desktop and hence I open programs like Winamp through Start Menu of Windows. Every time I go to open Winamp, it would look like this:
I always wondered why would 'Uninstall Winamp' appear at the top of the menu, and for accessing Winamp, I would have to bring the cursor down at the bottom. Why didn't they design it in such a way that the main program that I want to open, i.e. Winamp appears on the top and other files like Uninstall, Read Me file, etc appear afterwards? Don't you think it would be more user-friendly thing to do?
I went ahead to check how it works for some other programs. The case was the same for WinZip: to my surprise, Help Manual appears on the top, while WinZip 9.0 appears at the bottom of the menu!
Then I realised how it works. Windows keeps the items from top to bottom according to the Alphabetical Order. Hence 'U'ninstall Winamp appears before 'W'inamp, and 'H'elp Manual appears before 'W'inZip. But still, they could have done something to make it more convenient for users! They could have Written WinZip Help Manual instead of simple Help Manual, and that would have made sure that this file appears after WinZip!
When I checked with one other software ' PictureProject, it was designed exactly as I had thought ' all items in the menu are prefixed with PictureProject and hence the order is this: PictureProject, PictureProject Help, PictureProject ReadMe, and then PictureProject Uninstall! It takes care of the alphabetical order requirement and is just what the users want.
Why was it that Winamp and WinZip didn't care to make it this way while PictureProject did? I guessed, just confirmed and there were no surprises: PictureProject is software from
There is a concept called Quality Function Deployment ' the motto is to incorporate the quality systems from the design step itself so as to avoid faulty production in the later stages. As we all know, the Japanese companies have excelled quality and taken it to benchmark status. And many American companies have been failing on this front.
Do you think my analysis was naïve and no one cares about such small-small things? :) First, such small things go a long way in customer orientation, and second, quality and customer satisfaction become very much part of our organisation culture ' we lose focus once and it would take years for us to change. Taking care of such small things in the design stage is the success of products like iPod. Ideally there should be no limits to which designers and companies go create a product / service to delight customers, taking care of the minutest of the details
(Rahul)
nice observation………………..though i never even noticed being uncomfortable with it
well… gud observation.. now i”ll mind too :D
Very true Rahul.. There was a time when such things didnt matter.. not any more. In fact in many fields the only differentiation between success and failure often depends on such minute things, which seem not to matter. Many consumers do not consciously realise the minute issues.. if asked to explain why they choose one over the other.. they dont know.. but its been proven that it is minute irritations that subconsciously register in their minds and influence their decisions.
Very small but good point which is observed then nicely explained by u……..
Nice to read this blog……nicely narrated all in one, I always see this, when i start my pc, but never thought of it.
God is in the details. I like the process oriented way you described quality at the design stage. Nice read. Write to the OEMs. We have a saying in this part of the country, ” tell me my flaws, tell the world my glows”. Cheers! and go on caring.
hmmm… never realised i was struggling ever before i read your blog…. :) goes to show how most of us do not even bother about these things or think twice about it… but, now that you mention it, it does make sense to be more correct in one’’s approach…..
hey, thanks for the new year wishes…. i know i was delayed… trust you had a great new year beginning! Wish you all the best! and do keep writing!
it was a very interesting and customer productive info if the company cares to pay attention to it.
Corrections please - Hi Think Tank, That’’s an interesting observation. Its however not just American Giants, but also companies from Europe which follow this file listing, that descends in alphabetical order. But there’’s really not much wrong in that system. It actualy has more merits….And that is why BILL GATES and STEVE JOBS are alive and kicking….Not surprisingly, Japanese industrial biggy, Toyota uses M-S almost exclusively for their operations globally, so does Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi.While crediting the Japanese for building Quality into the product at the design stage istelf is fully justified, please know that their Gurus in this field have been (guess who), the Yankees - Legends >> DEMING, JURAN, MALCOLM BALDRIDGE….BTW, no one engineers Quality into products better than Germans….Audi, BMW,Mercedes,Siemens..an endless list
good observation….
Aap ki rachanatmak soch kaa ek aur abhinav prayog, jismein vaijnanik anusandhan ki jijnasa aur lalak parilakshit hoti hai.aap ki dimagi kasarat, parinam aur vishleshan sabhi kuchh rochak hai aur kuchh sochane ko majbur kar raha hai. es khoj aur prayog par badhai……………kim.
Complicated. I am not computer savvy…
Good observation. Such small things are always bothersome and show lack of much concern or orientation towards customer. Your analysis seems ok to me.
hmm true thats a good observation .. i dont know if we can tag it to the american style just as yet …. but a nice thought nonetheless :-)
i thought u wrote a blog on me(menu)..heee…kidding, but this is something that wud not interest me..!!
rahul!hats off 2 u dear!!!!!!!!!!!!!very nice obsevation.god bless u! have a nice day. tc
Really very nice observation. Hard to say whether many people care about such small things, but I do.
So I read and also gone thru the start menu and such minute thing we never observed…i think that took time for me to understand….wondeful…so Rahul…pl u observe, do research and please share with us!!!!!!
yup.. the japs attention to detail borders on the obsessive. and their work culture is legendary. not for nothing this tiny nation had become a major economic force in the world. as for the yankees.. i guess it a big slide for them on many factors unless they manage to change a lot internally… nice observative blog rahul….
yaar your blog name”THINK TANK” is very correct… very intresting post….
nice observation rahul.
after reading this blog i actually checked up the start menu!
wow! i am impressed by your observation power! its amazing…are u into research?
Great Post!! Completely agree that small things can make an ocean of difference in customer satisfaction…
sach kahu? mere liye to kafi bhari ho gaya Rahul !!! U r a research person I feel n u must be having lot of patience also!!! I ll definitely read again….
Hey..i never noticed that..may be you r more attentive at eerything u do.and since hwen did u start moderating ur comments?
u notice everything :))) good
Awesome, Impressed I mean u r so………. not getting d word………..may be perfect………. i mean such a minute detail!! gud
Nice article
i think u r an intelligent boy,nice to have u in my friendslist, good keep it up mannn
it’’s too good mannnn,i really loved this post n u r right most of us don”t look for such minute things but see it actually matters. plzzz keep doing such minute observations so that we can get more good things to read.. n enhance our knowledge
Nice and quite a precise analysis… but its true that user friendliness of a product is it’’s main USP.. then how can such things be ignored! well… good!
A very minute analysis. Your analytical skills are amazing. I totally agree with you about Japanese. But I dont” think that Americans can not match their quality. There must be some other reason for Microsoft to have their menu like that. Let us wait for more comments.