BEA 2012 - Digital Workflow Workshop
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Digital Workflow: Top Eleven Tips For Intelligent, Cross-Platform Book Development and Production In today's digital publishing environment it isn't enough to simply get the job done. We need to master workflow creation and management, a smooth and seamless path to a perfect publishing product. Is that too much to ask? We're working on it. Colvin, Kostick and Sandusky are publishing pros with particular expertise in the finer points of digital workflow, from simultaneous print-digital tracks, to digital-first book production and beyond, into new digital product development for the future. Their Top Eleven Tips will fine-tune attendees' existing practices and help put anyone new to digital production on the express track. Topics include: The best data system for your products; Documentation- how and how much; Becoming digital-first; Gleaning ideas from other staffers, other professionals, other industries; Keeping current, keeping flexible; Reevaluating systems and hunting down workarounds; Staying ahead of change, building in change; Becoming a digital development master for books and whatever comes next.
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BEA 2012 - Digital Workflow Workshop
- 1. BEA EDUCATION 2012 DIGITAL WORKFLOW Top Eleven Tips For Intelligent, Cross-Platform Book Development and Production Andrea Colvin Brett Sandusky Anne Kostick Andrews McMeel Macmillan New Foxpath IND Publishing Ventures acolvin@amuniversal.com brett.sandusky@gmail.com anne@foxpath.com @arocolvin @bsandusky @bklynanne
- 2. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 3 THE TOP ELEVEN 1. Think about digital from 6. Leave nothing to the beginning. chance. 1. Create your metadata 7. The best idea is the simple one. from the beginning. 8. Stay flexible. 2. Have a point of view about user experience. 9. Be ruthless. 3. Lean into the curve. 10. Re-evaluate your systems constantly. 4. Learn to love data. 11. Be your own customer!
- 3. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 4 1. THINK ABOUT DIGITAL FROM THE BEGINNING If you’re not planning both the print and digital packages from the point of acquisition, you’re going to have to retrace your steps when you get to digital. You can save time and money if you plan both from the start.
- 4. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 5 These days most people are creating a print book and then trying to figure out how to cram it into a digital package.
- 5. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 6 Constantly evaluate your technical processes.
- 6. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 7 2. CREATE YOUR METADATA FROM THE BEGINNING Good metadata grows with your product, and is refined as the product grows. It should never be an afterthought, or something you put together right before on-sale.
- 7. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 8 Make sure you have the best system for creating metadata.
- 8. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 9 3. HAVE A POINT OF VIEW ABOUT USER EXPERIENCE UX must be considered as the project is developed.
- 9. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 10
- 10. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 11 4. LEAN INTO THE CURVE Don’t wait for changes to come to you, whatever your work function. Learn about digital, learn about new sales channels, learn about what other publishers are doing. Jump right in.
- 11. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 12 The change in publishing is now.
- 12. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 13 Don’t learn only from people in your own company.
- 13. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 14 More resources for learning Publishers Weekly: www.publishersweekly.com #eprdtn (on Twitter) MobileReads Forum (wiki): www.mobileread.com/forums/ Epub Secrets: epubsecrets.com/ Techland: techland.time.com/ TeleRead: www.teleread.com/ David Pogue: www.davidpogue.com/ e-Workflow: www.e-workflow.org/ eBook Architects: ebookarchitects.com/ Musings and Marvels: musingsandmarvels.com/ All Things D: allthingsd.com/ AppNewser (Ebooknewser): www.mediabistro.com/appnewser/ Pigs, Gourds and Wikis: www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com
- 14. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 15 5. LEARN TO LOVE DATA Collect data wherever you can find it.
- 15. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 16
- 16. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 17 6. LEAVE NOTHING TO CHANCE Never make a decision based on opinion or preference.
- 17. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 18 7. THE BEST IDEA IS THE SIMPLE ONE In almost all cases.
- 18. Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Kostick 19 Always look for the quickest, most efficient, and most intelligent ways from A to B. Developmental MS MS to trans- First pages editing and comp mittal Copyediting designed and creation of delivered assets Art Audio Text photo Proof- Author reading review Master Proof- Second Design and second reading pages proofreading pages corrections Master first pages
- 19. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 20 8. STAY FLEXIBLE Stay current. Plans should be based on data that you have available to you at each step along the way.
- 20. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 21
- 21. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 22 Source: http://neilkillick.com/2012/04/11/the-minimum-viable-product-should-be-full-arsed-and-awesome/
- 22. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 23 9. BE RUTHLESS When planning your features list, cut any “nice to haves” until they become “must haves.”
- 23. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 24 10. RE-EVALUATE YOUR SYSTEMS CONSTANTLY Workarounds become the norm and then become legacy without anyone realizing it. Make sure there is always a defensible reason for every workflow path.
- 24. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 25 Be sensitive to other staff: most processes were someone’s creation.
- 25. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 26 Always look for the task that seems to take too long.
- 26. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 27 11! BE YOUR OWN CUSTOMER One of the best ways to understand your customers’ needs is to use your own product; you will never truly understand what a customer feels until you’ve used the product for yourself.
- 27. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 28
- 28. Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Digital Workflow | Andrea Colvin, Brett Sandusky, Anne Kostick 29 THE REST OF THE TIPS! 12. Your data systems count; make sure 17. Don’t spend more time documenting you have the right one. work than you spend doing it. 13. Follow the concepts of minimum 18. Establish a direct connection to your viable product and incremental, customers; the shift from B2B to iterative improvements. B2C is essential to success. 14. Develop your own learning network; 19. Don’t assume you don’t know; some find people everywhere who can of the best ideas come from outside discuss issues with you. the task team, and make sure staff is empowered to speak up. 15. Document everything up front; have a written record of requirements and 20. Digital is not right for everything; just diagrams. because you can make something digital doesn’t mean it should be 16. Make workflow transparent; don’t digital. Formulate a coherent digital silo tasks, and take time to train strategy at your company. everyone on what everyone else does.
- 29. BEA EDUCATION 2012 DIGITAL WORKFLOW Top Eleven Tips For Intelligent, Cross-Platform Book Development and Production Andrea Colvin Brett Sandusky Anne Kostick Andrews McMeel Macmillan New Foxpath IND Publishing Ventures acolvin@amuniversal.com brett.sandusky@gmail.com anne@foxpath.com @arocolvin @bsandusky @bklynanne
Notes de l'éditeur
- I WILL TALK OVER THIS SLIDE AND POSSIBLY ONE MORE BEFORE BEGINNING THE FIRST TIP.I’LL SAY THAT ALL BOOK PEOPLE ARE INTERSECTING NOW WITH DIGITAL BUT NOT JUST CONVERSION. THEY’RE PLANNING DIGITAL VERSIONS FROM THE START, ALONG WITH DIGITAL-FIRST PROJECTS AND DIGITAL-ONLY PROJECTS. THEY ARE BRINGING WORK IN-HOUSE AND ALSO OVERSEEING OUTSOURCED WORK. THEY NEED TO KNOW MORE AND WORK SMARTER TO DO EVERYTHING THAT IS REQUIRED.YOU TWO PANELISTS COVER THE RANGE, DEVELOPMENTALLY AND MANAGERIALLY. PRESUMABLY EVERYONE IN THIS AUDIENCE KNOWS HOW TO MAKE A BOOK AND/OR KNOWS HOW TO MAKE AN EBOOK. THIS WORKSHOP WILL SHOW YOU THINGS TO CONSIDER/BUILD INTO YOUR PLAN OF WORK, AND WAYS TO APPROACH THE PROJECT THAT COMBINES THE BEST OF BOTH LINEAR AND PARALLEL DEVELOPMENTAL MODELS; THAT WILL HELP LIFT YOUR EFFORTS TO ANOTHER LEVEL.
- This is especially difficult for (and true of) illustrated book publishers: you create this gorgeous 10 x 10 package (that’s with spreads that are 20 x 10) and try to fit it to, at best, a 6 x 7 ¾ screen. So what you get is generally a really small version of the book you originally conceived [photo here of large cookbook open next to the iPad version of that book]. I’m not saying you have to design two completely different versions from the beginning, but you should be aware going in what’s going to work for digital and what isn’t. [photo of the same book as a flowableepub—looks more workable, right?] Recipes in columns? Know that you’re going to have to do a single-column design. Fixed layout aside, you want this book to be usable. Essentially, think about the digital formats you plan to publish in at the SAME TIME you think about the print formats. [Q’S FOR AC: SHOULD YOU CHART THIS OUT? REFERENCE BRETT’S TIP-TO-COME ABOUT PLANNING AND FEATURES There are a lot of different ways of doing this, and we need to constantly adjust our processes. For now, we have a transmittal meeting when the ms comes in and talk about all of the packages (hc, pbk, digital, enhanced, etc.) before any assets are created. We are trying to get into using ID styles to be able to quickly script certain things in our ebooks. We know easier ways to do this will emerge, but for now, we keep digital in the conversation every time we talk about the book.[Q’S FOR AC: WOULD YOU SAY THAT TO DO THIS REQUIRES FAMILIARIZING YOURSELF WITH ALL THE AVAILABLE FORMATS AND STAYING ON TOP OF NEW INTRODUCTIONS?] Absolutely. And it’s not as if people are going to always seek you out and tell you about new formats—you have to reach out to retailers and ask; also ask for what you want to see. It’s best to have someone on staff whose job this is.
- Are there ways you can format styles in InDesign that will help you script your ebook creation? Someone very smart recommended to me that publishers who are creating digital and print in the same groups (a philosophy I believe in) should have at least one dedicated ebook person whose job it is to constantly evaluate your process and technology and streamline, streamline, streamline. [QS FOR AC: AND EVEN IF YOU DON’T HAVE A DEDICATED EBK PERSON YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT PROCESS] This is true. Even with the dedicated person, I have what I call the whole book philosophy—everyone should have some understanding of all aspects of book creation which means both the process and the formats. It’s everyone’s job to help figure out the containers that best deliver and display the content.
- At this point, most publishers have some system for creating metadata, even if it’s an excel spreadsheet (which I don’t recommend, something dynamic works much better when you are publishing different versions of a book simultaneously).
- In my opinion, a metadata record should be created the second a contract is signed (if not before), and editors, production editors, sales and publicity people, the entire team involved in creating, marketing, and selling the book, should be refining this metadata all up until the on-sale date. There should be meetings to go over metadata and make sure it’s right for the book. BISAC codes are important—they can make or break sales, especially in an era where so much is purchased online and discoverability is such an issue. [I can show a screenshot from our Firebrand title management system here if we want to plug them] [QS FOR AC: AT AN EARLIER WEBCAST ON AGILE PRODUCT DEV, SOMEONE ASKED Q’S ABOUT AGILE METADATA DEV! BRETT KNOWS. PERHAPS MENTION IT HERE?] I’ll ask Brett about this. I’m not totally enamored with the concept of agile product development, which is basically crowd-sourced content. I’m really not sure it works for all, or most, verticals.
- User experience is not a set of defined rules that you must follow. Rather, your company should establish your own informed best practices for UX; start by defining the type of experience you want to deliver to your customers. Make sure everyone on your team is working toward providing a superior experience to your customers in everything they do.Trying to make everyone happy just leads to discontent. It is more important to have a point of view, something easily articulated that you can message to your customers. Also, customers understand when a company has a POV and logical backing for that POV.UX, while encompassing of things like user interface (UI) also include other things in a much broader sense. Zappo's is a good example of a company outside of publishing that has a solid UX POV. Customer service is an extension of the POV that you exhibit to your customers and potential customers. Every single touch point is important. Highly niche publishers like Unbridled Books, for example, exhibit this in their product suite. Their books may not be for everyone, but they have a solid POV that is marketable. This is demonstrated not only in the writing style and editorial choices of the books they publish, but also in the way they deal with customers, offer subscription, etc. They understand their customer.Think of UX like holistic branding. Make sure every facet of your business exhibits or demonstrates outwardly what you want the world-at-large to feel about you.[QS FOR BS: WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR THE LOWLY PUBLISHING SERFS OR MID-LOWLY MANAGERS AT THIS WORKSHOP FOR UNDERSTANDING/IMPLEMENTING UX INTELLIGENCE? THEY PROBABLY DON’T HAVE THE AUTHORITY FOR THE BIG HOLISTIC-BRANDING OVERVIEW.—SOME SMALL STEPS FOR THEM?][FROM AK] HERE ARE [3] FIRST QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF ABOUT UX.WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR THE USER TO SEE/KNOW/ENJOY ABOUT THIS PRODUCT?2. IS THAT THING IMMEDIATELY EVIDENT, FROM THE PACKAGE EXTERIOR THROUGH EVERY ‘PAGE’ OR SCREEN?3. CAN THE USER ‘LEARN’ THE PRODUCT WITHOUT A MANUAL?IF ANY ANSWER IS IN THE NEGATIVE, TIME TO GO BACK AND REDESIGN FOR IMPROVEMENT.
- At this point, most publishers have some system for creating metadata, even if it’s an excel spreadsheet (which I don’t recommend, something dynamic works much better when you are publishing different versions of a book simultaneously). In my opinion, a metadata record should be created the second a contract is signed (if not before), and editors, production editors, sales and publicity people, the entire team involved in creating, marketing, and selling the book, should be refining this metadata all up until the on-sale date. There should be meetings to go over metadata and make sure it’s right for the book. BISAC codes are important—they can make or break sales, especially in an era where so much is purchased online and discoverability is such an issue. [I can show a screenshot from our Firebrand title management system here if we want to plug them]
- We all know this. In fact, the change in publishing has been going on for at least five years (the first Kindle released in 2007). If you think it’s not going to touch your job function, you’re not only wrong, it’s probably already touched you at this point. Learn all you can about digital, whether you think you’re going to need to know it or not. For that matter, learn all you can about what the other departments at your company do. If you’re an editor, learn about print production. If you’re in sales, learn about operations and inventory. If you’re a designer, learn about editorial. And everyone learn about ebooks.
- Look at what other publishers are doing; read the news (digitalbookworld is a great place to start, but also ready publisherslunch, and the Shatzkin files, and you can expand from there).
- Become strict about data. Only make decisions based on data. Data is what makes a successful product. It is easy to let your customers show you (though data collection) what they want and need. Trust this over opinion and individual preference.All pieces of data that you can collect tell you something about your product. It is important to focus on specific areas and target those for improvement, or simply study. Traditionally, the publishing industry has focused on sales data, mostly via Nielsen Bookscan. While an essential data point, for so many reasons, it is also important to collect usage data. Usage data is indicative of behavior. It tells us how our customers use our products. What they do, and why they do what they do.This could include things like: download figures, OS stats, time of day of usage, patterns of usage/buying.Some of this can be gleaned through sales channels (though they withhold a lot). Otherwise, we as publishers can get creative about how we set up data-collecting campaigns. Digital marketing campaigns, for example, should not only create awareness, but collect data.EX: Marketing campaign segmented by device.[WHAT KINDS OF DATA ARE USEFUL FOR DEVELOPMENT? FOR PRODUCTION? ][DO YOU GET THIS THROUGH DIRECT CUSTOMER CONNECTION OR THROUGH SALES/DISTRO CHANNELS?][WHAT SHOULD YOU ASK FOR? WHAT ARE SOME WORDS TO USE?][I CAN MAKE A PRINT-OUT OF VOCABULARY/DEFINITIONS, ONLINE RESOURCES OR ANYTHING ELSE USEFUL FOR AUDIENCE]
- Never fail to research an idea or topic. If you begin making decisions based on consensus, you’ve lost. Remember, the goal of digital product development is to always know what decisions you have to make. Your decisions may not always be optimal from this or that perspective, but you’ve made an informed decision. About 90% of the business decisions we make can be done so with direct correlating data. This can be collected through web analytics, info from sales/distro channels, direct user inquiries and feedback (customer service!), marketing campaigns, benchmarking.Remember the data will not always lead you to an exact position. But, it will at least allow you to make an informed decision.EX: traditional process of cover design with feedback from intermediary (buyer). Changing the package is a similar process to how we should be making changes, though the info should come from our direct customers (which is now the consumer, not always the buyer)EX: Fan fiction responds to a consumer base directly. Books are shaped and modified based on direct feedback and desires of consumers of the original works. [Q FOR BS: IS THERE AN EXAMPLE OF A SMALLER-SCALE PRODUCTION DECISION—AS IN MOBILE, WHETHER TO ADD GEOLOCATION, OR REAL-TIME INFO ,TO A PRODUCT?]OR even the question of the hour: whether to do mobile or apps or both?--AC[SAMPLE DECISION THAT NEEDS TO BE MADE/ SAMPLE DATA POINTS THAT MIGHT BE GATHERED TO BOLSTER DECISION][EXAMPLE OF PUBLISHERS USING ‘GUT’ TO DECIDE VERSUS DEVELOPERS USING CONSUMER FEEDBACK TO DECIDE]
- And remember, all great ideas seem pretty simple in hindsight. [such as facebook, twitter, maybe the iPad?] This is true of everything you do, from product development to workflow. Always ask yourself if you are following the most efficient path from A to B. Always ask if there is a simpler way (and remember, simple doesn’t always mean easy, it just means more obvious, more streamlined, easier to grasp)
- Here’s an example of a simple, linear (mostly) workflow, the first building block to creating content. Small things like file structure are important as well. Everyone on your staff needs to know where to put and find assets for a project. And you need consistent naming conventions. I’ll bet half the people here don’t use consistent naming conventions.
- If, after release, the data suggests a change in course, follow the data. Plans should be a road map, but as you gather new information, adapt to it. Few products end up exactly as they were conceived of during the planning phase. Launch is never the finish line. Launch is another step along the way in a continuous digital product lifecycle. Within this model, it is important to remain open to changes. We need to get out of the mindset of work work work until it's perfect (which it never is) and then release it into the world and forget about it. In the digital space, we have a responsibility to constantly and continuously modify and improve on our products. We always want to make them better for our customers.Errata is an example of something that can be fixed and a revision product uploaded and made available. Set up a release schedule where ebooks are reviewed for errata and new versions are uploaded. (Because every ebook has errata. Conversion, in its current iteration, is imperfect.)Data can come from reviews, customer service, internal review, social media, etc. Our customers are vocal about the problems they have with our products, listen and act.In a digital output workflow, versioning should be planned, and post-launch handling of the product should be a given. When changes occur, follow them. Do not lock yourself in.[BRETT, POINT OUT HERE THAT DONE IS NOT DONE, IN DIGITAL AS IN PRINT. THERE ARE ALWAYS UPDATES, VERSIONS AND SO FORTH THAT CAN AND SHOULD INCLUDE IMPROVEMENTS, REVISIONS, AND UPGRADES. SOONER WE GET INTO THAT MINDSET, THE SMOOTHER THE WORKFLOW, RIGHT? TO ME, THAT’S THE POINT OF THIS POINT]WHERE DO YOU GET DATA? IF YOU ARE IN PRODUCTION, WHAT CAN YOU ASK FROM SALES/MARKETING THAT CAN HELP YOU? HERE’S WHAT TO ASK FOR:
- If you can’t immediately justify a feature, you don’t need it. It will either become essential or unnecessary later. It is nearly impossible to launch a product in a timely manner and to include every single feature you've dreamed up. The reality is that many of the features we've dreamed up are completely unnecessary and should never be implemented. And certainly not all in one product (I call this the Frankenstein product).When planning your products, CUT. CUT. CUT. as many features as possible. Launch an MVP (minimum viable product; the requirements of which will be different for each product) and make sure everything you've released works properly. Gather feedback. Listen to users. Have a flexible roadmap for where you'd like to take the product in the next step and adjust your priorities on a regular basis.By leading with a simpler product, you will start to grow an audience and can always improve on what you have, saving time, money, and effort that may not be needed.)Remember, it is easier to add new features than it is to take away features you've already implemented. (Think salt when cooking. You need enough for seasoning, but you can't take it away once it's in.)It's important to know what the core of your product is and implement accordingly. This also helps for eliminating market confusion and creating a cohesive marketing story.[A CHART WOULD BE SO HELPFUL HERE…GOT ANYTHING IN YOUR FILES YOU CAN SHARE?][BECAUSE OF THE NEED FOR UPDATES AND REVISIONS, BETTER TO GET THE PRODUCT TO MARKET AND ADD IMPROVEMENTS LATER?][HOW TO ‘JUSTIFY’ A FEATURE? GIVE EXAMPLES]I also want to know in all these instances what the container of the project is—are we talking apps, mobile, ebooks, enhanced ebooks, all of it at once?--AC
- I took a writing class about twenty years ago, and the only thing I remember from it was the instructor said “You have to kill your darlings.” I find that’s true of most product and content creation, and of workflow. Parameters change and we can’t stick to the same systems we had yesterday, even if we worked hard to create them and they were really great at the time. This is especially difficult in the fast-paced digital world because the great solution you came up with yesterday you may have throw under the bus today.
- This is a chart someone made to show an improved workflow for catalogue creation someplace I worked many years ago. Obviously it’s so great I never threw it away. In fact I have it framed. But the point is, someone worked very hard on sussing out the relationships between parties and the flow of assets. There’s some good work here. It’s not usable as a workflow, but it’s important to be supportive of other people’s work, especially as you kill their darlings.I recommend building process teams who come together on a regular basis to evaluate how assets (including metadata) are flowing from group to group, where the pain points are, and what changes in the industry (like, say, electronic publishing) currently necessitate changes in workflow. [putting outmoded workflow slide here]
- When we first starting creatingebooks from our highly visual content, we were using an overseas production house and the way we told them what they wanted to look like is we put together a detailed statement of work with instructions for handling, visually, every element in the book. This takes hours, and then has to be approved by editors and other parties.Right now, we are phasing these out and looking for more templated ways to convert content, while thinking about design from the beginning. This is a classic example of a process that is not taking us efficiently from one step to the next, and is really bloating our schedules.
- AC6-- Be your own customer. Buy your products; get to know the customer experience where your products are sold; learn what it’s like to actually use your product—you won’t understand the experience you’re creating until you do. Also buy your competitor’s products, look at their websites and blogs, think about their ideas. I’m not talking about taking people’s ideas, but you need to know the kinds of experiences available to your customers.--BS10- Dogfood. Use your own product. Put yourself in the shoes of your customer. One of the best ways to understand your customers’ needs is to use your own product; you will never truly understand what a customer feels until you’ve used the product for yourself.EX: PrepUiOS application. Not perfect, but accomplished what we need it to do. Plans in the hopper for later revisions, but overall an enjoyable experience.ANDREA AND BRETT—WHY NOT GIVE EXAMPLES HERE OF EACH OF YOUR FAVE PRODUCT FROM YOUR OWN COMPANIES OR RECENT COMPANIES AND WHY YOU PERSONALLY LIKE AND USE THEM…SEMI-ENDORSEMENT…AS EXAMPLES.