Responsible Innovation

Adrian Burstein has some thoughtful ideas on the human cost of innovation in a weblog article he has written on the Cheskin Fresh Perspectives blog. Though writing about the postal system, his thoughts ring true for the legal industry as well:

If I go to the counter in a post office and hand in a letter, they will rush me and stamp on it whatever the standard is. The result is a missed opportunity to be relevant beyond efficiency, and a negated privileged role in providing customers with a meaningful experience through imparting and promoting a culture of knowledge.

But that’s not all. At a second layer, we need to understand that users aren’t only those who buy stamps or mail packages. The postal employees themselves are users of the postal system. They are the face of a system that has lost its charm. They are participants of an experience that nobody looks forward to, much less appreciate or see the value of spending an extra couple of minutes on it. This creates a vicious cycle that impoverishes the overall user experience for everyone.

This sounds so much like our business it is scary.