The Job Of Your Work

Why should you do things differently when there are best practices you can follow?

We hear this a lot from business owners. Let’s put it another way:

Why should you stand out when you can blend in with everyone else?

Ah.

The iPod didn’t need a circular click-wheel. But it was delightful to use. And still is, if you still have one knocking around (or you still desperately try to keep one in circulation like I do!)

It’s competitors – things like the Zen and the Zune – we don’t remember those anymore. They did everything “right”, lots of storage, buttons to navigate the interface, good price… they followed every best practice.

Forgotten.

Let’s not throw best practices out simply because they’re best practices. But let’s remember they’re not so much “best practices” as they are “popular recommendations”.

The iPod’s job wasn’t to efficiently navigate music, but to delight people. What’s the job of your work? Are you designing it with that in mind?