The Process Ninja

A Tale of Two Processes - Apple Vs Optus

Last week I had a problem with my iPhone so I called Optus whom I bought the phone from. After going through a series of tests the technical support chappy suggested that the problem related to either the sim card or the phone itself and suggested that I take it to an Optus store. So I went to their store on the weekend to have it checked out.

To test the sim all I needed to do was to put the sim into a different iPhone on the Optus network to see whether the problem was the sim or the phone. So after waiting 5 minutes at the Optus store while staff did abstract busy things I was finally served. I explained the situation to which the surly lady told me she would give me a new sim card. "But how do you know the sim card is the problem?" quoth I. To which she replied that she didn't but she would give me one to try. "Can't I just put my sim in an iPhone you have here?" I said rather surprised. No she said, we don't have any iPhones here that you can try it in.

Wait a minute? A phone store with no iPhones? Staff that have no iPhones? The most popular new phone in the history of phones and I am in a phone store and no-one has one. I don't think so.

So I put the sim into the phone and am told...uhhh...it says connect to itunes...do you have it backed up. Yes I did, but no I did not want them to wipe the phone at this present moment in time. So I am told that I should go home, sync the phone and if there is still a problem with the 3G access I should bring the phone back along with the proof of purchase.

"Can't you just look up the phone on your system?" I ask again most surprised. No says she, we don't have that information on our system. Alternatively she says, I can go to the apple store where I don't need to bring anything other than the phone.

So I have the choice - dig through 2 years of paperwork and slog back to Optus to deal with the surly girl at the phone shop with no usable iPhones, or I can go to the apple store and they will simply replace it. I choose Apple, and whilst I'm there I may play with all their working products, maybe buy some accessories; using up all that time I would have wasted digging through paperwork...

But in the end it's all about the customer experience - and there is only one of these guys answering the call.

Using your iPhone to save time and money at the supermarket - a review of Shopper by MidCentury Software

After my recent post about how to save money and reduce time spent at the supermarket I decided to have a look online at the apple web store to see if there was anything that could improve the efficiency of my shopping process (after all, a paper template is so 1985).

Lo and behold I found an app called Shopper  by MidCentury Software which is specifically designed to help make your grocery shopping experience faster, more efficient and even help you to save money (although this part of it takes a bit of work). 

Having used it yesterday I can say that this is a truly fantastic little app. It allows you to either select items from a series of "categories" or to add your own items and assign them to categories. You can even add photos and prices to the items (adding prices lets you see how much your shop will be prior to doing it so you can budget more effectively). The thing that I like most about it, however is the ability to drag and drop the categories into the same order as at your supermarket - this makes the whole process really efficient.

To summarise: if you are the person in your household who does the weekly grocery shopping and you own an iPhone, you simply must buy this application. At only $3.99 (AU) it's as cheap as chips and will save you time and money when you go to buy those chips...

Has my iPhone improved my life?

I wrote an article a few months back called "Will an iPhone improve my life" There was some heated discussion from both camps on it but in the end I decided to buy one. It has been a few months since I got it so it's time to look at what it has done to improve my life from an efficiency and process point of view:

Consolidation.  I no longer use a phone and an iPod. I can now sell my iPod and generate some cash and I am also using less electricity (which is good for the planet).

Flexibility. I can pretty much do anything from anywhere now as I have the web and e-mail at my fingertips. The web access and e-mail on my old Nokia was so painful to use I never did.

Information. Not only can I look up anything in a few seconds, my contacts are always up to date as they synchronise over some mysterious cloud thing onto my phone...

Synchronisation. The iphone syncs everything "over the cloud"  - Calendars, contacts, web bookmarks, etc. My wife also has an iphone so if she adds a contact or an event to the calendar it syncs with our mac at home and my iphone so we can be really efficient at organising our time (with 3 kids under 3 you need to be organised!)

Efficiency. Having the GPS saves heaps of time (I'm forever getting lost) and helps you to find things you need that are near by. I find my bank's ATM locator application really handy. The camera on the iphone is really good quality - I use it for taking photos of work I have drawn on whiteboards (process maps, etc.) then I simply e-mail them to my desk. People I work with seem to find this highly impressive although I don't really understand why.

I was amazed to see that there are already 25,000 applications available for the iphone. This is one of the great things about it - that people are continually developing new applications. Anything is possible it seems and already there are some fantastic apps to improve productivity.

So yes, the iPhone has improved my life - and it will continue to improve my life as new applications are developed. It's going to help me organise my time better, be more productive and keep everything in sync.

But let's not forget one very important thing: it's also bloody good fun.

The Gary Vaynerchuk iPhone Application

Check it out: http://www.apple.com/webapps/entertainment/icelebgaryvaynerchuk.html

Will an iPhone improve my life?

I've been thinking about buying an iPhone as my Mobile has broken. It's actually been a great experience not having to A. carry a phone around all the time and B. Feel I have to be a slave to it. At the moment I am just using it as an answering machine and it is surprisingly liberating.

But as for the iPhone I am struggling to understand how it can make my life better other than fill it with more fluff I don't need. So far here are my thoughts:

1. It's a phone! Woo hoo. I can get one for free on a plan rather than paying an extra $40 a month.
2. It's an MP3 Player. I already have one - next! 
3. It's a camera. See point 2. 
4. It's a web browser. I spend 8 hours a day at work and I have a Mac at home. Do I really need to spend my few sacred hours away from a computer looking at more web pages? 
5. It receives e-mail. See point 3.
6. I can download cool apps. OK, some of these are useful but most of the ones I've seen so far turn your iPhone into a Pint of lager or a lightsaber. Funny for all of 30 seconds. 
7. It synchronises with my Mac. OK - a benefit, but I can already access everyone's contact details via the web anyway. 
8. It will make me look cool. Well, it will for all of 3 minutes until everyone has got one. 

So that's all pretty clear cut then. The only decision I need to make is whether to buy one tomorrow or the next day!!!