remco[at]ontwerpzolder.nl +31(0)651514285
twitter.com/remcoj

Maand: februari 2010

Comparing twitter followers

Today @Mirjambink wanted to know if there was a way to compare followers with another twitter user. I’ve seen such a request before so I decided to see if I could make it! And Yes, I did!

You’ll find it here!

Mind you, if you use it, you’ll automatically tweet (only ONCE):

“Comparing followers with other twitter users on https://www.remcojanssen.nl/blog/ @remcoj #ibrix”

That’s just because I’m curious who uses it!

De maatschappelijke meerwaarde en de MVO Award

Inmiddels zet ik (via I-Brix) me ruim een jaar in voor de Maatschappelijke MeerWaarde (DMMW). Als lid van de werkgroep communicatie probeer ik  deze stichting meer bekendheid te geven. Om in één zin uit te leggen wat DMMW doet: Het koppelen van bedrijven aan maatschappelijke organisaties, om matches te realiseren waarbij de maatschappelijke organisatie geholpen wordt met handjes, advies of middelen.

Mijn visie op stichtingen

Als eigenaar van een bedrijf wordt je regelmatig gevraagd om stichtingen / organisaties te sponsoren. Persoonlijk wil ik graag iedereen wel helpen, maar ik wil eigenlijk niet gewoon geld geven. Waarom niet? Ik zal het proberen uit te leggen:

Als je een stichting hebt moet je zorgvuldig met je geld omgaan, niet te gemakkelijk uitgeven en altijd op zoek zijn naar manieren om dingen goedkoper of gratis voor elkaar te krijgen. Stel, je hebt een nieuwe inrichting nodig omdat het huidige meubilair echt versleten is. Natuurlijk kun je aankloppen bij een meubelzaak om daar te proberen nieuwe meubels te krijgen of kopen.

De Maatschappelijke MeerWaarde kan je helpen om alternatieven te vinden. Zo heeft de Rabobank al het, voor hun, oude meubilair beschikbaar gesteld aan diverse organisaties. Kosteloos of tegen een kleine vergoeding (25,- voor een bureau dat nieuw 600 gekocht heeft). Of zoals wij nu bij Webtv materiaal van een winkel hebben gekregen om onze nieuwe studio mee in te richten. De Maatschappelijke Meerwaarde heeft zo ook bemiddeld in bouwadvies, advies op het gebied van vergunningen. De DAR heeft zo grond afgevoerd bij een kinderboerderij, Bakkerij ’t Kraaiennest heeft taart/vlaai beschikbaar gesteld voor mantelzorgers en zo zijn er talloze voorbeelden waar goede dingen gedaan worden met wat energie van het bedrijfsleven.

Te vaak merk ik dat er te makkelijke geld wordt uitgegeven aan (in mijn ogen) de verkeerde zaken. Tuurlijk moet je goede spullen hebben, maar goed staat niet gelijk aan nieuw. En dan wordt er weer bezuinigd op andere zaken waar ik dan weer niet op zou bezuinigen. Soms wordt er moeilijk gedaan over 25 euro terwijl aan de andere kant makkelijk 4000 wordt uitgegeven. Blijft lastig natuurlijk!

En binnenkort is het weer zover, de uitreiking van de MVO-Award, georganiseerd door ‘De Maatschappelijke MeerWaarde‘. Uit de kandidaten, waarvan het aantal op dit moment nog tegenvalt, dus ben je MVO bezig, meld je dan NU aan, worden 3 bedrijven geselecteerd die door een jury worden bezocht en waaruit dan de winnaar wordt gekozen.

Golden tip for serviceproviders!

I am absolutely certain each and everyone of you has in some point in the last few years had problems with internetproviders. I really was very satisfied with my ADSL provider (KPN.com) but as an interaction designer I needed a faster connection. At the office we switched to UPC Fiberpower which should be 120 mbps down and 10 mbps up so I switched to UPC at home to.

But why does UPC promise a 120mbps speed and in fact we never get higher than about 67 mpbs. Is it just me, or do you agree with me when I say this is ridicules. T-Mobile says it’s 3G coverage is extreme good. Why is it that miraculously my iPhone switches to GRPS so often that I can’t enjoy youtube/radiostations or other applications that require a faster connection.

Here’s the tip:

Change your accounts! If reality is that a  UPC FP 120 account ends up with maximum speeds of 67 mpbs, why not rename it account to  UPC FP 60. What would hapen?

A customer taking this (new) UPC FB 60 account would not only experience the promised speed, but actually a bit more than that! The result: a happy customer. And for T-Mobile, If you can’t guarantee the speed or coverage, at least offer the customer the possibility to switch providers and don’t keep them on a leach. Then they might come back if your reputation improves.

And one other thing, since we’re on the subject, when I want to end a subscription with a company I want to end a subscription and there’s not much anyone can do to change my mind. So, don’t try to hold on to customers that want to leave, this will only make things harder and you reputation worse!

Things just need to be easier!

It’s amazing to see how many things are way to complicated! Think about this: how many hours in a day do you spend figuring out how things work, waiting on other people figuring out how things work? Do you even notice that this is going on? Well I do, and I hate it!

  • I hate that I have to fill out my address on paper and then have to wait on the guy or girl behind the counter to type it over on the computer.
  • I get sad and frustrated when I hear someone who has given up on trying to get the VCR to repeat a recording weekly, just because it’s to damn complicated
  • I refuse to accept that the big companies like Sharp, Philips or Sony make the rules and therefore determine the way we – are forced to – use appliances.
  • It makes me wanna scream when I have to tell a computer my postal code, and when I finally get someone on the phone he asks me for it again! WHY DO THEY DO THAT???

Things just need to be easier!

Short example:

Today I went to rent a storage box at Shurgard. I got there, it took more than half an hour to fill out the forms, show me how stuff works and all of that. While waiting for prints to come out of the printer, and other stuff like that I asked the guy behind the counter how it is with the opening hours? Well, there open from 6.00 am ’till 23.00 pm! Which is all right for my purpose, so no problem there. Triggered by my curiosity I asked him: “Surely, when I enter the storage facility at 22:50, I would be able to leave it? Even if it would be 23:15 or later…”. No you couldn’t, you’d be stuck and have to pay 90 euros to get out! “What the F….”, then what is the use of being open ’till 23.00?? And why isn’t it so that they programmed it that you can’t get in after 23.00 but you can always get out! or at least in hour after you came in!? So, guys from Shurgard, if your reading this? FIX IT and let me know!

I heard about this guy, who reads my blogs once in a while and he’s noticed that I do a lot of complaining here, indicating that this is negative energy! NO, it isn’t! At least I don’t see it like this. It’s my mission, my believe, my passion to make life as easy as can be! Am I lazy? No, well sometimes, but I just like to spend as much of my time doing the things I like to do! And that doesn’t include waiting for someone to come and rescue me when I’m a prisoner at shurgard’s! – by the way, if I make a lot of typos, or other mistakes in my English? (I don’t know if it’s shurgards of shurgard’s) I’m sorry, but I’m sure you get the point, if not, mail me! –

I was going to say ’that doesn’t include waiting in line at the supermarket’ but this is not entirely true. Last saturday I went to AH to get some mike, eggs and stuff… The lines where HUGE. In some situations I would’ve turned around and walked away, but this time I could use the time in the line to relax, to breathe! It was one of these days were I was running around like crazy, going from here to there, never being somewhere long and just being busy! What happened? I had a nice conversation with this lady who was waiting in line with me, sharing some trivialities. A waste of time? I don’t think so, it made my day a little brighter! And I believe hers to!

SIRE, this is a dutch organization that produces tv and radiospots against drugs- and alcohol abuse, violence in public transportation and so on, they now have a campaign running to ‘just be nicer’. Which definitely improves quality of life! I noticed this friend I had an assignment with yesterday looked very good in the outfit she wore and complimented her about it! – A few weeks ago I saw this girl walk by, she had a very nice coat on, so I commented when she passed me ‘what a nice coat’… she smiled, thanked me for the compliment and that was that! It’s so easy to help improve quality of life for others, and thereby for yourself because I was feeling good about myself handing out these compliments!

So, yes, I complain, I get frustrated about stuff, but a friend of mine ones said, and this has sticked by me ever since: “You just have to be frustrated enough to achieve change sometimes!”. Sick of your job, but still working it day by day… you’re not unhappy enough yet, your not sick of it enough yet… when that happens, you act!