It is an app that takes into account traffic and user feedback to help determine the fastest route. The beauty of it is that it is looking at all the spots on your route where you might hit traffic and finds the most efficient path. It's actually less about getting you out of a traffic mess when you hit one and more about not hitting it in the first place. Also, it sets expectations. My office is 10 miles from my house. That can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes depending on the day/weather and when I'm trying to finish that last task and still get to pick up on time, I can check and see what the traffic universe has lined up for me.
There's two pieces to how it works - there's the facts - how fast am I going vs. the speed limit and how many other cars are reporting data at any given time but then there's also the observations - there's a cop, there's a pot hole. Sort of like blinking your lights at on-coming traffic but digital!
So once you have this great tool in one part of your life, it gets you thinking. (To be fair, I felt this way about DVR as well!) I would kind of like a Waze for life. I can check the routes based on folks who are ahead of me, based on both the facts and the observations. My Waze would pop up re-routing me around the giant temper tantrum or the predictable user error, avoid the delay and aggravation on both fronts.
There's two pieces to how it works - there's the facts - how fast am I going vs. the speed limit and how many other cars are reporting data at any given time but then there's also the observations - there's a cop, there's a pot hole. Sort of like blinking your lights at on-coming traffic but digital!
So once you have this great tool in one part of your life, it gets you thinking. (To be fair, I felt this way about DVR as well!) I would kind of like a Waze for life. I can check the routes based on folks who are ahead of me, based on both the facts and the observations. My Waze would pop up re-routing me around the giant temper tantrum or the predictable user error, avoid the delay and aggravation on both fronts.
Looking Ahead
You know where you are trying to get to and the path should be reasonably clear but there are the unknowns along the way. All of them are manageable but a little warning helps. Some of this goes on today. The secret items to keep in the diaper bag. The distraction tactics for restaurants. Open source code. Best practices.
Changing Course
Every once in a while, my Waze will pop up and say "There's a better route" and it will change course. It doesn't hesitate, or discuss. It is the swift definitive course correction that makes it so effective. We've all been there. You are on a path and you know that you should be doing things differently. Right people in the wrong functions. Wrong people in the right functions. Right team, wrong project. Occasionally, a little un-biased algorithm to pop up and re-direct would be phenomenally useful.Trust
I explain to people in my effusive recommendation of Waze that if you want to use it, you need to give yourself over to it. You need to listen to whatever crazy sequence it sends you on. You need to let it take you through neighborhoods you have never seen in ways that feel backwards. Otherwise, you are really still on your own. You have to trust your team or you need to get a new team. I don't know how to be a kindergarten teacher. I need to believe that my kids' teachers know how to reach them and trust them even if the path is windy.
Soap Box Time
Come on Indiana - you didn't see this coming? Arizona was right up the road and they had reported that this wasn't going well.Passionate Users
I am not paid by Waze. I don't have stock options. I don't actually get any benefit from recommending Waze but I get to share something I'm excited about. I get to feel smart and useful when others take advantage of it. The value of passionate users can not be under-estimated and figuring out how to channel their voice to their circle. With DVR and Netflix and everything else, I rarely watch a commercial. I actually only know about new movies or products or services because people I trust are talking about them (or they show up in my Facebook feed). With my product hat on - I'm always trying to figure out how to ignite that passion around my products. Last week, one of my customers told me her team was so excited about our product and that they were pushing her as to when they would get to use it and try it.
There we go! Now - I'll just need to pass them the megaphone!
Thanks for reading!
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