Earlier this week I was
angry I
ranted and posted and had several words exchanged between myself and
Project Glass regarding my invitation status and all of the issues that surrounded the process as it pertained to me, and undoubtedly many others (at this moment I'm working to confirm this).
Let me just start by saying that this is undoubtedly a "first world problem" in the way that no one really
needs Google Glass to survive. I should also mention that, in my desire to stay on top of the latest technology trends, and my desire to extend my knowledge, I felt that I should get the Google Glass if only to
feel that I was contributing to technological progress. It was because of these factors that I felt, not that I was being left out of the fun, but in large part that I was extremely inconvenienced through the process. That even though Google and Project Glass "wanted" my help, and the help of hundreds and thousands of others to test their devices, they sure didn't make me feel like they wanted my input (as small as it would have been)...at first.
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| First hint that we wanted answers |
When the process first started, I had given them a call and talked with an adviser and explained just how inconvenienced I felt, and how I felt like Google didn't care. I also felt that, rather than have the unfortunate 14 day process run out and hang over my head and feel "down" that I wasn't being part of the process, I had them take me off of the list so I could put it out of my mind. The rest of the conversation blew my mind, not only because of the fact that they are part of Google, but also because it had the distinct ring to me that they had no clue of what they were doing...at first.
The adviser and I spoke about how none of my private posts on Google Plus had been answered, or the fact that I had received zero information after the word "GO" in terms of how I would be able to plan this excursion...you know...up until I got word that it was available. He informed me that they answer all emails and all private messages almost as fast as they can. He also informed me that they push out as much information as fast as possible. I, however, did not see any of this, and from my point of view the exact opposite was happening. To my relief he informed me that he was going to go to Social Media Right away.
WHAT I FELT THE PROBLEM WAS
Flash back a few months, to get a small idea of the mounting confusion that many people like myself were having. Their post on May 22nd indicated that many people wanted answers to a whole slew of questions: how, when, and why. With nothing to go on, many people began, it seems, to get a bit closer to the angry side, such as myself. As a matter of fact, if you go back through their stream there does not seem to be any information about the program itself, the mysterious program obviously had been given life somewhere, but hidden behind the "already haves" and the "really wants" were absolutely nothing, especially no "private" messages depicting: who, what, where, when, or why, or even what to expect in the coming months...or even how the process works up to the point that your link is generated.
seriously
April 2nd --
End of program, April 17th --
Hype, May 3rd --
User Story, May 14th --
User Story, May 17th --
Hype, May 22nd --
Interview, May 31st --
Facial Recognition, June 4th --
Hype, June 10th --
Team Member Story, June 13th --
Tear Down, June 17th --
Project Loon, June 18th --
Academic Users
June 19th -- My link, Not one single bit of literal information depicting the Who, What, Where, When or Why, or How, either publicly (which is not what I expected anyways) or Privately (which is what I would expect from such a large project.) depicting a timeline of the process, what's involved, and when I can
expect to go through the process. Not necessarily when I was certain to get them...big difference.
Literally almost everything in the world has lead-time: package tracking, vacation planning / planners, wedding planning / planners, corporate retreats, church retreats...etc. There is always something sent to the participants WELL in advance to give them a welcome heads-up. With Glass I got none of that.
I know that I can't be the only one, but right now I feel like I'm the only one being vocal.
THE CONVERSATION
After social media was attached to my situation it didn't take long for someone,
Sarah Price, on the team to get in touch with me. In fact, it was mere minutes. Speedy service let me tell you, but I'll tell you, the person they decided to attach to the situation was probably the best suited to attempt to speak in response to my letter to the team admonishing their process for the program for the deficiencies I felt were in directly opposed the normal openness of Google. Sarah immediately went to work at first asking me why I wanted
to leave the program, and attempting to figure out the thought process behind my complaints.
At first it was obviously inconceivable as to why someone would go ahead and turn down what is quite possibly the coolest most sought after piece of technology in the wild today. So I explained once again that the inconvenience of suddenly dropping the invitation on me at the last minute. In what seemed like an incredible turn of events they offered to extend my window for purchase and pickup through August, but could not confirm any later dates. While the offer of extension made me feel better about the program, it still was outside of anything that I was able to concede to because of the National Guard.
I continued to declare my disdain for their process, and my regret for having to drop out, and offered the only advice that I could offer as a citizen of the internet, "
The only thing I would change about the whole program would have been an increased lead-time (even if it was a general time frame many months out, with more specific information aimed at the participants as time went on)." If there was anything that I had hoped would change, it would have been to offer more convenience to the future participants. If anything my discomfort with the situation would lead to a better result to others.
THE PROCESS
After I thought that the conversation had ended, Sarah came back with a little bit more than I had hoped for, the essential process that they go through when getting the devices into the public. Sarah had explained that the process of lead time was difficult because they wanted to make sure invitations were sent out as the devices rolled off of the assembly line and into their hands. Sarah explained that while they could have kept the devices on hand and waited for a larger deployment before sending them out, they wanted the results as soon as possible and decided that a rolling approach was the best way to get the devices into the hands and
on the heads of the users.
CONCLUSION
I feel that I now understand the process better, I still feel that the process can be improved in terms of distribution and customer communication. Perhaps they could delay some units to afford some buffer room, in order to communicate with the next few groups of explorers. Perhaps they could give more private messages and alerts to the potential explorers. Perhaps they could allow for potential explorers to push back their date for pickup (up to three or so months before the end of the program) and allow for a much, much larger window (5 or 6 months) depending on the program length. Whatever, if anything, they decide to do in order to improve the process I feel that more people will benefit ultimately.
Finally, I'd like to thank Sarah Price for easing and explaining the situation, as bummed as I still am about the whole thing, I do hope she gets recognized for her work, and she could probably stand to get a promotion (*nudge nudge* Google?).
