Nickname: econobiker

Review: McDonald's can be more "customer-centric" if they actually emphasize training people for "customer service" and not optimizing the "on-site food manufacturing" business they currently have. Maybe look at Starbuck's Coffee for a large scale example of this?

Date reviewed: Nov 15, 2006 6:29 AM

Nickname: Richard Wang

Review: I think the Masters program just teaches us to think more and deeper. The Masters Program of IIT is top now. But I think the program just focuses on business.

Date reviewed: Oct 24, 2006 5:48 PM

Nickname: CaptHowdy

Review: Honestly, I hope your efforts fail and that McDonald's brand continues to die its long, slow, lingering death. My guess is that in a generation McDonald's will be seen as an extinct dinosaur that no amount of "re-designing" could keep alive. The downside to this article is that this absurd hyper-rationalization and technologization of marketing is here to stay and only getting more obnoxious. Wouldn't it be cool if the major corporations took that R&D money and paid its legions of services workers better, rather than squandering it on pseudo-scientific nonsense?

Date reviewed: Oct 18, 2006 7:11 PM

Nickname: Naren

Review: User centric design is a key aspect of developing software applications and as a manager responsible for application delivery, I can say that it helps tremendously to prototype and perform user experience trials, in much the same way that Denis describes. We have found that it improves customer intimacy and users genuinely like the applications developed following this methodology.

Date reviewed: Oct 13, 2006 7:21 AM

Nickname: Hlachica

Review: It all comes down to being user centered. In places where things have been done in the same way for many years, it is hard to go and propose changes. However, design can help in finding solutions with the users in the process. This is needed more than ever because the fast-paced world is not allowing room for mistakes, and prototyping is a basic tool in accomplishing this.

Date reviewed: Oct 11, 2006 1:27 AM

Nickname: Sarah

Review: Denis is right, once you try the methods, you think why doesn't everyone do this? They scale large and small, working anywhere improvement or new solutions are sought. Denis's point about rapid simulation is right on. Engaging people/users in the development process is elemental and often overlooked or undervalued. Its nature is messy but finding out the truth and new direction usually takes more then a few calculations in spreadsheet.

Date reviewed: Oct 10, 2006 5:55 PM

Nickname: C.Block

Review: Glad I got my MS in Visual Design after my BAE, since my design training has helped me to innovate fresh methods in teaching high school, tutoring, and now as an exhibiting artist-photographer. Mastering digital photo solutions proved to be no problem when that came available. C.Block

Date reviewed: Oct 10, 2006 3:54 PM