Yahoo! and its attempts to not fail to resistance to change

October 18, 2008

Yahoo! Incredible published today that the entry into the New York Times , which explains the process being undertaken by the people of Yahoo! To change the front page of your site, without losing users on the road.

The problem faced Yahoo! Is not minor, and is one of the most difficult that must deal with the developers … the resistance to change .

This phenomenon is more than clear on his own behalf, although it is well to understand that it is not expressed by mere whim of those involved, but rather by one’s own affinity with those who manage the system, instability and suffering once they enter the stage of “change” (and even after this).

According to what we discussed in the NYT, Yahoo! Is slightly changing its site, so most users who access on a daily basis, they are hardly noticeable with a change that will produce a sensation of instability / Insecurity (an event that is manifest in not recognizing what they see).

Those who do not normally use Yahoo! On a daily basis (I said) you may notice the changes, although this is a risk that the company must assume, and that will be less, since it is not the target audience (or rather, one that brings the advertising revenue).

They are designed to maintain its daily audience, and not tempted to make a sudden change, which affect them finish as in the case of Netscape.com , that after a change ‘notorious’ in 2006, lost almost half of its audience.

Tapan Bhat, in Yahoo , says that the changes being made are minimal and could take several months to finish implemented. The intent is to transform this home page, in a Dashboard on the Web.

This could be Yahoo! – Via TechCrunch

In the process, they are accepting feedback from its users, and while not all comments are ‘useful’ (because there will always be someone who just criticize for criticizing), trying to get as much information from each input.

Bhat says that the process involves small groups of users for each stage (less than 1% of its audience), and then collect several changes, promoted to a larger group, setting a new baseline. Hence, the process starts back, and introducing new changes.

The idea is to be clear where to go, according to Bhat, but also must take into account the users, if adjustment is necessary at some point look to avoid heading into a wrong direction.

Without doubt, an example to be considered for those who are involved in Web development, but also applies to those working in areas where changes are not very common, and could bring similar effects if not lead to change a planned manner and with patience.

Links: New York Times | TechCrunch

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