Kathy Sierra says that things become more usable when they’re fun. I totally agree.

Let me put it this way. More often than not, some of my best technical work – I’m talking high-degree-of-difficulty statistical analysis work performed with my “A” game – received merely “nice work” comments when delivered in a “professional” (translation: sterile) report. On the other hand, I’ve heard “WOW!” most often when I’ve taken results from a moderate-degree-of-
difficulty analysis and delivered it in an interesting – and sometimes entertaining – fashion. More importantly, I’ve had more fun on those projects.

If the city of Bryan TX can bring life to a typically boring water quality report (here is their latest), you should ask yourself next time you walk into the office: Can consuming a spreadsheet be fun? A technical document? And wouldn’t it be fun to make those things fun?

Listen to Kathy: “Never underestimate the power of fun.”