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Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

cnbc.com

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Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#131

Post by codyb »

whack wrote: post #13

I recall Amazon used to do something similar. Executives would sometimes take customer service shifts. The goal isn't PR or worker morale - most people see through stunts like that. The real goal is to help leaders better understand their product, its problems, and customer frustrations.

That's what I asked my boss to do for me. Pair me with someone using our tool so they can ask me to do real world tasks and see how I can handle it. Should be later this month. And will try to do one session every month or so.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#132

Post by stcroixx »

parker_mountain wrote: post #114
daedalus_j wrote: post #109

Ron Johnson used to do this when he headed Apple retail. Would just go into a store totally undercover to the customers (obviously staff would recognize him) and work for a bit. Occasionally fairly major changes, both to the staff side and to the customer experience, were made based on his visits. I don't recall ever seeing a press announcement about it. Saying you're doing it to win brownie points sure makes it seem…

> Occasionally fairly major changes like what? I'm curious. There's nothing that shows the flaws of a process like running it yourself.

Probably better to just listen to the people that do it all day than to think you pop in as an outsider and have some special insight.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#133

Post by oh_sigh »

diebeforei485 wrote: post #67

This is good. But it should be unannounced. He should just show up and work.

And it really should be a week or two. You can grind through hell on optimism for a day. Doing it day in and day out is the hard part and may highlight different negative aspects of the job compared to just showing up for 8 hours

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#134

Post by sebzim4500 »

wincy wrote: post #102
jackson1442 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This should absolutely be a thing for vertical integration developers. If you're developing cashier software for Target, you should have to use it under realistic circumstances sometimes. Same for Amazon driving software, helpdesk software, sales, etc.

When I worked for a large logistics company we’d have a few days a year where we’d go downstairs and shadow someone using our software. It was very informative. The UX people were redesigning workflow to be “easier” and less information dense and the experienced people (who worked mostly on commissions mind you) where very pissed and wanted their hot keys and their at a glance information. It was very eye opening.

>The UX people were redesigning workflow to be “easier” and less information dense and the experienced people (who worked mostly on commissions mind you) where very pissed and wanted their hot keys and their at a glance information.

That doesn't necessarily mean that the UX people were wrong though. Even if their changes made the experienced people slightly slower, it could be worth it if it significantly sped up onboarding.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#135

Post by sebzim4500 »

badwolf wrote: post #112
angry_moose wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First line: Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan told employees Thursday that he’ll work a half day every month at one of the coffee giant’s locations. Something tells me it'll be something like 1-5pm; not the 7am rush.

I've mixed feelings. Many probably wouldn't want the semi-dead weight of big executive screwing up the morning rush.

I haven't worked retail, I know its unpleasant but is there really that much skill to it?

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#136

Post by logicalmonster »

wincy wrote: post #102
jackson1442 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This should absolutely be a thing for vertical integration developers. If you're developing cashier software for Target, you should have to use it under realistic circumstances sometimes. Same for Amazon driving software, helpdesk software, sales, etc.

When I worked for a large logistics company we’d have a few days a year where we’d go downstairs and shadow someone using our software. It was very informative. The UX people were redesigning workflow to be “easier” and less information dense and the experienced people (who worked mostly on commissions mind you) where very pissed and wanted their hot keys and their at a glance information. It was very eye opening.

> The UX people were redesigning workflow to be “easier” and less information dense and the experienced people (who worked mostly on commissions mind you) where very pissed and wanted their hot keys and their at a glance information. It was very eye opening.

Just curious. Many applications have some kind of "Settings" or "Preferences" section with some kind of App UI customization being possible. Often it's just a set of fairly simple features like picking a favorite background color for your App or being able to upload your own avatar or something.

But are there Apps out there where you can pick between say "Beginner and Expert" modes and have a radically different UI and UX depending on how experienced and comfortable you are? (Gmail sort of has a touch of that concept with the ability to either have a dense or comfortable email layout, but that's barely scratching the surface of what's possible)

PS: I realize that trying to develop, maintain, and support mobile and desktop versions of different versions of the same App would morph into a significant and unpleasant challenge, but being able to pick the type of UI might be a possible solution that pleases more types of users.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#137

Post by germinalphrase »

methodin wrote: post #105
dataviz1000 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first career was a chef. When I asked a friend of the family who owned a restaurant when I was teenager what steps I should take to become a chef, the advice he gave was "Get a job as a dishwasher in a restaurant because the most important thing you need to know is to respect your dishwasher because anytime everything goes wrong and you are in a jam, it is your dishwasher who will save you." Unknown to me the rest…

Can you elaborate a bit on how the dishwasher role gets the restaurant out of jams?

Can’t cook if your tools aren’t clean?

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#138

Post by coldpie »

umeshunni wrote: post #107
coldpie wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. The role of executives at large companies is to most effectively move resources away from labor and towards the owners of capital. They decide where to open the next branch to crush competitors who treat their workers and customers better; they negotiate deals with suppliers so those suppliers and their workers have fewer resources; they coordinate with other large competitors to hamper workers' attempts at imp…

This is HN, not /r/antiwork. Back to Reddit, you go, troll.

Acknowledging the relationship between capital and labor is not an antiwork sentiment.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#139

Post by xeromal »

stcroixx wrote: post #132
parker_mountain wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Occasionally fairly major changes like what? I'm curious. There's nothing that shows the flaws of a process like running it yourself.

Probably better to just listen to the people that do it all day than to think you pop in as an outsider and have some special insight.

Any human in the world will believe someone if they experience for themselves. Sometimes it's necessary.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#140

Post by ksec »

daedalus_j wrote: post #109

Ron Johnson used to do this when he headed Apple retail. Would just go into a store totally undercover to the customers (obviously staff would recognize him) and work for a bit. Occasionally fairly major changes, both to the staff side and to the customer experience, were made based on his visits. I don't recall ever seeing a press announcement about it. Saying you're doing it to win brownie points sure makes it seem…

Why is why the user experience of Apple Retail has gone downhill after he left and Steve Jobs passed away.

From CEO of Dixon, to CEO of Burberry and finally Apple veteran, Deirdre O'Brien. The improvement she made was like many of the recent Mac changes, reverting back to old design.

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