Operational transparency

February 26, 2010 by Jeff Jarvis
,

I am in Tampa waiting to fly back home to New Jersey and, thanks to the snowicane but rather than sitting in the usual information vacuum to which airlines subject us, I am watching as Continental shows us the status of the flights that were supposed to bring our jet in from LA to Cleveland to Newark to Tampa. I saw the flight to Cleveland canceled, then the one to Newark canceled, and I figured we were doomed when I saw the aircraft number for my flight erased. But then I saw us assigned a new jet, one that flew into Tampa from Houston last night.

That’s simply amazing. Continental is practicing operational transparency. It opened up information is already has to us, the customers, so we can be informed and empowered. This way, I’m not cursing the airline and its employees. I’m well aware that our flight might be canceled and that’s entirely out of Continental’s control, so I wouldn’t blame them. But every time this has happened in the past, I hated being in the dark; I hated being lied to by airlines; I simply want more information. And now an airline is giving it to me. Bravo for Continental.

What information does your company have that you can and should share with your customers?

The essence of Google’s value is that — though it’s opaque about its algorithms and ad splits — it turns around the information it gathers from us and feeds it back to us (that is, our aggregate links and clicks inform its search results for everyone). OpenTable lets us know when tables are open in restaurants so we can plan on our own. In What Would Google Do? I suggest that a Googley restaurant should share data on how many people order each dish on a menu so we can use that to choose what we want. A manufacturer should expose the provenance of the component parts that go into its products. A newspaper should footnote its work so we can know the provenance of its information and we can judge the sources. A store could reveal its inventory so we know there’s only one left (better hurry). I say we should expect doctors and hospitals to reveal data about the patients they treat. What else?

  • http://www.serendipity35.net/ Ken R

    Google needs to be much more transparent. That was a good part of the bad buzz about Buzz.
    I’m interested in how it might touch on education (esp online) too. Schools get away with more than big corporations.
    http://www.serendipity35.net/index.php?/archives/2059-Transparency-in-Online-Education.html

  • Hache

    I agree with Ken. My biggest concern is that the bigger you become the more secretive and concern you become. Google was great at the beginning, yes, they did have a few secrets, but most of his employees were free to talk to anyone they wanted, and describe everything but the algortihm (search)
    so, from my side, I think the transparency should be like Open source, you open everything up, and you deliver it in the best possible way… your differentiation shouldn’t be that you have a secret, but that you can deliver the service like nobody else…

    Just my 2 cents…

    • Agha

      Thanks hache you are absolutely right

  • http://www.woip.blogspot.com Patrizia

    The next best would be somebody who filters everything for us and tells us what to buy, what to do, etc.
    I doubt the average consumer has the time and the will to read and ponder before choosing…
    Isn’t that why a good marketing creates the success of a product?
    Or don’t people choose labels and packages?
    The way something is presented is more important than what it is.
    Because people do not want or do not know how to choose.
    “I do not care how it works, I care that it works…”

  • http://www.bsbnyc.net Ben Bloom

    Operational transparency is only possible when someone has sat down and calculated the benefit of the true information vs. the costs of its absence. Good on Continental in this case, and we should all look to say more when there is no serious competitive disadvantage to secrecy- hiding behind “approved messaging” will just keep your customers from taking your side.

  • http://www.UStransparency.com Stephen Buckley

    “Operational transparency” as that terrm is applied to government is “open government”.

    Call them “customers” … call them “citizens” … call them “stakeholders”.

    People just want to know What’s Going On.

    But the people inside our government have the same habits and tendencies as you or I, so even though the President wants to “change the culture” of Washington, it is going to take more than rhetoric and “hope”.

    A bunch of us “OpenGov-ers” (unpaid) are trying to support similarly-minded feds with workshops, online resources, etc., for creating more “transparency, participation, and collaboration” that the President says he wants to see in federal agencies.

    I just thought people should koow that we’re trying:
    http://www.OpenGovPlaybook.org

  • http://www.improvedexperience.com Alise Cortez

    Hi Jeff,

    I just finished reading your book and enjoyed it immensely. Thanks for writing it! I have literally been talking about it to anyone who will listen and have also written a smidge about it on our blog site at http://www.improvedexperience.typepad.com/

    Regarding this particular post, I certainly agree that operational transparency is refreshing. At the same time, I do find myself feeling a bit queasy as I’ve been on several American Airlines flights when more information was given about mechanical problems being treated, etc. than I was perhaps comfortable hearing. But, to support your point, I appreciate that American gives me the straight scoop and does not appear to be lying or making some excuse as to why we’re taking off late. The transparency does make me trust them more.

    It’s hard to admit when we make mistakes, but I couldn’t agree more that doing so, especially with our customers, is the right course of action. Having read your book, we at Improved Experience are trying to be more transparent about our operations. And I guess we should be — we are, after all, in the business of feedback :–)

  • http://richard.milewski.org Richard Milewski

    Why can’t grocery chains like Safeway publish RSS feeds of their current prices? Do they really think putting Flash pictures of their newsprint flyers on the web solves a problem anyone has?

  • cm

    Ultimately it boils down to what people need to know to make effective decisions. There is a huge distinction between data and information. Do you care what the pilot’s birthday is? how many kids he has? the name of his goldfish? what the temperature is on the outlet manifold?

    You really don’t need all the real-time updates of what flights are where and all their ETAs. Why should you have to worry about all the detail and figure things out for yourself. All you need to know is whether they’re going to give you a flight or not. What you really want to know are the answers to some basic questions:
    1) When do I need to be where to get my flight?
    2) Is my flight still likely to happen or should I make other arrangements?

    Then there is also hiding information from people for their own good. That might sound elitist, but the reality is that most people are incapable of processing data effectively. That’s why we have experts. Putting decision making and the responsibility of thinking into the hands of the unwashed public is not always a good idea.

    Unless people are qualified to actually process and understand the information they can often make very poor decisions on the perceptions rather than reality – particularly regarding statistics and risk. A classic case of this how people perceive flying to be dangerous. During the 9/11 aftermath many people were fearful of flying and drove instead. Since driving is way more dangerous than flying this likely killed more people than the events of 9/11 did.

  • http://www.signal-eleven.com Michael

    I’ve been saying the same thing for a while :)

    http://www.signal-eleven.com/blog/2009/11/12/the-importance-of-perception/

    Customers want to be “into the loop”.

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  • http://www.0ha.org bir acayip

    It’s hard to admit when we make mistakes, but I couldn’t agree more that doing so, especially with our customers, is the right course of action. Having read your book, we at Improved Experience are trying to be more transparent about our operations. And I guess we should be — we are, after all, in the business of feedback :–)

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  • http://www.poignantreality.com/ poignant reality

    Transparency is an important to everyone. Google must be transparent.

  • http://www.anthonypeso.com/ anthonys peso

    Google do not like to make its algorithms public. So they hate transparency. I like open source programs which reveals its entire details.

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    Really good article Jeff..

  • http://www.lindsayrosenwald.biz/ Lindsay Rosenwarld

    I am watching as Continental shows us the status of the flights that were supposed to bring our jet in from LA to Cleveland to Newark to Tampa.

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    Really good article Jeff..

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    I am watching as Continental shows us the status of the flights that were supposed to bring our jet in from LA to Cleveland to Newark to Tampa.

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  • David Cooper

    Google is hardly transparent, and their free tools often times give incorrect data about their users, plus I feel that they have ruined youtube. Then there’s this thing now that affects google search results called the redirect virus
    http://www.squidoo.com/google-redirect-virus-removalz

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  • http://newsgadgete.ru/ Yevgen

    Ultimately it comes down to what people need to know to make effective decisions. Of course, there is a huge difference between data and information. However, you do not care what the pilot’s birthday? how many children he has? the name of his goldfish? that the temperature at the outlet manifold?

    So you do not need all the little updates very, very real-time on that flight, where all of PVP. Probably why you have to worry about all the details and fine figure things out for themselves. Besides, all you need to know is whether they are rapidly going to give you expensive flight or not. It seemed as if what you really want to know, are silently answers to some basic questions:
    1) When I want to be where to get my flight?
    2) Is my flight could still happen, or should I welcome other measures?

    Then, as concealing information from people for their own, in general, own good. Of course it can make a good sound is very, very elitist, but the reality is that most people are able to handle the data simply effective. However, this is why we are the experts. Anyway voluntarily assuming the decision-making and responsibility of thinking into the hands of unwashed public does not always earnest good idea.

    Perhaps if people are qualified to actually process and understand information, which they often do very great just bad decisions on perceptions rather than reality – particularly in the field of statistics and risk. Finally, the classic example of how people perceive the flight would be dangerous. It seems that in the 9 / 11, after many people were afraid to fly and quite go together. Hopefully as the driving path is more dangerous than flying it probably killed more people than 9 / 11 and completely done.

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  • http://www.smorkov.ro Stefan

    Let me say that if you was Google you wouldn’t be transparent because you can’t be transparent.

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  • asas65465465d

    I am watching as Continental shows us the status of the flights that were supposed to bring our jet in from LA to Cleveland to Newark to Tampa.??????????????

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  • http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Quick+Tips+to+Help+You+Get+A+Housing+Loan+Refinance-a01074209619 Chouse

    There are a lot of things that should be more transparent. But I guess if I am the owner of a secret recipe which my livelihood is based on. I would keep the recipe a secret.

  • http://limited-liability-company.biz/ nicola

    Great blog! Every company makes mistakes and have isiues and airline companies are not an exception! However on my opinion customers prefer to be up to date with news even with bad ones!

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  • Farah

    Worth reading blog indeed! by practicing Operational transparency a good relationship is being established between the customers and the company. Just a reflection to your blog O:)

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  • Thomas

    I think that this is a nice step if the airlines choose to do this. Hopefully it will keep hostilities down, and make people feel good that they are in the know.

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  • David

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  • Albu Dany

    So you do not need all the little updates very, very real-time on
    that flight, where all of PVP. Probably why you have to worry about all
    the details and fine figure things out for themselves. Besides, all you
    need to know is whether they are rapidly going to give you expensive
    flight or not. It seemed as if what you really want to know, are
    silently answers to some basic questions:
    1) When I want to be where to get my flight?
    2) Is my flight could still happen, or should I welcome other measures?

    Then, as concealing information from people for their own, in
    general, own good. Of course it can make a good sound is very, very
    elitist, but the reality is that most people are able to handle the data
    simply effective. However, this is why we are the experts. Anyway
    voluntarily assuming the decision-making and responsibility of thinking
    into the hands of unwashed public does not always earnest good idea.

    http://www.allseomarket.org

  • harga blackberry terbaru

    Why can’t grocery chains like Safeway publish RSS feeds of their current
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    http://www.oritoranku.com/2012/12/aingindracom-informasi-harga-blackberry.html

  • Fasha

    a pretty exhausting experience. but they may also have a reason when treating you like that. it is normal or perhaps airline habits like lying?!!

    There is always a secret company that can not be disclosed to the public, may be concerned a lot of people who know … Dealing with Stress

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