Great technology should intuitively and seamlessly address people’s needs and opportunities. But the US is a VC-influenced world, so at times we feel the bombardment of questionable MVPs with poor user experiences, and app stores overloaded with too many choices.

Though I am a technologist and guide organizations through transformations, I am not a shiny-object, gadget-chasing early adopter of new technologies. I seek and select technologies that serve a purpose, exemplify simplicity in their UX, and are easy to integrate with other tools.

Examples of great tech and UX are all over Japan

After the last two years of stress, I needed a long break from work, writing, and the daily grind. My daughter and I have talked about visiting Japan for years, and now that she’s in college with a long holiday break, we seized the opportunity. If you read Digital Trailblazer, my daughter is featured at the beginning of Chapter 8.

During our visit, we enjoyed a contrasting technological experience. Tokyo and Osaka can be an assault on the senses and are cities of contradictions. Kyoto shows contrast, from its historic and beautiful temples, to its dimly lit alleyways, through its modern shopping district centered around Shijo-dori.

People everywhere are walking fast and on a mission, yet trains are quiet, with no one speaking loudly on phones or in conversations. Bright billboards scream for your attention, and multifloor stores offer an incomprehensible number of products, yet the experience is far more entertaining than walking the Vegas Strip or Times Square. Instead of large restaurants trying to serve all palates, there are thousands of small, specialized eateries doing a few things well, quickly, and often inexpensively.

There is order to the chaos. Norms like standing on the left on escalators so that those in a hurry can pass on the right. People adhere to jaywalking laws, which improves safety and traffic flow. Leave the 7-seat ramen bar when you’re done eating to make room for the next customer. None of this happens in NYC, which drives a more every-person-for-themselves environment.

3 takeaways for Digital Trailblazers

As I sit on the long 12-hour flight back to Newark, NJ (thanks, United Airlines!), I think about what US-based Digital Trailblazers can learn from Japan’s technological approaches. These are gross generalizations based on limited experience. I am certain Japanese residents and visitors will poke holes or find exceptions to my conclusions. That said, I do think there are some clear lessons. Here are my takeaways.

1.     A people-centric culture of honesty and kindness

My daughter laughs at me. For the third time on the trip, I’ve dropped something on the ground, and in no time, someone has rushed to my aid to return it. Once, it was a souvenir I left behind while taking photos, and the woman chased after me down a long stairway to return it. Another time, it was a 10 yen coin, dropped while trying to find something in my pocket. I didn’t even hear it hit the ground.    

I saw examples of Japan’s ingrained culture of honesty and kindness everywhere.  

It translates into their work culture, too. One of our tour guides is an ERP developer and described the great lengths his company went to in explaining tech changes to employees. He’s a college student from Europe and thought the process was slow and inefficient. I explained to him that the company’s approach to change management was right and that more companies would benefit from involving employees earlier in the deployment process.

Completing deployments shouldn’t equate to the definition of ‘done’  – it marks the first tests of end-user adoption and delivering value. Agile teams need to be honest about their commitments and be kind to all teammates. One of my 50 lessons in  Digital Trailblazer is, “Promote team culture by listening, reserving judgment, asking questions, managing conflict, and just being nice.” Don’t lose sight of cultural objectives.

2.     Trains are at first confusing, and then you ‘get’ the UX

I stressed over taking Japanese trains as I planned our visit. We’d have large suitcases and aimed to travel to three cities in the wintertime. I didn’t want the logistics to overwhelm us.

But what was confusing to understand while learning about the Shinkansen, JR lines, and other rails while planning the trip became incredibly intuitive once on the ground. Especially when using Google Maps.  

There are signs for connecting train lines everywhere. Platforms, train lines, train stops, exits, train cars, and doors are numbered. Most rail lines have clear digital signage on the trains with Japanese and English announcements.

Google Maps leverages this information architecture. It maps multiple routes from our hotel in Shiodome to the bustling Shibuya area, providing details on total duration, walking time, and cost. Once I select a route, its directions include recommendations on which train cars to select and exits to use to make navigating the tunnels and streets easier.  

We used the trains daily and felt comfortable navigating the system after our first ride. We only foo-barred once, when we didn’t realize that the Keihan line in Kyoto has reserved, express, and local trains.

Japan has over 22 billion yearly train riders, and  45 of the 50 busiest train stations in the world are in Japan. Without a strong attention to rider experience, it would be challenging to support this scale, let alone make navigating the country easier for first-time tourists like us.

This is a lesson for DevOps teams that sometimes focus on infrastructure scaling and application performance without sufficient attention to UX. You can’t achieve scale without having the fundamental UX to support it.

3.     A deep commitment to quality

In Japan, you can’t separate UX from delivering a quality product or service.

I love sushi, and there are plenty of great options in the US, from grocery stores to 5-star restaurants. So why is the experience of visiting a restaurant, ordering, eating, and even paying for sushi so much more enjoyable in Japan?

It’s partly a supply-and-demand equation. There are better-quality ingredients at lower costs in Japan. There are more trained and highly experienced Sushi chefs. There’s greater consumer demand, which drives competition.  

But as consumers, all that underpins what a restaurant has to do to offer a great end-to-end customer experience. In some cases, that’s walking into a top-ranked restaurant, ordering in Japanese, and trying to avoid making a fool of ourselves by not knowing all of the rituals. Other times, we enjoyed the multilingual experience of using tableside tablets to order exactly what we wanted. The restaurants using automated conveyor belts to deliver our sushi were not gimmicks – they were elements of the experience.

What was consistent across these experiences was a commitment to quality, including plating and presentation, as well as how we ordered and paid for our meals. That’s what struck me as fundamentally different between US and Japanese sushi experiences. Whether it was a higher-end restaurant or snacking on bluefin toro at the Tsukiji Outer Market, there was a commitment to quality across the full customer experience.

You have to experience the differences, but I walked away with a deeper understanding of the distinction between targeting MVPs (minimally viable products) versus requiring MVEs (minimally viable experiences). In Japan, a business won’t survive without achieving MVE.

In technology, timelines will force many companies to lower their standards around shippable MVPs. Aiming for MVEs just isn’t ingrained in many DevOps cultures.

AI was noticeably absent in Japan

One last takeaway. While AI is consuming US companies, I didn’t see much of it while in Japan. In fact, Japan in some ways was a throwback to the pre-ecommerce era, with packed 10+ floor department stores and vibrant local markets. In Japan, small businesses can’t succeed without technology, but technology is only a small part of driving the experience. People and the culture are the differentiators.