Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

Then there are complaints about not enough devices to go around and managers hoarding the belt holsters (these phones are too big to fit comfortably in a pocket)—or hoarding the phones themselves, which means managers are carrying the mobile POS devices instead of the associates who will actually use them with customers.

And there’s the fact that the beeps that confirm scanning will mysteriously disappear for 20 seconds if a call comes in on the radio. In addition, there’s a three-second delay after scanning before the device responds—not a big deal when an associate is scanning a price for a customer, but an eternity for someone doing inventory. A host of other task-specific complaints come from the people who are actually using the devices to do their jobs.

In short, those associate complaints detail everything that’s wrong with the first draft of these mobile devices. It’s not the sort of thing software developers and project managers like to hear—even though many of the associates are complaining with one breath and describing the mobile devices as “great tools,” “spectacular,” “a major leap forward” and “so cool!” in the next.

Unfortunately, after most of a year since the First Phone rollout began, some Home Depot associates get the feeling that IT isn’t listening. “We have all found the obvious and not-so-obvious glitches and flaws in the First Phone and brought them to the attention of folks who should care but either don’t or are powerless to affect changes to correct them,” one grumbled. “The thing was not quite ready for prime time and suggestions and critiques go ignored, because we are not qualified to question the work of the ‘experts.'”

That may not be the reality, but it’s the perception. Listening to those criticisms, and even encouraging them, is exactly what IT should be doing. There’s no magic to getting business processes right in any IT initiative. It’s never going to be right the first time through. And it only gets better after the associates in the stores put the technology through its paces, point out the problems and make suggestions.

Interestingly, none of the Home Depot associates voiced any complaints about the First Phone’s ability to perform mobile checkout for a customer. Even if nothing else works perfectly, that’s a start.