Re: [projectvrm] Microsoft's Personal Health Care Records

Hi Matt,

 

You say "I think the terms [of the relationship] have always been based on the individual's value agenda". Well, that floors me. I'll leave other people to comment on that if they want.

 

But your core point is that VRM is a tool to 'break the mass market agenda' because it allows individuals to vocalize different messages to "allow greater granularity and customization (hopefully) of product offerings."

 

Yes, VRM is an enabler of customization. But from my perspective this is just one small part of VRM.

 

And if anything, your argument underlines my point about personal decision-making. In order to be able to 'vocalize' a specification for a customized product, you have to go through quite a complex decision-making process. You have to generate a very clear idea of exactly what you want and what you don't want. You need to check this against what is available and possible. You then need to weigh up costs and trade-offs and set them against your circumstances and priorities. Then you need to bring all this together to make a decision.

 

So the improved ability to specify and customize is a quintessential product of 'better decision making'.

 

In fact, I would go so far as to suggest (going back to earlier discussions), "It is not VRM unless it helps individuals to make and implement decisions better".

 

In this, 'better' includes better product outcomes (quality, fit, price etc including customization), better implementation (time, hassle, convenience, cost, etc), and a better decision making process itself (time, hassle, fun, cost, ease etc involved making decisions about both products and implementation).

 

Alan