Having read the classic The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web by the President of Adaptive Path, Jesse James Garrett, I was naturally excited to learn that four members of his team had worked on Subject To Change. I was not disappointed.

Adaptive Path is a firm that has established itself as proponent of experience design as the basis to success. Their approach had never been more valid than today, as we face constantly shifting times and market conditions, making the design of products and services that can adapt to change critical for a company's success.

The book introduces the experience that a customer has while using your product or service as THE product itself and, even more so, as the strategic path to winning in the marketplace. They define experience in ways that are easy to grasp: "[it] comes from the outside in; an appreciation of customer's motivations, behaviors, and context leads to the development of a product, service, or system that can satisfy them."

By offering a plethora of examples, they get the point across very clearly. A good example of this is the case of Kodak and how they got it right by making it easy for people to take pictures and not have to bother with the technicalities involved in developing film, etc.

Another approach they advocate is agility and leanness as an efficient and cost-effective means of developing the right solutions. This process involves multiple iterations, i.e. the admission that we don't always (even typically) get things right the first time; involving customers in the development process; not letting the obsession with documentation get in the way of getting things right.

With its explanation of the importance of customer research (and customer focus), experience design and agile development as keys to success in today's shifting world, the book constitutes a must-read for leaders and all those directly or indirectly involved with product and service development today.