4. SOS at a Mid-Summer Cafe

Iwata - Previously Hatano-san used the example of a greengrocer’s shop to explain the importance of clear product display and explanation, and it was delving deeper into the concept of explaining the product where we arrived upon the “Search Guide”. What led us to begin creating this kind of search tool?

Hatano - In my mind there was this faint image. But I don’t remember discussing the specifics with these guys.

Iwata - So it wasn’t that you clearly specified “make this kind of thing”, but it was the kind of plan that was born from the bottom up after discussing various different forms of “this kind of thing should exist”.

Hatano - Yes. As such, the pondered various things I said to them and made them a reality.

Takeuchi - At the time, Hatano-san called it the “Sales Development Project”.

Iwata - He did. This new phrase, “Sales Development” came about from the idea that “we’re now in an age where sales methods will also be developed”. I thought, “I see!”

Takeuchi - And with that, several people were allocated from each division to this “Sales Development Project”, and we set up a meeting where once a week we would discuss what kind of sales floor to create. At the time I mentioned that “it would be good to have a search tool kind of thing”, and that’s where it all began.

Iwata - In your head just how complete was this idea of the search tool?

Takeuchi - Honestly I hadn’t thought of anything…

Iwata - Was the idea that it would be nice to have something that customers could use when shopping that would give them a better understanding of the software?

Takeuchi - Kind of like that. I raised 3 conditions the search tool needed to fulfill. The first was “easy to understand and use”. I guess that’s an obvious one though (laughs).

Iwata - Right (laughs).

Takeuchi - The second was “easy for customers to obtain the information they desire”. And the third was “not embarrassing to use”. I said “if nothing else, these 3 things MUST be fulfilled, and the rest was up to Oda-san…

Iwata - So Oda-san was left with the was of creating the search tool with just those base conditions.

Oda - … exactly (laughs).

Takeuchi - “The rest is up to you!”

Iwata - That’s mean (laughs)!

Everyone - (laughs)

Takeuchi - That’s because I trusted her.

Iwata - Oda-san, what were your thoughts at the time? Weren’t you stumped?

Oda - I felt, where should I begin…?

Iwata - If a developer who was always used to creating things was given that task they wouldn’t be too fazed, but that’s not the kind of task you just lob at someone who doesn’t usually do dev work, is it?

Oda - Because of that there was a fairly long period where I was stumped, not knowing how to proceed. In any event, all of the dev were quite busy at the time, so they wouldn’t be able to lend a hand, so I had to ask for the assistance of an external developer, and because of that I spend my time worriedly pondering.

Iwata - So how did you begin?

Oda - Well… I had some kind of idea of what kind of elements should be included. I was really puzzled about what kind of interface would be easily useable for customers, though. And to be honest… at that point I was overwhelmed, thinking “I’m at my limit!”

Takeuchi - At that point you put out an SOS.

Iwata - Oda-san was never in development, so of course this kind of job was never going to go smoothly. It would have been quite a surprise if she was given the task and then boom, it was done. It makes you want to say, “would you like to join dev”? (laughs)

Oda - (laughs) And so I decided to go crying to Takeuchi-san, er - to confer with him.

Takeuchi - That was a Saturday - a holiday. Out of the blue she had invited me to a cafe in the neighborhood (laughs).

Iwata - That’s just how overwhelmed Oda-san was.

Oda - Right. It was an incredibly hot summer day.

Takeuchi - And once I met her at the cafe she talked with this incredibly grave expression, saying “I can’t take it anymore”.

Iwata - Not knowing how to start is always the hardest. Perhaps she’s gotten a taste of the troubles devs deal with.

Oda - Not just a taste!

Iwata - And after that talk at the cafe did anything change dramatically?

Oda - Yes, Takeuchi-san pitched in and from that day forward I started getting support from various different individuals.

Iwata - Was it at that point that Sakai-san began to become deeply involved?

Sakai - Yes. I was already an original member of the “Sales Development Project”, and had already thought that various chances would show themselves if we had the opportunity to use “Everyone’s Nintendo Channel” at retail. Additionally, although by complete coincidence, these three members had at one point, a long time ago, all been at retail at the same time. I think already from that period, having discussed with the representatives of the stores, we all had wanted to make a better retail environment for customers.

Iwata - What kind of advice did you give Oda-san, Sakai-san?

Sakai - Since I was operating the “Everyone’s Nintendo Channel” I said “we have this kind of data, so you can use it in a search tool”.

Iwata - So at that point you already had an idea to figure out what kind of recommendations you could give by age group or gender.

Sakai - Right. Already we had a huge software database in the “Everyone’s Nintendo Channel”, and you could already watch movies introducing each one. So we thought about making it possible to view those at retail. And from there we began with the back and forth to decide what kind of layout and interface would be good to most easily view them.

Iwata - Oda-san, at that point I’m wondering if Sakai-san felt like some kind of guardian angel?

Oda - Yes, he did (laughs). I didn’t exactly pray for his help, but he did offer various advice.

Iwata - So he would give hints when you are stuck.

Sakai - We actually started working at the company the same year, so we’ve always been able to be frank with each other.

Iwata - Ah, you’re classmates, so to speak.

Oda - Exactly. So because of that there’s a part of me that had less trouble asking him for things or consulting with him.

Sakai - I’m sure there’s quite a few things that she wouldn’t have been able to ask if there was too much of an age difference (laughs).

Takeuchi - … even things that you couldn’t come to me with?

Oda/Sakai - Yes (laughs).