Connecting Tomorrow

Why is it that every product we buy comes with an instruction manual or directions that have become required reading?  I can still remember the day when this type of information was only used as a reference, especially by those of the “directions are for morons” variety (of which I’m ashamed to have once belonged).  There was a time that you could buy a brand new television with a remote that only had buttons you absolutely needed for crucial control.  Buttons like volume up/down, channel up/down, numbers, an enter button and the mighty on/off button.  These “clickers” (or whatever you might refer to it as) were easy enough for every user to understand.  You could figure it out even if you hadn’t ever seen or used a television before.  Where has this ease of use gone?

I understand just as well as any other technology advocate that with more features comes more complexity, but does it really have to be that way?  A recent thesis by Dutch student Elke den Ouden (Reuters) suggested that fifty percent of all malfunctioning products returned to stores are in full working order but due to complexity, cannot be figured out by the user.  Has it really gotten that bad that people would rather return a product and forego the conveniences and enjoyment promised by its manufacturers (and my profession) rather than deal with the hassle it takes to own the device?  This is a fundamental problem with an easy solution: better design.

While not all of today’s high tech gadgets are hard to use, too few can be labeled easy.  Take TiVo for instance.  Much of the love and loyalty given to this particular brand of digital video recorder (DVR) is due to its brilliant yet simple design.  Everything from the remote control to the software itself was designed with the prime goal of simplicity and function.  Yet it seems to perform everything I and so many other TiVo addicts need it to.  Another company that has always been acclaimed for their simple and elegant design traits is Apple.  Apple consistently changes the way the market moves based on its ability to be basic but brilliant at the same time.  It’s obvious to me that what Apple and TiVo have figured out and so many others haven’t is that feature creep (or overload) is a bad, neh, terrible thing.  We don’t need more features that accomplish fewer tasks; we need fewer features that accomplish more tasks.  Thumbs up?  Thumbs down?

I feel that there is a great deal of responsibility on those of us whom call ourselves professional technologists in refining the way users interact with technology.  While I am now a noble convert to the religion of RTFM, I don’t feel that it should always be absolutely necessary to do so.  Things need to just work.  Computers, Televisions, Stereos, you name it; I want them to just work.  I didn’t go to college just to learn how to read an instruction manual to make my life more complex.  I want to make my life easier and more efficient and so does everyone else.

I’ve always had a problem with ease of use but this rant was brought on by a blog related to web usability by Dino Baskovic, an old college friend of mine.  Dino references Steve Krug’s second edition of Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, as an essential teaching reference for each of his web design students at Lawrence Technological University.  This fine work (the first edition actually) helped me along when I was building web applications back in the day.  Perhaps my favorite book (and required reading of TiVo engineers) is The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald A. Norman.  This book was originally published in 1988 (as The Psychology of Everyday Things) but still rings true with many concepts that design engineers should be required to implement when designing any new product or service.

It’s our goal to help our customers simplify their lives through technology and these are just a few of the tools we are using to ensure we do so.  While we will continue to provide a wealth of information readily available on our web site and through our planned customer portal, our hope is that it is as a reference, and not as required reading.

On a side note, I want to commend the brilliant marketing campaign by Staples. I now think of the Easy Button every time the issue of ease of use is brought to question!  I want an Easy Button!