Being a designer who uses verbal language, I, and many of my colleagues, pay attention to Language Log, a blog by various language academics and other professionals in the field. James pointed out this post, which came out the same day as my previous post here.
Coincidence? Yeeesss, but for all the right reasons. This is bad, people. We have to fix things before more people get more hurt and more stressed.
Persistent bad design is immoral.
-pnl
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Bad Design Is Immoral
Persistent bad design is immoral.
(For those of you into relativism, I encourage a contemplative tour of This is Broken in regards to design.)
Those companies and people who produce designs that continually cause difficulty, stress, frustration, tension, anger, delay, waste (esp. time), confusion, harm, etc. and do nothing about it when faced with its effects are committing absolute crimes against their fellow people.
Persistent bad design is immoral. It is life-sucking.
My first exhibit is personal. Summer '08 I "upgraded" from a 3 year old Treo 600 to a Verizon XV6800, i.e. an HTC running Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0. I did this vaguely aware of the bad rep WM had, but I figured it was no worse than the desktop/laptop OS. I now know the depth of my ignorance. Suffice to say that the review I linked to feels effusively, and two-headed calf wrongly, positive.
Some of you might ask, "why give up the Treo?" or "Why not an iPhone, design phreak?" Well, the Treo was outdated, the camera sucked, etc. and I am a fairly happy and committed Verizon family plan customer. And I wanted a touchscreen, so a CrackBerry wouldn't work. So, after much cajoling from a colleague, I took the plunge. I'm still gasping for air.
How has this $400 device plagued me? Let me post the ways:
1 frequent lock-ups, often requiring battery removal
2 vibration starts and won't stop until a reboot
3 screen update latency often leading to repeated numbers during dialing
4 constant task interruption telling me it has sent a text (why do I even need to be notified of that? I am only interested in failure. I assume success.)
5 inability (until recently) to modify basic system functions of notification and sounds
6 The voice activation button is exactly where a thumb goes for regular holding of the phone
7 The volume won't go above moderately loud and so fades badly in noisy environments
8 MS ActiveSync has no setting for "don't sync until I tell you to"
9 When charging, there was no way to tell how charged it was
10 The camera, which takes decent pics, requires psychic or omniscient powers to use it. The buttons are baffling and there is no help on the device
Now, those aren't my top ten, because what I can't even write coherently and succinctly is how amazingly bad it is at handling phone calls when something else happens, like an incoming text. Or how confusing it can be to use the call history. Or how many steps are required to modify a contact. In fact, the only thing I can really say is easy is to move files onto and off the device from my laptop. And while that is handy, it is not a daily/hourly vital task like some of these others.
Which leads me to the highlight of the story. WM 6.1 was released in the fall and I heard promise of "major" improvements. I'm thinking I don't want improvements, I want do-overs. So I put it off until yesterday. And imagine my glee when I realize that there are TWO updates now. Since updates WIPE the phone, it's as if Suckrosoft figured they'd repay all those who complained the first time around.
So here's what happened. At the end of the day, I download the update files and transfer them to the phone. Then I open the readme docs, which, I find out, are helpful screenshots of the install program I am about to start. But onward. I begin. The dire warnings come that I am erasing ALL data on the device (Thanks, I know). Thirty minutes later, it finishes. Let me stop here for a moment to say that I am a "I'll figure it out"-geek, meaning that I can get through, but I'm not hacking core software, and I can easily imagine that a non-technical person might never have gotten through this alone. But all appears okay. I even download and install a couple of decent UI customizers to make me feel better on the surface.
I feel good about this and go to bed.
I awake this morning to hear my phone ring. For half a second. I get up and go to it. It rings again, barely long enough to see that it's my friend Chuck. No way to answer. Then one more time. He and I are supposed to talk later in the morning, but I need coffee first. I make it, then call. Or, rather, try to call. "We're sorry, but Verizon Wireless does not recognize your phone as an authorized device". Hmm. Upgrade? Erase all data? Crap.
So I call the activation number, which I happen to have memorized for reasons you can guess. "Programming successful!" Phew. Calling Chuck. "We're sorry, but Verizon Wireless does not recognize your phone as an authorized device". AAAHHHHHAHHAAAHHAHAHHHHH!!!!!!
All that work for FAIL?!?! Calm down. 1..2..3... They mention a number. I call it. The "Account Authorization" department will help me as soon as a representative is available. One comes on. I give my number. She finds my account. She fixes the issue. Great, I say. "Anything else I can help you with?" Yes, say I, did the upgrade cause this? "Yes, that's what I fixed. When the update is done, we have to go in and fix the account." AAAHHHHHAHHAAAHHAHAHHHHH!!!!!!
COULDN'T SOMEONE PUT THAT IN THE INSTRUCTIONS?!!?!!?!?
Persistent bad design is immoral.
And here I am. And here we are. I have been thinking about this subject, the immorality of bad design, for a while now and this story is good to kick a series of posts off with. In addition to the time I spent working on this post (about 2.5 hours), I have spent far more painful times dealing with the phone while actually trying to get things done. A tool, a device, especially an expensive one, that is bought to help with life should HELP!!!! This phone has interrupted important business calls, caused incorrect information to be sent, prevented timely wake-ups, etc. with all the attending difficulty, stress, frustration, tension, anger, delay, waste (esp. time), confusion, harm, etc.
It's wrong. It should change. We should demand it. We should make it better.
As I said earlier:
"Be bold in identifying bad design.
We simply must change the role of design from creating specifications to improving life."
-pnl
(For those of you into relativism, I encourage a contemplative tour of This is Broken in regards to design.)
Those companies and people who produce designs that continually cause difficulty, stress, frustration, tension, anger, delay, waste (esp. time), confusion, harm, etc. and do nothing about it when faced with its effects are committing absolute crimes against their fellow people.
Persistent bad design is immoral. It is life-sucking.
My first exhibit is personal. Summer '08 I "upgraded" from a 3 year old Treo 600 to a Verizon XV6800, i.e. an HTC running Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0. I did this vaguely aware of the bad rep WM had, but I figured it was no worse than the desktop/laptop OS. I now know the depth of my ignorance. Suffice to say that the review I linked to feels effusively, and two-headed calf wrongly, positive.
Some of you might ask, "why give up the Treo?" or "Why not an iPhone, design phreak?" Well, the Treo was outdated, the camera sucked, etc. and I am a fairly happy and committed Verizon family plan customer. And I wanted a touchscreen, so a CrackBerry wouldn't work. So, after much cajoling from a colleague, I took the plunge. I'm still gasping for air.
How has this $400 device plagued me? Let me post the ways:
1 frequent lock-ups, often requiring battery removal
2 vibration starts and won't stop until a reboot
3 screen update latency often leading to repeated numbers during dialing
4 constant task interruption telling me it has sent a text (why do I even need to be notified of that? I am only interested in failure. I assume success.)
5 inability (until recently) to modify basic system functions of notification and sounds
6 The voice activation button is exactly where a thumb goes for regular holding of the phone
7 The volume won't go above moderately loud and so fades badly in noisy environments
8 MS ActiveSync has no setting for "don't sync until I tell you to"
9 When charging, there was no way to tell how charged it was
10 The camera, which takes decent pics, requires psychic or omniscient powers to use it. The buttons are baffling and there is no help on the device
Now, those aren't my top ten, because what I can't even write coherently and succinctly is how amazingly bad it is at handling phone calls when something else happens, like an incoming text. Or how confusing it can be to use the call history. Or how many steps are required to modify a contact. In fact, the only thing I can really say is easy is to move files onto and off the device from my laptop. And while that is handy, it is not a daily/hourly vital task like some of these others.
Which leads me to the highlight of the story. WM 6.1 was released in the fall and I heard promise of "major" improvements. I'm thinking I don't want improvements, I want do-overs. So I put it off until yesterday. And imagine my glee when I realize that there are TWO updates now. Since updates WIPE the phone, it's as if Suckrosoft figured they'd repay all those who complained the first time around.
So here's what happened. At the end of the day, I download the update files and transfer them to the phone. Then I open the readme docs, which, I find out, are helpful screenshots of the install program I am about to start. But onward. I begin. The dire warnings come that I am erasing ALL data on the device (Thanks, I know). Thirty minutes later, it finishes. Let me stop here for a moment to say that I am a "I'll figure it out"-geek, meaning that I can get through, but I'm not hacking core software, and I can easily imagine that a non-technical person might never have gotten through this alone. But all appears okay. I even download and install a couple of decent UI customizers to make me feel better on the surface.
I feel good about this and go to bed.
I awake this morning to hear my phone ring. For half a second. I get up and go to it. It rings again, barely long enough to see that it's my friend Chuck. No way to answer. Then one more time. He and I are supposed to talk later in the morning, but I need coffee first. I make it, then call. Or, rather, try to call. "We're sorry, but Verizon Wireless does not recognize your phone as an authorized device". Hmm. Upgrade? Erase all data? Crap.
So I call the activation number, which I happen to have memorized for reasons you can guess. "Programming successful!" Phew. Calling Chuck. "We're sorry, but Verizon Wireless does not recognize your phone as an authorized device". AAAHHHHHAHHAAAHHAHAHHHHH!!!!!!
All that work for FAIL?!?! Calm down. 1..2..3... They mention a number. I call it. The "Account Authorization" department will help me as soon as a representative is available. One comes on. I give my number. She finds my account. She fixes the issue. Great, I say. "Anything else I can help you with?" Yes, say I, did the upgrade cause this? "Yes, that's what I fixed. When the update is done, we have to go in and fix the account." AAAHHHHHAHHAAAHHAHAHHHHH!!!!!!
COULDN'T SOMEONE PUT THAT IN THE INSTRUCTIONS?!!?!!?!?
Persistent bad design is immoral.
And here I am. And here we are. I have been thinking about this subject, the immorality of bad design, for a while now and this story is good to kick a series of posts off with. In addition to the time I spent working on this post (about 2.5 hours), I have spent far more painful times dealing with the phone while actually trying to get things done. A tool, a device, especially an expensive one, that is bought to help with life should HELP!!!! This phone has interrupted important business calls, caused incorrect information to be sent, prevented timely wake-ups, etc. with all the attending difficulty, stress, frustration, tension, anger, delay, waste (esp. time), confusion, harm, etc.
It's wrong. It should change. We should demand it. We should make it better.
As I said earlier:
"Be bold in identifying bad design.
We simply must change the role of design from creating specifications to improving life."
-pnl
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Quick thoughts on ... design!
Argh, it's been too long.
This was a response to a LinkedIn discussion (here: "UxD, IxD, or Web Designer?").
Be a good designer, not a generalist. Perhaps you design in the visual realm for desktop, perhaps for web, maybe for mobile. Maybe you design in voice. Maybe you design information structure and relationships (IA), maybe you design the back and forth and how (interaction), maybe you design the look and layout (graphic). Web designing is not coding. But web designing is designing...for the web. Be a good designer and design for more than the web. Design for people. Design for customers. Design connections. Play around. Break the barriers in your mind. The ones we think are in the world are mostly false.
- pnl
This was a response to a LinkedIn discussion (here: "UxD, IxD, or Web Designer?").
Be a good designer, not a generalist. Perhaps you design in the visual realm for desktop, perhaps for web, maybe for mobile. Maybe you design in voice. Maybe you design information structure and relationships (IA), maybe you design the back and forth and how (interaction), maybe you design the look and layout (graphic). Web designing is not coding. But web designing is designing...for the web. Be a good designer and design for more than the web. Design for people. Design for customers. Design connections. Play around. Break the barriers in your mind. The ones we think are in the world are mostly false.
- pnl
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Designer documentary
This just showed up on gizmodo via ixda, a documentary about designers. Looks very cool.
Let's hope it make us designers feel all warm and fuzzy but also opens eyes about the whys and hows of design.
-pnl
Let's hope it make us designers feel all warm and fuzzy but also opens eyes about the whys and hows of design.
-pnl
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Do your dinner guests quiver in excitement...or in fear?
Can you cook? I mean really cook? I mean your friends and family love it when you host the dinner party and your appetizer is the first one attacked at the potluck. If so, chances are that the word recipe has significance similar to "guidelines" or even "suggestions" rather than "rules" or "the straight and narrow". Design is like cooking. And as with cooking, there are those who generate joy and delight during the creation and consumption, there are those who get a job done, and there are those who really ought to re-examine the color of their parachute.
As I was contemplating writing this post and using this metaphor, I came across this from Bill Buxton (in his wonderful book Sketching User Experiences, also linked to earlier): "(L)isting ingredients is always risky. Just because I give you flour, milk, yeast, eggs, and an oven does not mean that you know how to make bread at all, much less the multitude of variations that you might find in a good bakery." This is exactly the sort of analogy I had been thinking about. Just because someone knows the design process and a pattern or two and what the end product is generally supposed to be like does not mean that that person is a designer. He goes on to discuss the complexities and content of designing, but let me make sure this is clear. Neither I, nor he, are drawing a parallel to needing more unrestrained creativity in design. In other words, the parameters of cooking are typically a little larger and looser than the design we practice, and I am not stating that designers should practice wild creativity, though it can be a good thing. I am saying that far too many people calling themselves designers are at best good only at finding and following a recipe and at worst are burning toast. Now, I don't mean most, but simply too many. But that condition has been true for many years and has led to many of the problems that we have with consumer rejection of our interface product. All who call themselves designers need to frequently examine whether they are truly performing a service in the best sense of that word. I have come to believe that there is an element of morality in the design profession, similar to being a physician or a law enforcement official. Which means that practicing design simply to earn a buck or have something to do is lacking ethically and morally. It does a disservice and may even cause harm greater than the negative economic consequences it leads to.
So, if you cannot claim to be even a recipe follower, then I encourage to do some self-examination and consult people you trust about changing careers. If you are a recipe follower, I encourage you to seek the path of becoming a chef. And if you are a chef, I implore you most strongly and even charge you with the responsibility of exercising ethics and morality in your design practice:
Always practice the best design possible.
Always point out when design compromise will lead to intolerable consequences.
Be bold in identifying bad design.
We simply must change the role of design from creating specifications to improving life.
Make 2009 the Year of Good Design.
Happy New year!
As I was contemplating writing this post and using this metaphor, I came across this from Bill Buxton (in his wonderful book Sketching User Experiences, also linked to earlier): "(L)isting ingredients is always risky. Just because I give you flour, milk, yeast, eggs, and an oven does not mean that you know how to make bread at all, much less the multitude of variations that you might find in a good bakery." This is exactly the sort of analogy I had been thinking about. Just because someone knows the design process and a pattern or two and what the end product is generally supposed to be like does not mean that that person is a designer. He goes on to discuss the complexities and content of designing, but let me make sure this is clear. Neither I, nor he, are drawing a parallel to needing more unrestrained creativity in design. In other words, the parameters of cooking are typically a little larger and looser than the design we practice, and I am not stating that designers should practice wild creativity, though it can be a good thing. I am saying that far too many people calling themselves designers are at best good only at finding and following a recipe and at worst are burning toast. Now, I don't mean most, but simply too many. But that condition has been true for many years and has led to many of the problems that we have with consumer rejection of our interface product. All who call themselves designers need to frequently examine whether they are truly performing a service in the best sense of that word. I have come to believe that there is an element of morality in the design profession, similar to being a physician or a law enforcement official. Which means that practicing design simply to earn a buck or have something to do is lacking ethically and morally. It does a disservice and may even cause harm greater than the negative economic consequences it leads to.
So, if you cannot claim to be even a recipe follower, then I encourage to do some self-examination and consult people you trust about changing careers. If you are a recipe follower, I encourage you to seek the path of becoming a chef. And if you are a chef, I implore you most strongly and even charge you with the responsibility of exercising ethics and morality in your design practice:
Always practice the best design possible.
Always point out when design compromise will lead to intolerable consequences.
Be bold in identifying bad design.
We simply must change the role of design from creating specifications to improving life.
Make 2009 the Year of Good Design.
Happy New year!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Winding down 2008
It's always been funny to me that we feel a sense of something ending as the calendar changes from one year to another. Out of all the things we do customarily that are time-limited, such as projects or pay periods or monthly services, the year-end/new year markings always seems the most artificial to me and yet we treat it with the most emotion. Oh well, holiday-weariness musings aside, I hope this time of year does have plenty of good things to remember and to anticipate.
I will be posting new thoughts soon on trends I see in user interface and interaction, why IVR might have peaked and be in decline, and why bad design is immoral.
For now, for all you designers, I leave you with the strongest possible recommendation to put this book on your Q1 2009 reading list: Sketching User Experiences. It is a great treatise on the need for the design process as well as enlightening concerning what sketching is and why it is so important, which helps me understand why some of us push so hard on doing sample dialogs early in the design process.
Design well!!
-pnl
I will be posting new thoughts soon on trends I see in user interface and interaction, why IVR might have peaked and be in decline, and why bad design is immoral.
For now, for all you designers, I leave you with the strongest possible recommendation to put this book on your Q1 2009 reading list: Sketching User Experiences. It is a great treatise on the need for the design process as well as enlightening concerning what sketching is and why it is so important, which helps me understand why some of us push so hard on doing sample dialogs early in the design process.
Design well!!
-pnl
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Let's try to catch up sometime
One of my favorite things to pick on about the little speech reco world we play in is how often we seem to let it slip our mind that there is a much larger world of interaction design for software and its users out there. It's not that some haven't tried to show us over the past decade, but somehow our entire focus keeps turning back inward to our industry and our practice. I believe this is unhealthy for multiple reasons and said so most publicly in my talk at SpeechTek 2007.
Though it is understandable, to a certain degree, one of my little missions is to change that as I can. So, occasionally, I will link to older content on the web that I think provides valuable input to our efforts from outside our normal ping-pong ball sphere of operation.
These will be in no order other than when I think of them and/or run across them. The first is from a respected and multi-facted web designer, Cameron Moll, and is a presentation he gave in the fall of 2006, Nine skills that separate good and great designers.
While some of this is about visual interfaces specifically, most addresses thinking about and creating great design in general. Enjoy. Please.
Though it is understandable, to a certain degree, one of my little missions is to change that as I can. So, occasionally, I will link to older content on the web that I think provides valuable input to our efforts from outside our normal ping-pong ball sphere of operation.
These will be in no order other than when I think of them and/or run across them. The first is from a respected and multi-facted web designer, Cameron Moll, and is a presentation he gave in the fall of 2006, Nine skills that separate good and great designers.
While some of this is about visual interfaces specifically, most addresses thinking about and creating great design in general. Enjoy. Please.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Published - VUI - Art with Science
The column I referred to a few weeks ago is out now. Thanks TMA Associates! Read it!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Rules and instructions - People behave like water
In a nice Speech Technology mag article from Dr. Susan, she highlights that people, in this case callers to automated systems, frequently behave like water (my interpretation, not hers). That is, they try to find the easiest way to get what they want most of the time. Other times, they barrel over any seemingly arbitrary obstacles when they perceive that there is a way to accomplish what they want.
She rightly points out the fine details of how to deal with these issues in a couple of specific situations. The larger lessons are: a) if you make rules (right or wrong) for customers, make sure they know them and make sure they are consistent across the board; b) to maximize success all the way around, facilitate the fastest, easiest way (according to the customer!) to get where the person wants to go.
Too often, our designs provide interaction that is more like dams and channel locks and less like soothing mountain streams.
She rightly points out the fine details of how to deal with these issues in a couple of specific situations. The larger lessons are: a) if you make rules (right or wrong) for customers, make sure they know them and make sure they are consistent across the board; b) to maximize success all the way around, facilitate the fastest, easiest way (according to the customer!) to get where the person wants to go.
Too often, our designs provide interaction that is more like dams and channel locks and less like soothing mountain streams.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Hope for now
With high-gear, "what recession?", season-sanctioned consumption officially with us for another year, I hope you are able to find experiences that you can cherish, that make you smile, that give you peace, and make you glad to be living here and now.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Numbers are hard to argue with
I like backing up design decisions, or in this case, customer strategy approaches, with numbers. Data can be hard to argue with. So, when I saw this, had to share: Apple's Customer Service Kick Dell's A$$, Empirical Evidence Shows
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
"the art of vui"
From a column to be published soon.
The view (we have) of the art of VUI does not parallel the applied education and craft found among the professional practitioners of the classic arts. In those fields, science is as much a tool as instrument, chisel, and brush. The expert composer deftly manipulates the mathematical intricacies of sound over time. The learned sculptor understands how to wield force against the limits of steel and stone. The master painter possesses the insight to blend and bend hue and light, oil and pigment. All three, though, along with the other arts, have a singular, common, and nearly unknowable component in the final product: the emotional result produced in those that experience their work. Yet that causes the artists to know and master their tools and domain even more.
The view (we have) of the art of VUI does not parallel the applied education and craft found among the professional practitioners of the classic arts. In those fields, science is as much a tool as instrument, chisel, and brush. The expert composer deftly manipulates the mathematical intricacies of sound over time. The learned sculptor understands how to wield force against the limits of steel and stone. The master painter possesses the insight to blend and bend hue and light, oil and pigment. All three, though, along with the other arts, have a singular, common, and nearly unknowable component in the final product: the emotional result produced in those that experience their work. Yet that causes the artists to know and master their tools and domain even more.
did i tell you
about the wonderful name of this blog? i created designoutloud back in 2003 when i left intervoice and went solo as a voice interaction designer. well, we all called it vui then, but vixd really fits better. but other sites address topics like that. so, i had this name, a crude website, and a logo, and we were in love. but, through the years and a cruel twist of events, i have lost that url. makes me sick. and it i can conveniently blame it on the user experience provided by the hosting service at the time, hostway. i have since switched due to that problem. and getting through it was awful, too. techs basically accused me of causing the issue. live and move the hell on. now someone else has the url and wants $1500 for it. sentiment isn't that strong. we'll see...
Monday, September 29, 2008
User (Fan) Experience
Q. What better time to start yakking into the blogosphere than after an inspirational event like the Austin City Limits music festival?
A. None.
Why? More important than it being an itch to be scratched, it's relevance. In this day and age when experience and design are buzzwords and sometimes actually paid attention to, attending the ACL fest gave me a clear example of the power of user desire.
If you've never attended an outdoor festival, then, if you can, think of a sweltering summer camp and add 60,000 people in the area of a golf course and dust in biblical proportions. And for those of you of a certain age, add more walking than your knees are happy with and those "crazy kids" that don't seem to give a damn about stepping on your toes or blocking your view. Sound miserable? Until Thursday, I would have agreed with you.
Oh, but what an experience! Acts I never had gotten to see, acts I hadn't known I wanted to see, the energy of 40,000 people singing the same song, a dragonfly buzzing through a milling crowd, crying from the sheer joy of a song sprung heartfelt from two people playing simple instruments. Oh, what an experience!
The man rambles, you might say. But here is the matter. We weigh what we are willing to tolerate for a desired experience. Sometimes a great deal of hardship, of many kinds, is worth what we gain. For me, three days of heat and dust and rudeness disappears in the revel of three days of transcendent music, old and new. And I thank my wife for it. And the artists and festival organizers, too. They all offered me a gain far greater than the cost.
So here is the lesson. In my area of telephone interaction (particularly speech recognition-based), we wonder why callers don't embrace our offering more eagerly. It's because what we are offering, or enabling, is frequently a lesser gain than the cost. The pain of dealing with the interfaces we often create is much larger than the reward of reaching the goal of their call. Why would they want to deal with navigation and frustration and wasted time? Not only are we not giving them what they think is their preferred method, but we give them an avenue that they can't figure out. What's not to hate?
If the festival had offered mediocre bands, or didn't have every little detail well-organized, and my presence hadn't been organized by my wife, then today I would be a very unhappy man. But instead I revel in the memory of Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, and Alison Kraus harmonizing and finding a new (to me) band like Delta Spirit, heat, dust, jerks, be damned. And I am a happy fan, a happy customer, a happy user.
Someday, we and our direct customers, in this field, will learn how to make gain bigger than the cost.
- pnl
A. None.
Why? More important than it being an itch to be scratched, it's relevance. In this day and age when experience and design are buzzwords and sometimes actually paid attention to, attending the ACL fest gave me a clear example of the power of user desire.
If you've never attended an outdoor festival, then, if you can, think of a sweltering summer camp and add 60,000 people in the area of a golf course and dust in biblical proportions. And for those of you of a certain age, add more walking than your knees are happy with and those "crazy kids" that don't seem to give a damn about stepping on your toes or blocking your view. Sound miserable? Until Thursday, I would have agreed with you.
Oh, but what an experience! Acts I never had gotten to see, acts I hadn't known I wanted to see, the energy of 40,000 people singing the same song, a dragonfly buzzing through a milling crowd, crying from the sheer joy of a song sprung heartfelt from two people playing simple instruments. Oh, what an experience!
The man rambles, you might say. But here is the matter. We weigh what we are willing to tolerate for a desired experience. Sometimes a great deal of hardship, of many kinds, is worth what we gain. For me, three days of heat and dust and rudeness disappears in the revel of three days of transcendent music, old and new. And I thank my wife for it. And the artists and festival organizers, too. They all offered me a gain far greater than the cost.
So here is the lesson. In my area of telephone interaction (particularly speech recognition-based), we wonder why callers don't embrace our offering more eagerly. It's because what we are offering, or enabling, is frequently a lesser gain than the cost. The pain of dealing with the interfaces we often create is much larger than the reward of reaching the goal of their call. Why would they want to deal with navigation and frustration and wasted time? Not only are we not giving them what they think is their preferred method, but we give them an avenue that they can't figure out. What's not to hate?
If the festival had offered mediocre bands, or didn't have every little detail well-organized, and my presence hadn't been organized by my wife, then today I would be a very unhappy man. But instead I revel in the memory of Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, and Alison Kraus harmonizing and finding a new (to me) band like Delta Spirit, heat, dust, jerks, be damned. And I am a happy fan, a happy customer, a happy user.
Someday, we and our direct customers, in this field, will learn how to make gain bigger than the cost.
- pnl
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