What's in the black box

mystery box closed
Originally uploaded by jbfbouchard

Usability experts Adaptive Path have a great blog that chronicles some of the issues they face in their field. I love reading it because usability is one of those topics that I find fascinating. How things work and why is one of those things that easy to learn but difficult to master.

A team at Adaptive Path went to rural India to understand how locals use mobile phones. I advise all to read it. What struck me most was that the West has a way of thinking that is related to our world and that thinking and iconography may not translate once we've left our collective "Westopia" shores.

It got me thinking about how abstracted we are from what we use. In India, the researchers noted that it is a very physical/mechanic universe. Things get reused and repurposed, meaning it can be hacked to suit the user. That is the way things USED to be back in the day but is far less true now.

Most modern cars and appliances in our home are so complex that it's impossible to repair things ourselves. That's great for the repair industry but it also decreases the attachment that we have to the things we buy.

I wonder if this is a trend that will continue or will we start to see more transparency. Such a movement is taking place with food; people increasingly want to know the source of their food. I only hope that spreads to other industries.

The Geek uses his hands

Everyone that knows me well knows how much of a geek I can be. Hell just looking at this blog, nearly half of the entries are about technology in some way. 

However, as I detailed in an earlier post – The Butcher, the Baker – I'm beginning to spend more time on manual pursuits, namely cooking and DIY. I ran into an interesting dilemma that I wanted to discuss. 

This all started with the instructions for the Sprinkles cupcake recipe. The instructions assumed the presence of an electric mixer. It's probably a safe bet that the majority of cooks have one. I don't. So I had three choices – 1) buy one, 2) borrow one and 3) do without. I investigated option one but just didn't want to spend the money and have no space to store it. Option two was a dead end since no one I asked had a mixer; most of my friends don't cook or don't do a lot of baking. 

I went with option 3 – do without. I arrived there thanks to swift kick in the pants from a friend of mine. She said, and I'm paraphrasing, "A mixer? Just use a whisk! You're a strong healthy boy. That's how my Mom did it."

I reflected upon that. When faced with a problem, I'll usually take the tech path first and then circle back to the non-tech solution. Not using technology – and mixers aren't exactly the cutting edge of technology – seemed strange. How would I know when the batter is done if there's no indicator light or warning signal? Yes I'm sick and need help. Nevertheless I powered through it. To be sure, mixing by hand is a lot of work. But I turned on one of my favorite audio podcasts – Design and Architecture by KCRW's Frances Anderton – and wisked away. The most interesting thing is I knew when it was done. The instructions helped since they described the state it should be in when done. But it felt great to see for myself – yep, good job. 

Judging by my friends' reactions to the cupcakes, option three was the right one. My luddite conversion is underway. 

American English will cost you

When you talk to consumers about customer service – typically technology and financial services – one of their biggest frustrations is phone support. The consumer is talking but the person on the other end just can't seem to get what they are saying. And vice versa. 

I'll do another post on this – related to Gardner – but here is where what consumer's want and what businesses can/will provide are two different things. Consumers want someone on the phone to hold their hand and address all of their issues until resolution, no matter how long it takes or how frequent. Businesses want to be gracious 'hosts' but at the end of the day, support costs money and it's money that is difficult to re-coop due to pricing pressures, competition etc.

Outsourcing customer support has been the 'fix' for that but has raised a new problem – the language barrier. My experience in the UK showed me that while we speak the same language, the differences are sometimes quite vast. I'll never forget a dinner party where the host said "would you like some squash?" I wasn't sure what I was going to do with a root vegetable so I asked, um, what's that. Squash in the UK is a citrus drink. Gales of laughter ensued. 

This disconnect is hilarious at a dinner party but when if you are on a deadline and your computer won't work, misunderstandings like these are frustrating and in the end damage the relationship you have with your customer. 

Dell has come up with a unique (ahem) solution to the problem. You can pay $13/month or $100/year to speak to an American. I wonder if it will work? Would you pay extra to speak to an American? I'm not sure I would. Not because I don't want to keep jobs in this country but it seems rather insulting to be told – if you want to understand the help you are getting, it will cost you. What do you think?

What do I press?

Much has been made of Steve Jobs' 'fear of buttons.' He railed against them in the introduction of the iPhone. As usual, there was the prerequisite cries of anguish from the geekosphere. 

Now that touch-screens have gone mainstream, the infinite wisdom of the decision is becoming apparent. My first thought when I saw the Google phone was - why are there so many buttons and what do they do? I had an opportunity to hold a Blackberry Storm a few days ago I had the same reaction. How do I use this thing? I admit I never really got into the Crackberry and so the learning curve is higher for me than for a Blackberry faithful. But still. 

The minute I picked up my iPhone, I knew how to use it. Now being a geek, I did watch the iPhone video introduction so I was a little ahead of the curve. But almost everyone else I've given the phone to has had the same reaction. Once you get over the fact that there's only one main button, it's surprisingly easy to use. 

I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said one million times. Contrary to what many über geeks think, the average consumer is not stupid, just preoccupied. There are some things that people just don't want or don't have time to think about and technology is usually one of them. Most people don't shop for gadgets by scrutinizing features lists. From what I've observed, the average person asks themselves...

• Do I like the way it looks?
• Do I like the way it feels?
• Is there someone I can call if I have a question? [formally as in the company and casually as in my cousin]
• Does it do what I need it to do? [often defined broadly]

Apple is not perfect by any means and their quality is a little more variable than I would like. But few other companies get that if you answer those four questions well, you'll have a success on your hands. 

Honda would be another company that 'gets' it. Others?