Mom, the Microwave, and Tree Chippers

My Mother, may God grant her soul peace, was not a stupid woman.  She raised two sons and three step children, started a new career after she was widowed in her 50’s, and adapted to a world that started with segregated busses and ended with a black president of South Africa, not to mention the burgeoning career of a young man in Chicago who would one day be the president of the United States.  Yet she was still brought to tears by the on/off switch of a microwave oven.

Back in the mid-80’s, when home microwaves were still very expensive and not that common, I saved my pennies and bought her one as a birthday gift.  After carefully warning her not to put metal in it and to reduce the cooking times for her favorite foods, I stood back and watched her excitedly try to heat a hotdog.

In the tiny oven the sausage went.  She shut the door with a gentle touch and set the timer dial—then she waited.  “Mom,” I quietly said, “you have to press the start button.”  Valiantly, she searched for it.  She peered at the smooth, white plastic from variety of angles, unable figure out the proper action.  Then she poked the biggest button and the without warning, the door sprung open, hitting her squarely in the face, knocking her glasses to the floor.

After everyone calmed down and I pointed out to her the small, flush, button with the 0|1 on it was what she wanted, peace again returned to the kitchen, at least until the hotdog exploded. 

Here’s the question, “Why should a woman in her early 60’s be reasonably expected to understand that 0 and 1 are standard notation for off and on in the electrical and computer fields?  Why should she have had to wade through a thick manual to operate a household appliance?  Why wasn’t the on/off switch obvious?

Something similar to my Mother’s challenge recently happened on the net.  A very good site called ReadWriteWeb published an article examining Facebook’s push to be a single login system.  Interesting, if slightly arcane topic, but for whatever reason, Google’s algorithm pushed it to the very top of its results.  Suddenly, new visitors by the thousands started showing up.

A blog’s dream come true, right?  Not in this case.  Huge numbers of the new visitors were leaving angry comments condemning Facebook’s “new” look and demanding to know when they could log in again.  What??  Yes, they thought they were actually on Facebook and not on a site writing about Facebook.  Instead of typing www.facebook.com in their browser, they always searched for Facebook on Google and mindlessly clicked the first link.  Apparently, the nicely branded site and lack of a login didn’t faze them.  Take a few minutes and check out the article, the explanation, and some of the comments.  It will be enlightening.

Cool stories, but what’s the point?  The point is, when designing a CRM system or anything else that will have end users, you absolutely, positively, 100%, have to be clear and plan for confusion.  Sure, control, alt, F4, left shift seems perfectly logical to clear the cache to you and me, but what about Jim in marketing, Sue in legal, or your 62 year old mother?  If it isn’t as foolproof as possible and as clearly documented as possible, you’ve failed.  No matter how well you can demo the system, you’ve failed.

At the opposite end of the spectrum from my Mom’s microwave adventure and the actions of users who landed on ReadWriteWeb, is the design of the modern wood chipper.  A wood chipper is a large piece of equipment into whose gaping maw, bushes, branches, and even small tree trunks are fed.  The whirling discs inside grind the material to the tune of hideous din and spit out sawdust on the other side.  It will easily do the same to a man.

Take a look at a diagram of a generic wood chipper:



The feed tray extends several feet to prevent the operator from getting close enough to easily insert his hand into the feed, where it would pull him into the discs.  Surrounding the entire opening is a feed control bar.  If by some horrible accident, the operator is being pulled into the chipper, any touch to the feed control bar will instantly reverse the feed, ejecting the entrapped person.  Insofar as possible, the chipper is end user proof because unlike with most software, human life and limb is at stake.  The margin for error is zero.

Microwave buttons should be obvious and well labeled.  Controls on software should be equally obvious and well labeled.  Also, consistent.  If “OK” is green on one page, it needs to be green on all the pages.  Remember, your end users are not necessarily going to be well trained, familiar, or even particularly motivated.  It’s up to you, to compensate for their limitation.  If you don’t, the failure is not theirs, it’s yours. 

User acceptance testing should be the end of a long process that includes requirement gathering and constant feedback from the intended users.  Just because a system appeals to you and makes sense in your eyes, does not mean that it is well designed.  Without keeping your end users in mind constantly, you will fail.

As a final thought, if you think I’m exaggerating the matter, take a few minutes and see people respond to a Google employee asking, “What is a browser?”  Watch it and be afraid; be very afraid.