Archives for 2009

1.1: Customer service is usability

I think about usability a lot. Some of that is because it’s my job and some because I’m fascinated that products and tools get released onto the market after what must be hundreds of thousands of dollars expended in use-case testing only to be just not quite right.

Take the self-swipe credit card terminal at the grocery store (we’re not even talking about the self-check stand). Upwards of 90% of people using these machines in the U.S. (and possibly the world) are right handed. From a usability perspective it makes sense, then, to put the slot you swipe your card through on the right. But then where does the special pen you often have to use to sign go? Some designers have put it across the top…neatly blocking the swipe slot. Most designers just give up and put it on the left (because yes, it’s so convenient for a right handed person to reach across the screen, drag the cord that connects the special stylus to the terminal across the screen and then hold it out of the way while scrawling a signature). The best designed of these machines put the swipe slot across the top and the moderately small stylus on the right, in a hole that seats it like a traditional fountain pen.

The great thing about usability as a concept, and about the practice of user interface design that promotes it, is that it can be applied to almost anything, even interactions and systems that have nothing to do with technology. Which brings me to my first usability failure.

Sunday I met my friend S. for brunch at a popular diner downtown. I got there about 20 minutes early and the restaurant teemed with diners though no one waited yet for a table. After looking around and realizing that no, my friend wasn’t there, I let the hostess know that there would be two of us but dining partner wasn’t here yet. No problem, she says. It’ll probably be about 10-15 minutes for a table.

During this 10-15 minutes which was actually more like 20 (yes, my friend constantly runs late) a complete party of two arrives, and another, and then a party of three, and then a party of six. When a table for two opens up, my friend is still no where to be seen so the hostess moves to seat the complete party of two that arrived 10 minutes after I did.

Being who I am I say, excuse me, but I was here first.
Oh, she says, but your party isn’t complete and theirs is.
Yeah, but if you seat one it’s the same as seating two.
Well, their party is complete and that is how we do things here.

This is where the usability failure comes in: initially she set my expectation that in 10-15 minutes when a table opened up I’d be seated then later she came back and added an additional rule that contradicted the expectation she’d set with her first statement.

Later, after watching three other parties of two get seated in front of me, when my friend showed up and she finally seated us I explained to her that it wasn’t having to wait until my party was complete that was the problem. The problem was that she’d initially told me I’d be seated when a table opened up, set an expectation that would happen, and then changed the rules. Her reaction: you can talk to my manager if you want.

Now, maybe I should have talked to the manager because, theoretically, if you get enough experience in the restaurant trade to be the MOD during Sunday brunch you understand that managing expectations is the key to keeping customers happy. Instead I let her know that it wasn’t a big deal but that the next time it happened she should let the person in the incomplete party know that it was policy only to seat complete parties and set the expectation correctly. Given that she just blinked and said “OK” I doubt her behavior will change which is too bad because it’s not as if I was playing irate, entitled customer, either. The whole thing was extremely calm.

Next installment:

Usability failures 2.1 and 2.2: Usability is customer service (aka: Why geek speak should never make it to error messages and why a single path to problem resolution should never be the option)

Why don’t we buy ourselves balloons the same way we buy cut flowers?

They serve the same purpose: pleasant, colorful decoration (most commercial cut flowers aren’t that aromatic until you get your nose right in them). They last roughly the same fleeting amount of time.

So why would it be unusual to buy yourself a dozen balloons to let float in your house yet no one would blink at flowers in a vase of water?

Yes, I take a vacation every year in February. Usually a week, sometimes a bit longer, but always to some place warm. This year the destination was San Juan, PR. The first installment of the travel log: photos from around Old San Juan.

The city was founded more than 400 years ago when the Spanish held Puerto Rico as a strategic outpost in the “new world” and the architecture, layout, and construction reflect not only that age but also a lot of the Spanish building principles. From the balconies to the thin, tall shutter-doors to the buildings built around a central courtyard, San Juan feels in many respects like a Spanish city.

Click on the images for a larger version!

No, really, click on the images.

Are you sure you don’t want to see bigger versions of these? They’re pretty.

Seriously, I did a lot of work resizing these. Click on the images!

If you’ve made it this far without looking at bigger photos…well, OK. But you’re really missing out.

More photo galleries to come!