Systematic Thinking of design masters: products are not just products

Systematic Thinking: products are not just products

 

Author: Don Norman

Translator: Ark K] [n g of a r k

 

 

[Statement]

Translated from Don Norman

On its personal website

The article "Systems Thinking: a product is more than the product
", Translated and published with the consent of the original author. Original URL: http://jnd.org/dn.mss/systems_thinking_a_product_is_more_than_the_product.html

This article is translated from Don Norman

'S post "systems thinking: a product is more than the product

"On his web site

, Under the permission of the author. Original Post URL: http://jnd.org/dn.mss/systems_thinking_a_product_is_more_than_the_product.html

 

 

Note: This article is published in my ACM Chi magazine interactions column. I recommend that you subscribe to this magazine because it is an important source of information in the design field. The magazine website is interactions.acm.org. (ACM is a specialized organization in computer science. Chi = computer-human interaction, that is, human-computer interaction. It is more appropriate to understand ACM Chi as a community for interactive design .)

The product is actually a service. Although for designers, manufacturers, publishers and sellers, products are only products, but for buyers, products provide valuable services. The most obvious example is the ATM machine, which is also called an out-of-box host by many people. For the ATM manufacturer and the bank that purchases the ATM, it is just a product. However, for consumers, ATM provides services. Likewise, although a camera is considered a product, its true value lies in the service it provides to the owner-the camera provides precious memories. For example, a music player provides the pleasure of listening to music, and a mobile phone provides communication, communication, and other pleasant services.

In reality, all products are available. This is an experience of discovery, purchase, expectation, out-of-the-box and initial use, or an experience of continuous use, learning, help, upgrade, maintenance, supply, discard, and trade-in. Most companies regard each status as an independent process, and their respective departments are responsible for R & D, manufacturing, packaging, sales, and after-sales services. As a result, everything is not systematic, but there are contradictions everywhere. If a product is regarded as a service, a single isolated part of the product cannot be regarded as a service. A product is a product that provides a wonderful experience for its owner. In other words, it is a service. This kind of experience is formed by the organic combination of various parts. The true value of a product is far greater than the sum of the values of its components.

Successful products and services must overcome a series of obstacles and restrictions, overcome a series of technical challenges, and seize a series of opportunities. This involves various marketing strategies, fundamental needs, competitive strategies, core competencies, and market acceptance. At the same time, products must be able to fulfill their commitments, not only to operate well, but also to provide a sense of pleasure to use. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I intentionally set aside many key factors related to product life and death. Of course, I certainly missed more considerations.

Many books and seminars are discussing this series of intricate issues. Not all companies can grasp these problems well, even companies that can grasp these problems occasionally fail. In my opinion, systematic thinking is the most important factor to provide an integrated and consistent experience. Surprisingly, few companies understand systematic thinking and put it into practice. Let me give you a few examples.

Today there are many great digital cameras, most of which are attractive and can take good photos, some of which are even relatively easy to use. However, many camera manufacturers mistakenly believe that their products are just the camera itself. The product is not just a product. As I have seen, the first passion for beautiful cameras was eventually wiped out by the difficulties and obstacles I encountered during my first use. The beautiful camera is blocked in a fancy box. Even opening the packing box can hate to use a hammer and a saw (sometimes it can be used). In the process of opening the box, sometimes it will make people colorful or damage the product. There is still blood on one of my digital product manuals. After you extract all the products, along with the installation discs, legal statements, and user manuals from the box, you have to go through a long charging process before you can start using them. Lengthy user manuals written in N languages are not a pleasant preface, but are filled with lengthy warning statements about dangers and misoperations. The initial excitement was wiped out. Such a company reveals a surprising attitude.

Not all companies are so unreliable. There are also many success stories. In terms of products, there are BMW Mini Cooper, ubiquitous iPod, and Amazon Kindle. There are more examples of websites. These excellent website services are perfectly matched with smooth and efficient operations behind them, providing services that meet expectations and are satisfactory at any time, including Amazon, eBay, FedEx, kayak, UPS, and Netflix. Purely in the service industry, there are luxury hotels, low-end business hotels, and shops such as IKEA. Domino's Pizza is also good-you can order a pizza by phone and track the delivery process on its website. You can not only see the estimated delivery time, but also know who makes the pizza and the delivery respectively. "I think tracking distribution trends is more enjoyable than eating pizza," one blog author wrote. The results of systematic thinking make boring waiting a pleasant and personalized experience. All of the above success stories have taken into account the overall experience to ensure that all parts of their products and services are coordinated, unified, and pleasant.

The success story of Apple's iPod was told countless times, but most people did not focus on it. I would like to emphasize that iPod is a typical success of systemic thinking-it is not really about iPod, but about its system. Apple is the first company to authorize music downloads. It provides easy-to-understand pricing solutions, as well as easy-to-use, interesting, and well-designed websites. Buying and downloading music to your computer, importing the purchased music to your iPod, and other operations are easy and well designed. IPod is therefore a well-designed and well-thought-out product. It brings pleasure whether it is its appearance, touch, or in its hands. In addition, there is a digital rights management system that is invisible to users, which not only complies with copyright legal restrictions, but also forms users' lifelong dependence on Apple (of course, this system is still controversial and is constantly evolving ). In addition, a large number of third-party additional components further enhance the functions and charm of the entire platform, and also enable apple to achieve high profits through authorization and charging mechanisms. Finally, Apple's Genius Bar provides free consulting and other services for customers in Apple retail stores, turning the originally unpleasant service process into a pleasant exploration and learning experience. There are many excellent music players, but those manufacturers do not seem to understand it. In fact, it is systematic thinking that has made apple so successful, not just the product itself.

Amazon e-book reader Kindle is also an excellent example of systematic thinking. There are already many competing products with more powerful features on the market, but Amazon's Systematic Thinking on the Kindle product still gives it a dominant position in the market. Most tasks do not need to be completed by computer. When the Kindle is sent to the mobile device, it has loaded the pre-ordered ebook and can be used immediately. More importantly, Amazon has carefully considered the entire system and thoroughly examined the entire process from book searching to kindle reading. Users can order e-books directly from the Kindle in just a few minutes. Each Kindle is identified by a unique email address. Therefore, files in various formats can be sent to kindle via email. Just like Kindle, the true charm of Kindle is that it is not only an e-book reader product, but also a complete and systematic service. Like iPod, Kindle is well designed, lightweight, easy to use, and attractive. In the interaction design of Kindle, I can only think of a few points worth improving.

[NOTE 1] In recent works by de Souza and Leit ã O, the authors explain how the "semiotic engineering" communication approach helps ensure consistency and coordination [1]. They commented on the work of the HCI community (including my past work) and thought that the work was only optimized for a single component at the cost of losing overall consideration. They are right. Systematic analysis is far more than just the design of a single screen or operation. Systematic analysis should examine the entire experience process from the beginning to the end, and consider the entire behavior process from the perspective of introspection. To make all parts of a system work together to provide a holistic, seamless, and coordinated experience, we need to consider every action, every response method, and every information transmitted as part of a whole system, visual or audible, sound or silent, instinctive, or behavioral. Ensure that each piece of information transmitted is consistent with the overall tone, tone, positioning, and subject. Every step of the process needs to be ready, so that the system can prepare for various actions that users may make. The system refers to the system, which is to consider everything in the system as a whole.

Some people say that systematic thinking is useful for casual products and services, but it is too costly for everyday products-IPod, Mini Cooper, and kindle, however, it is unrealistic to systematically think about low-price and low-profit products! This is wrong because products are successful, not because they provide expensive services, but because they have in-depth analysis and implementation of consistent and coordinated service experiences. Whether it's southwest air, McDonald's, enterprise, or Tata's ginger in India ), the key to its success lies in analyzing it from the correct perspective for systematic thinking.

No product is an isolated island. The product is not just the product itself, but also a series of service experiences that are consistent and integrated with each other. From initial intention to final evaluation, from initial use to troubleshooting, repair and after-sales services-we need to fully consider all aspects of products or services so that they can be seamlessly integrated. This is systematic thinking.

 

 

About the author

 

Don Norman has many titles. He is a co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group, a professor of KAIST access in South Korea, or a writer. His latest book is living with complexity. His website is jnd.org.

[NOTE 1] De Souza, C. S., and Leit sort O, C. F. (2009). "semiotic engineering methods for scientific research in HCI." http://www.morganclaypool.com/doi/abs/10.2200/S00173ED1V01Y200901HCI002

 

 

 

[Statement]

Translated from Don Norman

On its personal website

The article "Systems Thinking: a product is more than the product
", Translated and published with the consent of the original author. Original URL: http://jnd.org/dn.mss/systems_thinking_a_product_is_more_than_the_product.html

This article is translated from Don Norman

'S post "systems thinking: a product is more than the product

"On his web site

, Under the permission of the author. Original Post URL: http://jnd.org/dn.mss/systems_thinking_a_product_is_more_than_the_product.html

 

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