What does a waiter do on a computer screen?

Richard gatarski and a few friends plan to have a dinner in norrk öping Ping, Sweden. They booked a table in a nice Italian restaurant in the city center a few weeks ago.

When they arrived, the restaurant Foreman warmly welcomed them and asked if they had a reservation. Richard confirmed the information and the foreman stared at the computer screen.

"Gatarski? Well... let's take a look. Yes, you have a reservation. Thank you !"

The foreman picked up a pen. Richard initially thought it was a new kind of e-pen, and the foreman pointed his pen to the screen. Richard is an elite in the tech industry. He is curious about what kind of new equipment these people use in restaurants. He leaned over and looked closer.

Richard suddenly realized that it was an ordinary beautiful whiteboard soft tip pen. The foreman draws an "X" on their reservation directly on the screen (difference, translator plus )!

"That's funny," Richard told the foreman. "How do you think of doing this ?"

"Oh, yes, you know," The foreman sighed. "The guys who developed this system, they ..." You know, you cannot use them as you want. You can write off a reservation in this system and use the mouse to operate the reservation. However, you need to click at least four points on this interface. In addition, it cannot be seen whether the guests have received their desks or are still waiting in front of the bar. Therefore, it is easier to draw directly on the screen. (When the shop is closed, just wipe it with a rag on the screen .) We are very busy here, so it is very convenient to do this ."

By the way, the food tastes very good.

***

So what does the story of the real world tell us?

1. Computer systems are not always used as intended by developers.
2. People are creative. They can, and they like to, invent various ways to simplify their daily work.
3. "We are very busy ." Users have many more important tasks to do at work. Compared to learning things that seem less valuable and useful, we prefer to spend time on things that we think are more important (for example, develop the best dressing that customers have never tasted ).
4. Investment in such a reservation system seems completely wasted. A real whiteboard solves their problems, which is both cheap and convenient.
5. There is a possibility that the booking system is computer-based (compared with a real whiteboard) and some statistical data can be generated: monthly customer volume, weekly reservation comparison, the percentage of table reservations within a period. Companies that sell computer software systems (in various forms and businesses) usually mine such data to the maximum extent and use it as the biggest advantage of their software. But is doing this valuable? In many cases, a foreman usually knows what is most important based on experience or general conditions. This annoying and time-consuming mouse came back and forth several times, just to generate the data, it is not worth doing.
6. Finally, if you want to know what is the most important thing for users and how users actually use the system, you need to observe the real users and observe them on site.

Address: http://javlaskitsystem.se/2012/02/whats-the-waiter-doing-with-the-computer-screen/