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My favorite “If Henry Ford had asked people what they wanted, they would have told him faster horses” Used as a counter-argument to the previous statement, whe

My favorite “If Henry Ford had asked people what they wanted, they would have told him faster horses” Used as a counter-argument to the previous statement, when you start to realize you won’t have time or money to do enough user research.

pbhjpbhj 7y ago
Do those people think Ford invented motor vehicles? Before the Ford Motor Company ever existed we had a motion film of a trip to the moon, and they didn't go by horse!
- ComputerGuru 7y ago
  Yes, I imagine no one ever thought to themselves a flying horse was the realistic way of getting to the Moon.
  - Jenz 7y ago
    Ahem, actually: in norse mythology there was the flying horse «Sleipnir:» https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleipnir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleipnir While not «realistic,» they did believe it was.
    - slim 7y ago
      in arab mythology, it's the Buraq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buraq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buraq
    - posterboy 7y ago
      Who says folks believed myths to be realistic? We are actually talking about knowledge, not believe. There may have been many people for whom between horses and steam engine powered trains there was no certainty nor prospect for motorization, only wet dreams of flying. Interesting fact nontheless, Pegasus comes to mind.
      - Jenz 7y ago
        True. I find it hard to relate to. Do priest believe god is real, (if so: also realistic,) or do they just believe in him?
        posterboy 7y ago
        Priests believe in an interpretation of what they know and they know they believe because they have been indoctrinated to think so. It's very difficult and I don't want to disparage it, not actively right now, but latently--and that's similarly a learned behavior. However, if Goedels symbolic proof of gods existence, which is subject to interpretation of course, holds any water, than there might be an elementary truth, the knowledge that good does exist. Similar to Descartes "I think therefore I am", it might be trivial and discovering it might be part of everyones development. In that sense, priests wouldn't be any different. Ironically, I believe that I know that, the proof at least, subconsciously. I actively believe that. That's not good. lol. What does that have to do with UX cliches? If you'd ask priests whether god is dead, they'd say, "why, horses are good enough"?!
- sizzle 7y ago
  Thanks for putting this into perspective, I'm going to start using this fact to refute this tired, cliche saying. I think there is a particular book that tech company managers read where they are indoctrinated with this Henry Ford saying, anyone know what book it is?
TeMPOraL 7y ago
Come to think of it, if Henry Ford could, he probably would design a faster horse. The idea would have a lot of both business and practical sense - it would be improving a known tool, necessary infrastructure and network of services already existed, zero fire hazard, self-driving of level 4 autonomy out of the box. He (and people before him) designed automobiles, because that was the only way we could get the speed and power people needed in useful form.
- DonHopkins 7y ago
  >zero fire hazard Didn't a cow start the Great Chicago Fire?
  - msla 7y ago
    > Didn't a cow start the Great Chicago Fire? That's the myth, yes. It might be true, it might not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chicago_Fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chicago_Fire > The fire started at about 9:00 p.m. on October 8, in or around a small barn belonging to the O'Leary family that bordered the alley behind 137 DeKoven Street.^[4] The shed next to the barn was the first building to be consumed by the fire. City officials never determined the exact cause of the blaze,^[5] but the rapid spread of the fire due to a long drought in the prior summer, strong winds from the southwest, and the rapid destruction of the water pumping system explain the extensive damage of the mainly wooden city structures. There has been much speculation over the years on a single start to the fire. The most popular tale blames Mrs. O'Leary's cow, who allegedly knocked over a lantern; others state that a group of men were gambling inside the barn and knocked over a lantern.^[6] Still other speculation suggests that the blaze was related to other fires in the Midwest that day.^[1]
itronitron 7y ago
>> “If Henry Ford had asked people what they wanted, they would have told him faster horses” I don't buy that, many people probably would have said that they wanted a horse that doesn't poop
- whoopdedo 7y ago
  Or eat. Or die of old age. And I was going to say he delivered on that. Except now the horse poops carbon monoxide and eats gasoline instead of oats. But while cars also don't live forever except with great care, they do at least have a longer lifespan than a horse.
  - ktpsns 7y ago
    > [cars] do at least have a longer lifespan than a horse. (1.) "The Antique Automobile Club of America defines an antique car as over 25 years of age" [Source: Wikipedia, Oldtimer] (2.) "The modern domestic horse has a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years" [Source: Wikipedia, Horse] Pretty much any car doesn't reach the age of an oldtimer. It is scrapped long before. We live in a throwaway society which produces tons of waste. Horses are pretty cool.
    - whoopdedo 7y ago
      The lifetime of carriage horses is much shorter. One source I read says it's less than 11 years.
macspoofing 7y ago
It's true. Asking users what they want is not that useful. Users don't know what they want and any suggestion they make probably won't scale to others. On the other hand, understanding your users, how they work, what they hate, what their pain points are is incredibly useful.

pbhjpbhj 7y ago

Do those people think Ford invented motor vehicles? Before the Ford Motor Company ever existed we had a motion film of a trip to the moon, and they didn't go by horse!

ComputerGuru 7y ago
Yes, I imagine no one ever thought to themselves a flying horse was the realistic way of getting to the Moon.
- Jenz 7y ago
  Ahem, actually: in norse mythology there was the flying horse «Sleipnir:» https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleipnir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleipnir While not «realistic,» they did believe it was.
  - slim 7y ago
    in arab mythology, it's the Buraq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buraq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buraq
  - posterboy 7y ago
    Who says folks believed myths to be realistic? We are actually talking about knowledge, not believe. There may have been many people for whom between horses and steam engine powered trains there was no certainty nor prospect for motorization, only wet dreams of flying. Interesting fact nontheless, Pegasus comes to mind.
    - Jenz 7y ago
      True. I find it hard to relate to. Do priest believe god is real, (if so: also realistic,) or do they just believe in him?
      - posterboy 7y ago
        Priests believe in an interpretation of what they know and they know they believe because they have been indoctrinated to think so. It's very difficult and I don't want to disparage it, not actively right now, but latently--and that's similarly a learned behavior. However, if Goedels symbolic proof of gods existence, which is subject to interpretation of course, holds any water, than there might be an elementary truth, the knowledge that good does exist. Similar to Descartes "I think therefore I am", it might be trivial and discovering it might be part of everyones development. In that sense, priests wouldn't be any different. Ironically, I believe that I know that, the proof at least, subconsciously. I actively believe that. That's not good. lol. What does that have to do with UX cliches? If you'd ask priests whether god is dead, they'd say, "why, horses are good enough"?!
sizzle 7y ago
Thanks for putting this into perspective, I'm going to start using this fact to refute this tired, cliche saying. I think there is a particular book that tech company managers read where they are indoctrinated with this Henry Ford saying, anyone know what book it is?

TeMPOraL 7y ago

Come to think of it, if Henry Ford could, he probably would design a faster horse. The idea would have a lot of both business and practical sense - it would be improving a known tool, necessary infrastructure and network of services already existed, zero fire hazard, self-driving of level 4 autonomy out of the box. He (and people before him) designed automobiles, because that was the only way we could get the speed and power people needed in useful form.

DonHopkins 7y ago
>zero fire hazard Didn't a cow start the Great Chicago Fire?
- msla 7y ago
  > Didn't a cow start the Great Chicago Fire? That's the myth, yes. It might be true, it might not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chicago_Fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chicago_Fire > The fire started at about 9:00 p.m. on October 8, in or around a small barn belonging to the O'Leary family that bordered the alley behind 137 DeKoven Street.^[4] The shed next to the barn was the first building to be consumed by the fire. City officials never determined the exact cause of the blaze,^[5] but the rapid spread of the fire due to a long drought in the prior summer, strong winds from the southwest, and the rapid destruction of the water pumping system explain the extensive damage of the mainly wooden city structures. There has been much speculation over the years on a single start to the fire. The most popular tale blames Mrs. O'Leary's cow, who allegedly knocked over a lantern; others state that a group of men were gambling inside the barn and knocked over a lantern.^[6] Still other speculation suggests that the blaze was related to other fires in the Midwest that day.^[1]

itronitron 7y ago

>> “If Henry Ford had asked people what they wanted, they would have told him faster horses” I don't buy that, many people probably would have said that they wanted a horse that doesn't poop

whoopdedo 7y ago
Or eat. Or die of old age. And I was going to say he delivered on that. Except now the horse poops carbon monoxide and eats gasoline instead of oats. But while cars also don't live forever except with great care, they do at least have a longer lifespan than a horse.
- ktpsns 7y ago
  > [cars] do at least have a longer lifespan than a horse. (1.) "The Antique Automobile Club of America defines an antique car as over 25 years of age" [Source: Wikipedia, Oldtimer] (2.) "The modern domestic horse has a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years" [Source: Wikipedia, Horse] Pretty much any car doesn't reach the age of an oldtimer. It is scrapped long before. We live in a throwaway society which produces tons of waste. Horses are pretty cool.
  - whoopdedo 7y ago
    The lifetime of carriage horses is much shorter. One source I read says it's less than 11 years.

macspoofing 7y ago

It's true. Asking users what they want is not that useful. Users don't know what they want and any suggestion they make probably won't scale to others. On the other hand, understanding your users, how they work, what they hate, what their pain points are is incredibly useful.