4 ms·

I am reminded of a study where the hue of lights in a factory was changed, and the workers were reported happier and more productive. Then they changed it again

I am reminded of a study where the hue of lights in a factory was changed, and the workers were reported happier and more productive. Then they changed it again (actually, to the original hue), and the workers reported being happier still and more productive! So what lighting hue was best? Irrelevant, the important thing was that workers perceived that management was paying attention to their wellbeing. I think something similar is happening in Windows (and Mac!) desktops, where they change small things "for productivity", and the majority of people will think it's an improvement, just because it's different. Bt a small subset of us opinionated people will be upset that our carefully tuned habits are disrupted.

IfOnlyYouKnew 4y ago
It's possible to recognize that mechanism and not mind being affected by it. There is nothing wrong with experiencing joy based on 'just' cosmetic changes. Indeed it's a direct effect of what's called 'novelty-seeking' behavior, a character trait associated with lots of positive things for the person and society, and only a few drug habits and untimely deaths in non-FAA-approved aircraft. Many of the possibly meaningless desktop changes are also meaningless in the sense that they won't affect any workflow, and are therefore benign.
hbn 4y ago
> they change small things "for productivity", and the majority of people will think it's an improvement I feel like I've never talked to a person, techie or not, who didn't agree it was incredibly annoying to have UIs that they're used to change out under their feet.
- iLoveOncall 4y ago
  I usually don't mind at all, it's a non-issue. Losing features suck, but a new UI, especially for tools that were legitimately dated, is something I like.
  - BLKNSLVR 4y ago
    How would you define "legitimately dated"? I'd say something like the "ribbon toolbar" upgrade of MS Office, which I think improved accessibility of functions, is one of the only examples I can think of. But then I'm not sure if that was just a case of getting used to the new layout. Windows "Settings" versus the Control Panel is a counter example. It was a downgrade, it still sucks now, years later, but the Control Panel could be argued as 'dated' by some definitions.
    - iLoveOncall 4y ago
      I'm not saying every UI update will be good, just that in a huge amount of cases, updates that actually do improve the UI will be placed in the same bucket as bad updates, just because "muh me no like change".
    - bombcar 4y ago
      The ribbon can be nice but I love that on macOS we still get the menu items. So much easier to find things.
    - HKH2 4y ago
      > I'd say something like the "ribbon toolbar" upgrade of MS Office, which I think improved accessibility of functions, is one of the only examples I can think of. I don't think it improves accessibility when I keep having to go hunting in different sections for the right button. (The ribbon in the Recycle Bin makes no sense to me either.) I'll admit it can be daunting for a new user to see a lot of buttons, but if there is a tooltip or even a tutorial for each button showing where it can be useful, that shouldn't be much of a problem.
    - lproven 4y ago
      Genuinely astonished For me, the Ribbon is what made Office unusable. I've used MS apps since the MS-DOS and Xenix days. I remember the old MS menus (2 lines, bottom of screen, summoned with Esc) to CUA transition, then the horror of WinWord 1, then the passable WinWord 2, then the actually quite nice WinWord 6. I still run Word 97 on Ubuntu under WINE. Works perfectly. But after Office 2007, it is totally unusable for me.
- makeitdouble 4y ago
  I think it's why in the anecdote they change lighting hues, and not for instance swap the machines, or move around the work areas for no reasons. In IT parlance, I guess lighting hues would be equivalent to the changing the window manager theme for a lighter/darker one ?
Zababa 4y ago
> I am reminded of a study where the hue of lights in a factory was changed, and the workers were reported happier and more productive. Then they changed it again (actually, to the original hue), and the workers reported being happier still and more productive! > So what lighting hue was best? Irrelevant, the important thing was that workers perceived that management was paying attention to their wellbeing. I doubt it would work if they changed the place of tools, the layout of the factory, stuff like that.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Or the workers know to mark “yes I am happier” on the surveys lest they get remaindered out.
weikju 4y ago
Related, you just have to spend some time on various tech sites/forums to see that people will complain when something changes in an OS release, but even more so people will complain when the UI does NOT change "there's nothing new, boring" to paraphrase that whole second category... Not the same exact individuals of course, but there are loud voices clamoring for changes for change's sake (even if they don't know they are doing that).

IfOnlyYouKnew 4y ago

It's possible to recognize that mechanism and not mind being affected by it. There is nothing wrong with experiencing joy based on 'just' cosmetic changes. Indeed it's a direct effect of what's called 'novelty-seeking' behavior, a character trait associated with lots of positive things for the person and society, and only a few drug habits and untimely deaths in non-FAA-approved aircraft. Many of the possibly meaningless desktop changes are also meaningless in the sense that they won't affect any workflow, and are therefore benign.

hbn 4y ago

> they change small things "for productivity", and the majority of people will think it's an improvement I feel like I've never talked to a person, techie or not, who didn't agree it was incredibly annoying to have UIs that they're used to change out under their feet.

iLoveOncall 4y ago
I usually don't mind at all, it's a non-issue. Losing features suck, but a new UI, especially for tools that were legitimately dated, is something I like.
- BLKNSLVR 4y ago
  How would you define "legitimately dated"? I'd say something like the "ribbon toolbar" upgrade of MS Office, which I think improved accessibility of functions, is one of the only examples I can think of. But then I'm not sure if that was just a case of getting used to the new layout. Windows "Settings" versus the Control Panel is a counter example. It was a downgrade, it still sucks now, years later, but the Control Panel could be argued as 'dated' by some definitions.
  - iLoveOncall 4y ago
    I'm not saying every UI update will be good, just that in a huge amount of cases, updates that actually do improve the UI will be placed in the same bucket as bad updates, just because "muh me no like change".
  - bombcar 4y ago
    The ribbon can be nice but I love that on macOS we still get the menu items. So much easier to find things.
  - HKH2 4y ago
    > I'd say something like the "ribbon toolbar" upgrade of MS Office, which I think improved accessibility of functions, is one of the only examples I can think of. I don't think it improves accessibility when I keep having to go hunting in different sections for the right button. (The ribbon in the Recycle Bin makes no sense to me either.) I'll admit it can be daunting for a new user to see a lot of buttons, but if there is a tooltip or even a tutorial for each button showing where it can be useful, that shouldn't be much of a problem.
  - lproven 4y ago
    Genuinely astonished For me, the Ribbon is what made Office unusable. I've used MS apps since the MS-DOS and Xenix days. I remember the old MS menus (2 lines, bottom of screen, summoned with Esc) to CUA transition, then the horror of WinWord 1, then the passable WinWord 2, then the actually quite nice WinWord 6. I still run Word 97 on Ubuntu under WINE. Works perfectly. But after Office 2007, it is totally unusable for me.
makeitdouble 4y ago
I think it's why in the anecdote they change lighting hues, and not for instance swap the machines, or move around the work areas for no reasons. In IT parlance, I guess lighting hues would be equivalent to the changing the window manager theme for a lighter/darker one ?

Zababa 4y ago

> I am reminded of a study where the hue of lights in a factory was changed, and the workers were reported happier and more productive. Then they changed it again (actually, to the original hue), and the workers reported being happier still and more productive! > So what lighting hue was best? Irrelevant, the important thing was that workers perceived that management was paying attention to their wellbeing. I doubt it would work if they changed the place of tools, the layout of the factory, stuff like that.

bombcar 4y ago
Or the workers know to mark “yes I am happier” on the surveys lest they get remaindered out.

weikju 4y ago

Related, you just have to spend some time on various tech sites/forums to see that people will complain when something changes in an OS release, but even more so people will complain when the UI does NOT change "there's nothing new, boring" to paraphrase that whole second category... Not the same exact individuals of course, but there are loud voices clamoring for changes for change's sake (even if they don't know they are doing that).