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I don't have any strategies, but I've had designers also want to add unnecessary steps to a gui-driven process. One designer kept arguing about the cognitive lo

by throwway120385 4y ago

I don't have any strategies, but I've had designers also want to add unnecessary steps to a gui-driven process. One designer kept arguing about the cognitive load of having a user simply insert their credit card into the reader to signal intent to pay. They wanted a flow where the user would touch the UI to indicate whether they wanted to tap or insert or scan a coupon. There was no reason to do it that way. I don't want to get into the specifics but it's a flow everyone uses every day without thinking and we were adding a new input device. It's not like we were inventing an entirely new system. The designer just wanted to make the work more than it was.

nobody9999 4y ago
>It's not like we were inventing an entirely new system. The designer just wanted to make the work more than it was. Which is a good reason why fixed-price contracts make more sense in this context than a time and materials contract. How does the old saw[0] go again? It Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It [0] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/11/30/salary/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/11/30/salary/ Edit: Fixed formatting.
JusticeJuice 4y ago
This could be tested with usability studies and a good user researcher. Make a prototype of the 'fast' way, and the 'lower cognitive load' way. Try it with 15 people per prototype, track metrics, and ask people about the experience afterwards. Make sure everyone on the team has an open mind and see what sticks.
- throwway120385 4y ago
  Our "usability study" is the tens or hundreds of thousands of people who use our UI entirely without issue every day. Market validation is better than any usability study you could pay for.
iudqnolq 4y ago
I hate that specific issue. Do not ask me if I want to tap a contactless card or insert my card. I'll do one or the other and then you'll know what I want. I call this dropdown-driven-design. "Our UI builder tool had this option, so we have to use it".
- throwway120385 4y ago
  That was exactly what the designer was trying to do. We kept telling her "people tell us what they want by presenting their method of payment." And she kept sending us articles about cognitive load for some reason. I just don't think she had any of the domain knowledge she needed to understand why that was a bad idea, and she didn't take the time to get it either before arguing with us.

nobody9999 4y ago

>It's not like we were inventing an entirely new system. The designer just wanted to make the work more than it was. Which is a good reason why fixed-price contracts make more sense in this context than a time and materials contract. How does the old saw[0] go again? It Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It [0] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/11/30/salary/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/11/30/salary/ Edit: Fixed formatting.

JusticeJuice 4y ago

This could be tested with usability studies and a good user researcher. Make a prototype of the 'fast' way, and the 'lower cognitive load' way. Try it with 15 people per prototype, track metrics, and ask people about the experience afterwards. Make sure everyone on the team has an open mind and see what sticks.

throwway120385 4y ago
Our "usability study" is the tens or hundreds of thousands of people who use our UI entirely without issue every day. Market validation is better than any usability study you could pay for.

iudqnolq 4y ago

I hate that specific issue. Do not ask me if I want to tap a contactless card or insert my card. I'll do one or the other and then you'll know what I want. I call this dropdown-driven-design. "Our UI builder tool had this option, so we have to use it".

throwway120385 4y ago
That was exactly what the designer was trying to do. We kept telling her "people tell us what they want by presenting their method of payment." And she kept sending us articles about cognitive load for some reason. I just don't think she had any of the domain knowledge she needed to understand why that was a bad idea, and she didn't take the time to get it either before arguing with us.