tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327817.post115446465673140587..comments2024-01-25T13:55:08.273+00:00Comments on Gendal World: Why there will always be a market for those who can explain things clearlyRichard Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14808940497740675782noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327817.post-1154498131370353932006-08-02T06:55:00.000+01:002006-08-02T06:55:00.000+01:00Hi Bruce,Nice example :-)I think the assumptions w...Hi Bruce,<BR/><BR/>Nice example :-)<BR/><BR/>I think the assumptions we make about users and our choices around how to explain things are very closely related.<BR/><BR/>As you suggest, the TV guide incorrectly assumed my parents were using one type of lead to link their cable box to their TV and incorrectly assumed that they would realise this meant they needed to follow a different collection of steps.<BR/><BR/>However, surely making these kind of incorrect assumptions is the kind of thing someone does when they're poor at explaining things... after all, making somebody else understand something relies, to a large extent, on seeing the problem from their perspective. <BR/><BR/>Regardless, I share your pain with manual gearboxes. Every car I've ever driven has had a different technique for getting it into reverse :-(Richard Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14808940497740675782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327817.post-1154479307913328412006-08-02T01:41:00.000+01:002006-08-02T01:41:00.000+01:00Richard,I think you take the wrong lesson from thi...Richard,<BR/>I think you take the wrong lesson from this. It's not about explaining complex things clearly, but about the assumptions we make about users. Many years ago I taught Physics Project Lab at MIT, a lab course for juniors and seniors in the department. When a student, after endless tinkering and reconfiguring, finally asked for help getting some device to behave as advertised, my first question was always, "Are you sure such-and-such is plugged in?" That was the problem 90% of the time. But can you imagine HP or some other maker of sophisticated test equipment emphasizing "Plug this in before turning it on"? <BR/><BR/>I'm not immune myself. When I rented a car in Italy this year, Avis assumed that because I'm American I must have specified a manual transmission by mistake. After I was able to convince the agent to give me the right car, I couldn't for the life of me get it into reverse. Turns out these French and Italian cars have some kind of ring on the shifter that you have to pull up to go into reverse. Oh, they don't have that in America? I'll bet it's not in the user manual, either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com