The Change Function: Cool & New vs. Status Quo

Know More: Business Intelligence, Office, Office 2007, trends 2.0, trends

I haven't read The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn by Pip Coburn yet, but I must after reading Jason Pontin's review and Kevin Hale's post.

Apparently Coburn's hypothesis is that those who create technology center their products around the new and cool. The people creating the new technology are naturally the "first adopters" and collectors of cutting edge technology.

By contrast, Coburn says, "technology is widely hated by its users," because ordinary folk loathe change. Therefore, any new artifact, no matter how much its various features might appeal to technologists, will always be rejected by its intended customers unless "the pain in moving to a new technology is lower than the pain of staying in the status quo."

Which is why people and businesses are still using Windows 98 (and Windows ME!) and why one of my clients was so upset to hear Office 2007 is coming out - she'd just purchased 2003.

Instead of being supplier-oriented, Coburn would like to see technology companies be customer-centered. Absolutely. That is why some of the smaller, online applications, as well as open-source software, will succeed. They make it simple for the customer to do what they want - write a letter, track expenses, create a presentation.

As an example, I was showing a friend Word 2007 (currently in Beta). 'How do you make a new document?' she puzzled. I showed her - click on the icon-thingy (no File->New anymore). After several more 'Well how do you.... How do you.... ' she finally threw up her hands. 'I'm not a geek like you, Diane.' she said.'I have work to get done and don't have time to figure this out!'

What she is using now works. She knows how to use it. When I asked her what features she'd like to see added to Word 2003 she was prompt. 'An easier way to do mail merges. Better recognition of addresses for envelopes. A more visual way to tell what section you are editing in a long document.'

And she is just one of thousands, hundreds of thousands, who are thinking the same way.

This reminded me of my buying everything new stage, as far as technology goes, and along with the software or gadget, came about a 2 inch thick book.

After about 10 of those, I was finding my time being a little challenged by the late hour reading to find the few simple things I really wanted to do.

This is one of the major reasons that I don't pursue the "hype" of technology like I used to anymore.

Those who offer the simple, will be big winners for the average users, which far outnumber the geeks.

Posted by: Gary Bourgeault (thealphamarketer.com) | July 20, 2006 2:02 AM | Permalink to Comment

How many times have I struggled to figure out how to do something in a program, when I could have solved the problem in 15 minutes on a spreadsheet - or even pen and paper.

Software creators need also to do a better job of explaining just how their product is better than the method the user currently uses - other than the cool factor. But that is a different post :-)

Posted by: Diane Ensey | July 20, 2006 7:18 AM | Permalink to Comment

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