The Curse of Knowledge Bogs Down Innovation

Secret of Raising Smart Kids writes ""I have a DVD remote control with 52 buttons on it, and every one of them is there because some engineer along the line knew how to use that button and believed I would want to use it, too," says David Heath, co-author of "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die." The "curse of knowledge," is the paradox that as our knowledge and expertise increase, our creativity and ability to innovate tend to taper off because the walls of the box we think inside of thicken along with our experience. An article in the NY Times proposes a solution to the curse: bring outsiders with no experience onto teams to keep creativity and innovation on track. When experts have to slow down and go back to basics to bring an outsider up to speed, "it forces them to look at their world differently and, as a result, they come up with new solutions to old problems." Another solution is to force yourself to become a beginner again like making yourself shoot basketball left-handed."

Comments

Common sense?

[nurb432]

I thought having 'non technical' people review products was common practice ( unless you are from china ). I have always done that. Including their input in the beginning and throughout the life of development is also standard.

Re:Usability

[JaredOfEuropa]

Oh, and all the power sockets in the house are at floor level, not convenient waist or hand height.

Most modern houses these days have power sockets at ground level, whereas it's the older ones that have them at hand height. Why? I suppose the universal truth in construction was that having them up high is convenient, just as you suggest. Then some "outsider" appeared, perhaps a housewife who sat down with a contractor to have her house redone, and asked "Can we move these unsightly power sockets to the floor, so that they'll be hidden from view behind the furniture?". Perhaps her friends came to visit and thought "That looks really tidy" and had it done in their homes as well.

My own apartment still has them at hand height, and I'd move them all to the floor if I could... but these concrete walls are so hard, I think I can ride out a nuclear war in this place. Anyway, my point is that the article points out a way to avoid the trap into which you seem to have stepped: don't take your own knowledge and wisdom for universal truths.

Re:Usability

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a fairly safe bet that you do not read manuals either. If you did, you would know that they are generally produced either by an engineer with negligible communications skills or by a technical writer who has not been given adequate time to understand the device

Sorry, I call Bullshit.

"To change the temperature, press and release the
WARMER or COLDER button. SET will illuminate in
the display, as well as the set temperature. To
change the temperature, tap either the WARMER or
COLDER button (while SET is illuminated) until the
desired temperature is displayed."

--Instructions on setting the temperature on a "GE" brand fridge., from: http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/images/t07/0000004/r04441v-1.pdf

0 IS OFF
9 IS COLDEST

--Quote from another (cheaper) GE fridge instruction manual. http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/images/t07/0000008/r08351v-1.pdf

For colder temperatures, turn the knob towards Colder.
  For warmer temperatures, turn the knob towards Cold.

--Fridgidaire fridge manual: ftp://ftp.electrolux-na.com/ProdInfo_PDF/Anderson/241661500en.pdf

NONE of these seem to be produced by someone with "negligible communications skills". All are quite clear.