I was at the tailor, buying a new shirt, when it occurred to me how important it is to make sure software is completely finished, tested and user friendly before it is delivered. Uhm, hang on, it’ll make sense in a minute.
The tailor had to calculate the price, but he got confused, possibly from my comments about whether the collar type should point downwards or outwards. I settled for outwards. He made a mistake while calculating and had to start over. To start over, he pressed the red C button on the calculator. Each time he made a mistake, he pressed the C button at least twice. Some times up to 4 or 5 times.
It should be enough to press the C button once, but at one time in his life, this particular tailor experienced pressing the button of an old calculator where the always popular C button didn’t actually work, because he didn’t press it hard enough. The tailor didn’t notice at that time and continued with his calculations. He ended up with a result that was different from what he expected. Since that time, he has never fully trusted the C button of any calculator.
It only takes one bad experience to lose trust in a product – and the trust cannot easily be regained. So think of that when you decide whether to prioritize the deadline or the quality. You only have one chance to make a good impression.
I always press the C button twice (sometimes more). I have absolutely no idea why, but it seems to make me feel, that there’s less of a possibility to make mistakes. It makes no sense at all!
Actually — this entire article is moot, because you don’t have much experience with the way calculators are supposed to work.
You see, many calculators have a C/CE button.
One click clears the last entry.
Two clicks clears the entire working formula from memory.
ie: 17+3 (one tap) 5 = 22
17+3 (two taps) 5 = 5
So when your tailor was pressing the C button twice he was most likely using the device properly.
Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. I know more about how calculators work now.
However, the article wasn’t actually about calculators but the fact that poor user friendliness can have an ever lasting impact on how people trust and use a system. I think that’s still true, regardless of whether the calculator works in one way or the other.