Inmates Are Running the Asylum, The: Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity By Alan Cooper Publisher: Sams Publishing Pub Date: February 24, 2004 ISBN: 0-672-32614-0 Pages: 288 Slots: 1.0 Imagine, at a terrifyingly aggressive rate, everything you regularly use is being equipped with computer technology. Think about your phone, cameras, cars - everything - being automated and programmed by people who in their rush to accept the many benefits of the silicon chip, have abdicated their responsibility to make these products easy to use. The Inmates are Running the Asylum argues that, despite appearances, business executives are simply not the ones in control of the high-tech industry. They have inadvertently put programmers and engineers in charge, leading to products and processes that waste money, squander customer loyalty, and erode competitive advantage. Business executives have let the inmates run the asylum! In his book The Inmates Are Running the Asylum Alan Cooper calls for revolution - we need technology to work in the same way average people think - we need to restore the sanity. He offers a provocative, insightful and entertaining explanation of how talented people continuously design bad software-based products. More importantly, he uses his own work with companies big and small to show how to harness those talents to create products that will both thrill their users and grow the bottom line. Copyright Acknowledgments Introduction Foreword to the Original Edition The Business-Case Book Business-Savvy Technologist/Technology-Savvy Businessperson Foreword Part I: Computer Obliteracy Chapter 1. Riddles for the Information Age What Do You Get When You Cross a Computer with an Airplane? What Do You Get When You Cross a Computer with a Camera? What Do You Get When You Cross a Computer with an Alarm Clock? What Do You Get When You Cross a Computer with a Car? What Do You Get When You Cross a Computer with a Bank? Computers Make It Easy to Get into Trouble Commercial Software Suffers, Too What Do You Get When You Cross a Computer with a Warship? Techno-Rage An Industry in Denial The Origins of This Book Chapter 2. Cognitive Friction Behavior Unconnected to Physical Forces Design Is a Big Word The Relationship Between Programmers and Designers Most Software Is Designed by Accident "Interaction" Versus "Interface" Design Why Software-Based Products Are Different The Dancing Bear The Cost of Features Apologists and Survivors How We React to Cognitive Friction The Democratization of Consumer Power Blaming the User Software Apartheid Part II: It Costs You Big Time Chapter 3. Wasting Money Deadline Management What Does "Done" Look Like? Shipping Late Doesn't Hurt Feature-List Bargaining Features Are Not Necessarily Good Iteration and the Myth of the Unpredictable Market The Hidden Costs of Bad Software The Cost of Prototyping Chapter 4. The Dancing Bear If It Were a Problem, Wouldn't It Have Been Solved by Now? Consumer Electronics Victim How Email Programs Fail How Scheduling Programs Fail How Calendar Software Fails Mass Web Hysteria What's Wrong with Software? Chapter 5. Customer Disloyalty Desirability A Comparison Time to Market Part III: Eating Soup with a Fork Chapter 6. The Inmates Are Running the Asylum Driving from the Backseat Hatching a Catastrophe Computers Versus Humans Teaching Dogs to Be Cats Chapter 7. Homo Logicus The Jetway Test The Psychology of Computer Programmers Programmers Trade Simplicity for Control Programmers Exchange Success for Understanding Programmers Focus on What Is Possible to the Exclusion of What Is Probable Programmers Act Like Jocks Chapter 8. An Obsolete Culture The Culture of Programming Reusing Code The Common Culture Cultural Isolation Skin in the Game The Process Is Dehumanizing, Not the Technology Part IV: Interaction Design Is Good Business Chapter 9. Designing for Pleasure Personas Design for Just One Person The Elastic User Be Specific Hypothetical Precision, Not Accuracy A Realistic Look at Skill Levels Personas End Feature Debates It's a User Persona, Not a Buyer Persona The Cast of Characters Primary Personas Case Study: Sony Trans Com's P@ssport Chapter 10. Designing for Power Goals Are the Reason Why We Perform Tasks Tasks Are Not Goals Goal-Directed Design Personal and Practical Goals Personal Goals Corporate Goals Practical Goals False Goals Computers Are Human, Too Designing for Politeness What Makes Software Polite? Case Study: Elemental Drumbeat Chapter 11. Designing for People Scenarios Daily-Use Scenarios Necessary-Use Scenarios Edge-Case Scenario Inflecting the Interface Perpetual Intermediates Vocabulary Reality Bats Last Case Study: Logitech ScanMan Bridging Hardware and Software Less Is More Part V: Getting Back into the Driver's Seat Chapter 12. Desperately Seeking Usability The Timing User Testing Multidisciplinary Teams Programmers Designing How Do You Know? Style Guides Focus Groups Visual Design Industrial Design Cool New Technology Iteration Chapter 13. A Managed Process Who Really Has the Most Influence? Finding Bedrock Making Movies The Deal Who Owns Product Quality? Creating a Design-Friendly Process Chapter 14. Power and Pleasure An Example of a Well-Run Project A Companywide Awareness of Design Benefits of Change Let Them Eat Cake Alan Cooper Index Copyright Copyright © 2004 by Sams Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2003116997 Printed in the United States of America First Printing: March 2004 07 06 05 04 4 3 2 1 Trademarks All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Sams Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Goal-Directed design is a trademark of Cooper Interaction Design. Warning and Disclaimer Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty or fitness is implied. The information provided is on an "as is" basis. The author and the publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book. Bulk Sales Sams Publishing offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases or special sales. For more information, please contact U.S. Corporate and Government Sales 1-800-382-3419 [email protected] For sales outside of the U.S., please contact International Sales 1-317-428-3341 [email protected] Credits Publisher Paul Boger Executive Editor Candace Hall Managing Editor Charlotte Clapp Project Editor Dan Knott Copy Editor Eileen Cohen Indexer Ken Johnson Proofreader Juli Cook Publishing Coordinator Cindy Teeters Interior Designer Karen Ruggles Cover Designer Alan Clements Page Layout Eric S. Miller Dedication For Sue, Scott and Marty, with love. Acknowledgments I could not have written this book without the care and help of many wonderful friends and colleagues. In particular, several people performed the demanding and difficult job of reading and commenting on the manuscript, sometimes more than once. Their comments made me answer tough questions, introduce my topics, sum up my points, quench my flames, and corral my wild fits of indignation. The book is far better because of the contributions of Kim Goodwin, Lane Halley, Kelly Bowman, Scott McGregor, David West, Mike Nelson, Mark Dziersk, Alan Karp, Terry Swack, Louie Weitzman, Wayne Greenwood, Ryan Olshavsky, John Meyer, Lisa Saunders, Winnie Shows, Kevin Wandryk, Glenn Halstead, Bryan O'Sullivan, Chuck Owen, Mike Swaine, and Skip Walter. I really appreciate your time, care, and wisdom. In particular, Jonathan Korman's comments and counsel were invaluable in helping me to distill my themes. I must also thank all the talented and hard-working people at Cooper Interaction Design who did my job for me while I was busy writing. Deserving of special thanks is Design Director Wayne Greenwood, who did a great job under pressure keeping our design quality and morale high. Getting the illustrations done turned out to be one of the more interesting production challenges. Chad Kubo, the masterful creator of the images, did a remarkable job of interpreting my vague ideas into crisp and memorable images. They add a lot to the book. The illustrations could not have been done at all without the tireless art direction work of Penny Bayless and David Hale. Still others helped with the many production tasks. Thanks to Brit Katzen for fact checking and research and Mike Henry for copy editing. Writing a book is a business, and for making it a successful one I also owe sincere thanks to my team of technology-savvy businesspersons, headed by my agent Jim Levine, and including Glenn Halstead, Lynne Bowman, Kelly Bowman, and Sue Cooper. At Pearson, Brad Jones supported this project throughout, but the most credit goes to Chris Webb, whose tenacity, focus, and hard work really made The Inmates happen. I really appreciate the many people who provided moral support, anecdotes, advice, and time. Thanks very much to Daniel Appleman, Todd Basche, Chris Bauer, Jeff Bezos, Alice Blair, Michel Bourque, Po Bronson, Steve Calde, David Carlick, Jeff Carlick, Carol Christie, Clay Collier, Kendall Cosby, Dan Crane, Robert X. Cringely, Troy Daniels, Lisa Powers, Philip Englehardt, Karen Evensen, Ridgely Evers, Royal Farros, Pat Fleck, David Fore, Ed Forman, Ed Fredkin, Jean-Louis Gassee, Jim Gay, Russ Goldin, Vlad Gorelik, Marcia Gregory, Garrett Gruener, Chuck Hartledge, Ted Harwood, Will Hearst, Tamra Heathershaw-Hart, J.D. Hildebrand, Laurie Hills, Peter Hirshberg, Larry Keeley, Gary Kratkin, Deborah Kurata, Tom Lafleur, Paul Laughton, Ellen Levy, Steven List, T.C. Mangan, David Maister, Robert May, Don McKinney, Kathryn Meadows, Lisa Mitchell, Geoffrey Moore, Bruce Mowery, Nate Myers, Ed Niehaus, Constance Petersen, Keith Pleas, Robert Reimann, John Rivlin, Howard Rheingold, Heidi Roizen, Neil Rubenking, Paul Saffo, Josh Seiden, Russ Siegelman, Donna Slote, Linda Stone, Toni Walker, Kevin Weeks, Kevin Welch, Dan Willis, Heather Winkle, Stephen Wildstrom, Terry Winograd, John Zicker, and Pierluigi Zappacosta. This "year long" project took 20 months, and my family showed great patience with me. I owe the greatest debt of love and thanks to my wife, Sue Cooper, and to my handsome young sons, Scott and Marty. I love you with all of my heart. Introduction Run for your lives—the computers are invading. Awesomely powerful computers tackling ever more important tasks with awkward, old-fashioned interfaces. As these machines leak into every corner of our lives, they will annoy us, infuriate us, and even kill a few of us. In turn, we will be tempted to kill our computers, but we won't dare because we are already utterly, irreversibly dependent on these hopeful monsters that make modern life possible. Fortunately, we have another option. We need to fundamentally rethink how humans and machines interact. And rethink the relationship in deep and novel ways, for the fault for our burgeoning problems lies not with our machines, but with us. Humans designed the interfaces we hate; humans continue to use dysfunctional machines even as the awkward interfaces strain their eyes, ache their backs, and ruin their wrist tendons. We all are, as the title of this book suggests, the inmates running the techno-asylum of our own creation. This book is a guide to our escape. Or rather, Alan Cooper reveals that the door to the asylum lies wide open. We are free to leave any time we want, but mad as we have all become, we never noticed until now. The secret lies in redefining the way we interact with our computers in a larger context. Alan Cooper is not merely a fellow inmate; he is also a heretic whose ideas will likely infuriate those who would want to keep us locked up. These are the engineers who built the systems we hate and who still believe the way out of this mess is to build better interfaces. But the very notion of interface is itself an artifact of an age when computers were scarce and puny, and barely able to interact with their human masters. Interface made sense when the entire interaction took place across the glass-thin no-man land of a computer screen. Now it is an utterly dangerous notion in a world where computers are slipping into every corner of our lives. Computers no longer interface with humans—they interact, and the interaction will become steadily deeper, more subtle, and more crucial to our collective sanity and ultimate survival. Alan Cooper understands the shift from interface to interaction better than anyone I know. His ideas come from years of experience in helping design products that slip elegantly and unobtrusively into our lives. He has walked his talk for years, and now he has finally found the time to turn his practice into a lucid description of the challenge we face, and a methodology for escaping the asylum we have so lovingly built. Read on and you will find your freedom. Paul Saffo Director Institute for the Future Foreword to the Original Edition The Business-Case Book Business-Savvy Technologist/Technology-Savvy Businessperson The Business-Case Book I intended to write a very different book from this one: a how-to book about the interaction-design process. Instead, in May 1997 on a family visit to Tuscany, my friends Don McKinney and Dave Carlick talked me into this one. They convinced me that I needed to address a business audience first. They knew I wanted to write a how-to design book, and—although they were encouraging—they expressed their doubts about the need for interaction design, and they wanted me to write a book to convince them of its value. Their argument was intriguing, but I was unsure that I could write the book they wanted. Late one night on the veranda of our shared ochre villa overlooking Firenze, I was having an earnest conversation with Dave and Don. Several empty bottles of Chianti stood on the table, along with the remains of some bread, cheese, and olives. The stars shone brightly, the fireflies danced over the lawn, and the lights on the ancient domes of the Tuscan capital twinkled in the distance. Once again, Dave suggested that I postpone the idea of a how-to book on design and instead "make the business case for interaction design." I protested vigorously, "But Dave, I don't know how to write that book." I ticked off the reasons on my fingertips. "It means that I'd have to explain things like how the current development process is messed up, how companies waste money on inefficient software construction, how unsatisfied customers are fickle, and how a better design process can solve that." Dave interrupted me to say simply, "They're called chapters, Alan." His remark stopped me dead in my tracks. I realized that I was reciting an old script, and that Dave was right. A book that made "the business case" was necessary—and more timely—than a book that explained "how to." And both Dave and Don convinced me that I really could write such a book. Business-Savvy Technologist/Technology-Savvy Businessperson The successful professional for the twenty-first century is either a business-savvy technologist or a technology-savvy businessperson, and I am writing for this person. The technology-savvy businessperson knows that his success is dependent on the quality of the information available to him and the sophistication with which he uses it. The business-savvy technologist, on the other hand, is an entrepreneurial engineer or scientist trained for technology, but possessing a keen business sense and an awareness of the power of information. Both of these new archetypes are coming to dominate contemporary business. You can divide all businesspeople into two categories: those who will master high technology and those who will soon be going out of business. No longer can an executive delegate information processing to specialists. Business is information processing. You differentiate yourself today with the quality of your information-handling systems, not your manufacturing systems. If you manufacture anything, chances are it has a microchip in it. If you offer a service, odds are that you offer it with computerized tools. Attempting to identify businesses that depend on high technology is as futile as trying to identify businesses that depend on the telephone. The high-tech revolution has invaded every business, and digital information is the beating heart of your workday. It's been said, "To err is human; to really screw up, you need a computer." Inefficient mechanical systems can waste a couple of cents on every widget you build, but you can lose your entire company to bad information processes. The leverage that software-based products—and the engineers that build them— have on your company is enormous. Sadly, our digital tools are extremely hard to learn, use, and understand, and they often cause us to fall short of our goals. This wastes money, time, and opportunity. As a business-savvy technologist/ technology-savvy businessperson, you produce software-based products or consume them—probably both. Having better, easier-to-learn, easier-to-use high-tech products is in your personal and professional best interest. Better products don't take longer to create, nor do they cost more to build. The irony is that they don't have to be difficult, but are so only because our process for making them is old-fashioned and needs fixing. Only long-standing traditions rooted in misconceptions keep us from having better products today. This book will show you how you can demand—and get—the better products that you deserve. The point of this book is uncomplicated: We can create powerful and pleasurable software-based products by the simple expedient of designing our computer-based products before we build them. Contrary to the popular belief, we are not already doing so. Designing interactive, software-based products is a specialty as demanding as constructing them. Having made my choice to write the business-case book rather than the how-to design book, I beg forgiveness from any interaction designers reading this book. In deference to the business audience, it has only the briefest treatment of the actual nuts and bolts of interaction-design methodology (found primarily in Part IV , "Interaction Design Is Good Business"). I included only enough to show that such methodology exists, that it is applicable to any subject matter, and that its benefits are readily apparent to anyone, regardless of their technical expertise. Alan Cooper Palo Alto, California http://www.cooper.com [email protected]