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XtremeAgony!
If I had a Worst Instructions & Controls award, it would have to be retired courtesy my hotel-room bedside clock radio, otherwise known as XtremeMac. The following was on the top of the clock in fine print, to guide one through the process of setting the alarm:
- Press and hold the "Alarm 1" or "Alarm 2" button until "Alarm Time" appears on the display. Press the "Settings" knob and the alarm hour will blink.
- Rotate the "Settings" knob to change the hour and press to set.
- Rotate the "Settings" knob to change the minutes and press to set.
- Rotate the "Settings" knob until "Source" appears on the display and press to select iPod, buzzer, FM or AM and press to set.
- Rotate the "Settings" knob until "Exit" appears on the display and press to exit.
Of course it was virtually impossible to read all the gibberish that appeared on the clock's screen. Add the fact that while you were holding and pressing you could not simultaneously see what was on the screen. (At one point I was pushing and pressing and had the damn thing cradled in my lap so that I could at least partially see what I was doing.) The final indignity was that by the time you had twirled and pushed and pressed and then pressed and twirled and pushed, you had ... ZERO ... confidence that you had set the damn alarm correctly.
Excellence in design is on the tip of many a tongue.
That's great, and a monumental change in a decade.
We've come a long way.
We ain't there yet.
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Comments
The only hotel room radio alarm function that counts is "off". Check and confirm(pull the plug if uncertain!). Then, your cell phone of whatever ilk has an excellent alarm function with music of your choice and pre-settings! Use it!
Posted by Randy Bosch at April 16, 2010 9:27 AM
I just can't understand how design like that is still possible. What possibly goes through the minds of people shipping these products? This is why things like the FlipCam - which are so simple to operate - are so wildly popular...
Posted by Todd Schnick at April 16, 2010 9:38 AM
Speaking of simple cell phones and the likes of durability. I recently dropped my phone from about 20 feet altitude and it landed on concrete. No prob.
Posted by tom peters at April 16, 2010 10:02 AM
You know that old saying, "Real men don't read the instructions"? Well, that's most men know instructions are written by other men so don't bother trying. Given that it was probably designed by a man as well, what chance have you got...
Posted by Mark JF at April 16, 2010 11:41 AM
I really believe they think we don't notice these things.
Posted by mike Neiss at April 16, 2010 2:31 PM
Excellence in design is on the tip of many a tongue.
That's great, and a monumental change in a decade.
We've come a long way.
We ain't there yet.
I'm sure there are clocks that are easy to use. If the hotel or motel had those, people would probably steal them. The clock you had was designed well if it was chosen by the hotel/motel as the least likely to be stolen.
It was designed to not be stolen.
Posted by zorro at April 16, 2010 8:12 PM
zorro - I suspect it wasn't designed not to be stolen. If that was the main concern, it would more likely have been built into the furniture or screwed down. It sounds far more like it was designed by someone who bought an off-the-shelf chip and simply would not pay a little bit of development money to get a friendly user interface and went with a quick, cheap quasi-technical one.
Posted by Mark JF at April 17, 2010 2:32 AM
I'm inclined to think the clock was designed by a company that was to arrogant or ignorant of the importance of listening. I recall teaching several case studies of Ford's turn around in the 1980's that used the success of the Taurus as the main example of the company's change in mindset. The technique...listening! They listened to the engineers, they listened to those who assembled it, and they listened to the prospective consumers who were given a chance to offer suggestions on how to make it more user friendly. The result, more than 2,000,000 sold from 1985 to 1991. Not bad!
Posted by Dave Wheeler at April 17, 2010 1:14 PM
Dave Wheeler...ah, that brings back memories. Always thought Don Peterson doesn't get the credit he deserves in automotive history. The Taurus design team really reflected his values..great CEO. I remember my CEO at the time, Roger Smith, called the Taurus an ugly jelly bean that would never sell. Oops.. :)
Posted by mike Neiss at April 17, 2010 6:42 PM
Mike...or "The Flying Potato" as I've also heard it referred to. I believe you are 1000% correct about Donald Peterson being a great CEO. The results speak for themselves.
Posted by Dave Wheeler at April 17, 2010 10:04 PM
"zorro - I suspect it wasn't designed not to be stolen. If that was the main concern, it would more likely have been built into the furniture or screwed down. It sounds far more like it was designed by someone who bought an off-the-shelf chip and simply would not pay a little bit of development money to get a friendly user interface and went with a quick, cheap quasi-technical one."
My experience is that all alarm clocks in Hotel/Motel chains suck. But, whoever is buying these clocks for the Motel Chains wants something cheap and something that isn't cool - if its cool, it will get stolen.
Posted by zorro at April 18, 2010 7:38 AM
Remember the old and reliable (still widely used here in India) Alarm Clock design.
one knob to set the time - moves two hands
One to set the Alarm - moves one hand small.
That is Excellence in design!!
No Snooze - no excuse to sleep some more!
No other design has bettered that.
Posted by Anurag at April 22, 2010 1:07 AM
I would say to Tom—bravo! Look how everybody was touched with this topic and how many ideas were brought in. Anyhow, excellence in design is a long way of balancing between simplicity and targeting another customer audience, reliability and new fancy features for super-satisfaction. Remember evolution of cell phones and Palms to Smart phones and Communicators? Personally, I loved two comments: Tom’s about 20 feet phone drop (Tom, just curious, did you do it to check?) and Anurag’s (no excuse to sleep some more). Recently, I bought (spent some time to find) such Alarm Clock to one of my subordinates (good guy)—he got the point.
Posted by Igor I.I. at April 24, 2010 6:07 AM
Yes.I fully agree.
Excellence in design is on the tip of many a tongue.
That's great, and a monumental change in a decade.
We've come a long way.
We ain't there yet.
So, what next are YOU going to write - to drive it home to these guys??
Some thing like..Talk excellence - Think Excellence - But DO IT BEFORE THAT!!
Posted by V.VIJAYAMOHAN at May 22, 2010 2:33 AM