Tag Archives: design

Human Proof Design

Posted on October 6, 2015 by John Hunter

Human proof design is design that prevents people from successful using the item. It is similar to mistake proofing except instead of prevent mistakes it prevents people from using it. When you see human proof design you will often see signs to tell people how to use the device that has been human proofed. Common instances of this are hotels that have shower designs so opaque they need instructions on how to use a device most people have no problem … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus | Tagged , , , , , ,

Visual Management and Mistake-Proofing for Prescription Pills

Posted on May 5, 2015 by John Hunter

Good ideas often just require some sensible thought to think of an improved approach. Management concepts can help guide such thinking, such as mistake-proofing and visual management. To apply visual management requires giving a bit of thought to how to make visually obvious what is important for people to know. Mistake proofing is often really mistake-making-more-difficult (for some reason this term of mine hasn’t caught on). I believe mistake-proofing should put barriers in the process that make a mistake hard. … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

No Customer Focus

Posted on November 3, 2006 by John Hunter

John Battelle writes the excellent searchblog. A recent post, Rant: The Comcast HD DVR Is Simply, Terribly Awful, provides another example of a company lacking customer focus. See the comments for even more confirmation of the lack of customer focus. The interface is simply abominable. Unintuitive and careless, it copies the major features of Tivo’s approach but fails at every single detail – and in UI design, everything is in the details. No surprisingly, it utterly misses the core purpose … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Fun, IT, Management | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Management Consulting – Web Site Evidence

Posted on October 18, 2006 by John Hunter

In, How Wipro Adapted the Toyota Production System to IT Work [the broken link was removed], Jon Miller highlights several keys to adopting lean thinking: involve everyone, learn and then do, and learn together. In Wipro’s case they should also take advantage of what is available on lean IT thinking such as: Lean Software Development. As I have mentioned before a look at Wipro’s web site does not provide me much confidence in their commitment. Read their overview of IT … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles | Tagged , , ,

Designing In Errors

Posted on October 12, 2006 by John Hunter

TiVo’s “self-destruct button” destructs [the broken link was removed] In so doing, they’ve created a bunch of potential failures in which the user is locked out of her own equipment. It’s like those movies where an accident or a bad guy triggers the “self-destruct button” on a spaceship. Often the self-destruct button is locked away behind plexiglas and padlocks for safety, but wouldn’t it be safer not to include a single command that blows up the whole space-ship? You know … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Quality tools | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Complicating Simplicity

Posted on August 31, 2006 by John Hunter

Complicating simplicity: Gah! Trying to read about the “Simplicity: The Art of Complexity” (er, what?) conference. But the description at the conference site is the exact opposite of simple, clear writing: An investigation of the essence of simplicity must necessarily get involved with the psychology of human-machine interaction. Why do we display such a strong proclivity to regarding technology as an externally imposed authority, to condemning or venerating it?…If we merely equate simplicity with simplification and reduction, simply let the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, quote, Software Development | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Health Care Pictographs

Posted on August 2, 2006 by John Hunter

New pharmaceutical pictograms The Risk/Benefit Assessment of Drugs-Analysis and Response (RAD-AR [the broken link was removed]) Council of Japan has released a new batch of pictograms for use on pharmaceutical packaging. No more deciphering complicated dosage directions and warnings — a glance is all it takes now. See all the pictographs [the broken link was removed] I don’t understand all the pictographs. If these are helpful in Japan, (assuming others in the USA see it the way I do) it … Continue reading →

Posted in Health care | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Great Charts

Posted on January 22, 2006 by John Hunter

Karl Hartig displays some excellent charts that he created (for the Wall Street Journal) on his web site. The charts seem very similar to what would result from applying Edward Tufte’s ideas. Rarely do I see charts that do such a good job of visually displaying data. The lack of such effective visual display of information is another example of how much improvement could be made just by applying ideas that are already published. The Energy production consumption chart is … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management | Tagged , , | 5 Comments