Inertia and Separation Anxiety Drive Design

By Jake • July 13th, 2009 • 27 Comments

We fear change.

We fear change.

This article about reluctance among users to give up Outlook as their mail client of choice underscores an issue that everyone in product design/development faces.

People hate change, especially at work.

When it comes to computers, most people have a very low tolerance threshold for failure, even if the service or web app is free. Remember the many Facebook revolts each time the UI changed or they opened up the community to new members?

People tend to freak out when apps change, even if it’s for the better.

This problem is worse when you talk about apps that they use for work.

During my time in consulting, every project I worked on built in time for user training, natch. That was always a fun time because it never went off without at least a few people voicing their understandable annoyance and frustration at having to learn how to do their jobs all over again on a new system.I worked on the technical side, customizing and extending EBS R11 apps.

My entire job revolved around accommodating these requests, i.e. making EBS work like the old apps did. In most cases, this meant replicating mainframe apps in the R11, client-server framework.

I spent lots of hours sitting with the people who actually did the work, listening to them vent about how the change would affect them. I did a lot of Forms and Reports work, moving fields around the canvas, changing the tab order, tweaking the default queries, all so they could replicate the keyboard entry they had used for years or the reports they were accustomed to using.

This is a serious concern when you factor in the loss of efficiency across an entire company. So, we did everything we could to make the transition smooth and easy.

Microsoft’s years of domination have deeply entrenched Windows, IE and Office as the de facto ways to get stuff done at work. So, it’s not surprising that user revolt frequently drives purchase decisions, even when change could benefit the bottom line of the organization as a whole.

It also puts a heavy load on the product team supporting the software, as can be seen from Microsoft’s experiences with Windows and IE. Thanks to Gary for sending along this fascinating look into the Windows development process that led into what became Vista.

These product teams struggled with the older, but still very popular, versions of their software, and because of the absolute necessity for backward compatibility, had to build in tolerances for software that was out-dated by modern standards and practices.

Have I mentioned lately that software is hard?

The article in PCWorld also has an interesting tie to our old friend email. I don’t know if there are any reliable usage stats on mail clients, but I think it’s safe to say that Outlook is the mostly used installed client, i.e. not a webmail client.

I have a personal distaste for Outlook dating back to the late 90s. I used our internal mail clients (Oracle Office and Oracle Interoffice) for several years, until we switched to IMAP, allowing me to move to Netscape Mail.

Then I left Oracle and was forced to use Outlook, which I immediately disliked, mainly because it was different. So, even for a very tolerant user, changing my primary work tool got me cranky. Plus, there’s the whole issue of an Outlook mailbox being proprietary, thereby making an export impossible and making recovery challenging.

That may have changed, but I swore to avoid it like the Plague if I could.

Luckily, I’ve been able to do that and happily use Thunderbird and OS X Mail (for reading, not portability) instead.

I guess it all comes down to getting stuff done, which is they pay us in the first place. Change makes that tougher, so naturally, people are resistant.

What do you think? Find the comments.


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  • http://oraclenerd.com/ chet

    I hate inertia.

    I spent my whole life adapting to change…it's the world we live in now. While I will usually accede to the demands, it won't be without some coaxing to try something different. But…I have not done it on your scale either. Makes sense (in that regard)…I think.

    One story I like to tell are about my cousins who all live in Indiana…they all expect(ed) to go to work for Delco (a GM parts supplier) to make ridiculous sums of money for hardly any work (unions, but that's another rant). Seriously, they would, out of high school, make $30 an hour. WTF? I've busted my ass trying to keep up with the latest and greatest (and complicated) technology and I've only just reached that point.

    You should expect change. Chaos is your friend. Change is the new…what's a good word?…not change? nah. You know what I mean.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Sure. I'm with you re. change generally.

    I tend to err on the user's side when it comes to work, as long as I can get a real use case, e.g. I won't put chat into every web app I build, but I'll consider bacn emails, assuming time/resource constraints allow.

    Change a big problem for innovative stuff though b/c people want work to go smoothly. After all, doing the job outranks how to do it. It's a major balancing act.

  • http://oraclenerd.com/ chet

    That's why you are where you are. You've learned to cave…I mean balance. :)

    I get it though. Curious as to how you balance the innovative (Google Wave?) with traditional? That's a sea-change from what I can tell. I guess that's not going on people's desktops (yet)…i.e. they're not forced to use it.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Wave seems to be accommodating to the old ways, via robots. Tough to tell for sure.

    I should have mentioned this in the post. Edge-in apps (social stuff, e.g.) helps b/c people recognize what you're trying to do and feel more at home with it, but even so, they want training, etc.

    It's not easy by any means.

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    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://twitter.com/kottarainen Joonas Linkola

    Then again, there are large corporations (do I need to name names?) that will make policy / technology decisions and just force them through. People are expected to adapt to changes in the workplace, technical or otherwise. The temporary loss in efficiency while people pick up the new ways is just a drop in the ocean in many cases, especially if the change can otherwise streamline processes or workflows. (Your mileage may vary.)

    But I hear what you mean. While I was working in internal I.T. and we were doing the rollout of Office 2003 (from Office 2k), I couldn't wait to get it over and done with as O2k3 was such a better product from I.T.'s point of view. Still, most of the support cases from users were asking to configure things “back to the way they were”.

  • http://twitter.com/kottarainen Joonas Linkola

    Then again, there are large corporations (do I need to name names?) that will make policy / technology decisions and just force them through. People are expected to adapt to changes in the workplace, technical or otherwise. The temporary loss in efficiency while people pick up the new ways is just a drop in the ocean in many cases, especially if the change can otherwise streamline processes or workflows. (Your mileage may vary.)

    But I hear what you mean. While I was working in internal I.T. and we were doing the rollout of Office 2003 (from Office 2k), I couldn’t wait to get it over and done with as O2k3 was such a better product from I.T.’s point of view. Still, most of the support cases from users were asking to configure things “back to the way they were”.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Sure, top-down IT is pretty standard, and it generally makes sense. The problem is with user unrest, which contributes to “workarounds” and unnecessary customizations.

    It's just disappointing that IT's point of view and the user's point of view don't seem to overlap in enough cases.

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Sure, top-down IT is pretty standard, and it generally makes sense. The problem is with user unrest, which contributes to “workarounds” and unnecessary customizations.

    It’s just disappointing that IT’s point of view and the user’s point of view don’t seem to overlap in enough cases.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • megbear

    I have to agree — software is hard.

    -Meg

  • megbear

    I have to agree — software is hard.

    -Meg

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://empoprise-bi.blogspot.com/ John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)

    I know of a company which, as of April 2009, still mandated that IE6 was the only officially approved browser on the company’s computers. (I have no knowledge of any changes to this policy that may have occurred after April 2009.)

    From what I know of this company, the new Digg policy won’t have a big impact. However, the company does have its own YouTube channel, so any policy changes at YouTube regarding IE6 could be very interesting indeed.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    I know, right? I think people would be surprised at how much really goes into even the simplest of software.

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    I know, right? I think people would be surprised at how much really goes into even the simplest of software.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Wish I were surprised. It’s a shame really, and I think there’s a general view that MSFT is to blame. Aside from the fact that they built IE6 and were slow to update it (3+ years between IE6 and IE7), I’ll bet internally they wish it could be decommissioned once and for all. I’m sure there are great stories waiting to be told about the internal struggles.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://empoprise-bi.blogspot.com/ John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)

    I just ran across an interesting exchange in a Department of State town hall meeting on July 10, in which Secretary Clinton was asked about…Firefox. No one states which version of IE is mandated, but it’s an interesting exchange nonetheless.

    MS. GREENBERG: Okay. Our next question comes from Jim Finkle:

    Can you please let the staff use an alternative web browser called Firefox? I just – (applause) – I just moved to the State Department from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and was surprised that State doesn’t use this browser. It was approved for the entire intelligence community, so I don’t understand why State can’t use it. It’s a much safer program. Thank you. (Applause.)

    SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, apparently, there’s a lot of support for this suggestion. (Laughter.) I don’t know the answer. Pat, do you know the answer? (Laughter.)

    UNDER SECRETARY KENNEDY: The answer is at the moment, it’s an expense question. We can –

    QUESTION: It’s free. (Laughter.)

    UNDER SECRETARY KENNEDY: Nothing is free. (Laughter.) It’s a question of the resources to manage multiple systems. It is something we’re looking at. And thanks to the Secretary, there is a significant increase in the 2010 budget request that’s pending for what is called the Capital Investment Fund, by which we fund our information technology operations. With the Secretary’s continuing pushing, we’re hoping to get that increase in the Capital Investment Fund. And with those additional resources, we will be able to add multiple programs to it.

    Yes, you’re correct; it’s free, but it has to be administered, the patches have to be loaded. It may seem small, but when you’re running a worldwide operation and trying to push, as the Secretary rightly said, out FOBs and other devices, you’re caught in the terrible bind of triage of trying to get the most out that you can, but knowing you can’t do everything at once.

    If you think about it, government agencies are possibly more hidebound than Fortune 500 companies. While government agencies don’t have to necessarily submit to profit and loss analysis, they have to guard against charges of frivolous spending, and they also have to be sensitive to a protest from the esteemed Representative from the State of Washington, should the Department of State choose a browser that is not provided by one of his/her constituents.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    I read a summary of this last week. I think we can agree the costs of rolling out s/w are high, but in this particular case, you’re talking about a browser. It functions very similarly, using the same paradigms as the known entity, IE.

    Investigation seems pretty futile in this case. I’ll bet most of the support issues would overlap browsers.

    Re. your constituent point, IE comes bundled with Win and usage doesn’t monetarily benefit anyone. And what about the CA constituents who run Mozilla

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • joel garry

    I know of a company who is forcing usage of flash for their support site, starting in less than 2 weeks. Then they recommend some camstudio thing that conflicts with X-Windows. I guess. Since no one seems to be able to support it, I don’t really know. All I know is it lost my work. I’d like to tell them what to do with their product and the source it rode in on.

    At least I’m off IE6.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Are you talking about MetaLink? I think they plan to keep the old school HTML version for non-Flash types.

    Flash is another post. Running the Chromium/Chrome Dev builds makes it more obvious how many places it is now. Bit of a bummer.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • joel garry

    Yeah, I don’t know where that end-of-July rumor came from. From the faq “The upgrade to My Oracle Support and retirement of Classic MetaLink and the On Demand Customer Portal are targeted to occur in the second half of calendar year 2009. The exact timeline will be provided to Classic MetaLink / My Oracle Support / Oracle On Demand users approximately three weeks prior to the go live date. ” dated 22-July.

    Some small number of people are complaining on OTN and oracle-l and asking to keep the old metalink, that would be interesting if that actually happened. Grand total of 4 comments on the oracle support blog.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Hmm, no insight into why it’s retiring permanently. I guess you’ll have to find a way to run Flash I would have expected a larger group rising up against a site that requires Flash.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://twitter.com/kottarainen Joonas Linkola

    Don’t know if this is yesterday’s news, but: http://hey-it.com/

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Yeah, I saw that on TC. Doubt IT departments will listen though. IE6 will slowly bleed out of organizations; check back in 2011 when it turns 10 to see

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://panic2cure.wordpress.com/ Dorethea Rando

    Hi, thank you very much for the post. You’ve helped me a lot.