Mark's Notebook


	If you believe everything you read, better not read. - Japanese Proverb

Complexity causes 50% of product returns

Washington Post

Tuesday 7 March 2006, 12:52 pm
Keywords: Computer Topics , News Articles

Reuters

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Half of all malfunctioning products returned to stores by consumers are in full working order, but customers can't figure out how to operate the devices, a scientist said on Monday.

Product complaints and returns are often caused by poor design, but companies frequently dismiss them as "nuisance calls."

Consumers find it hard to install and use the wave of versatile electronics gadgets has flooded the market in recent years.

The average consumer in the United States will struggle for 20 minutes to get a device working, before giving up, the study found.

Product developers, brought in to witness the struggles of average consumers, were astounded by the havoc they created.

She also gave new products to a group of managers from consumer electronics company Philips, asking them to use them over the weekend. The managers returned frustrated because they could not get the devices to work properly.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/06/AR2006030600525.
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Mark says: The essence of engineering is being able to look ahead and predict problems that will occur with the design, development, and deployment of a product. These problems shows that consumer devices suffer from a lack of proper engineering and usability analysis. These problems should have been known before the products were sold.