Perceptions v. Objective Reality
Posted on December 15, 2008 Comments (0)
User Interface Matters by Colleen Dick:
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HP engineers discovered that if they completely decoupled the display while serious crunching was going on, they could make the computations run 30-40% faster. Naturally they assumed the users would appreciate such a significant speed increase, so on their next revision, they just shut the screen down on lengthy computations.
Users complained about the slowdown! These are HP early adopters, mind you, mostly “rational” scientists and engineers. Remember, when objectively measured, the computations were measurably and significantly faster when the screen was decoupled!
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In subjective time, the computations seemed slower without the feedback, even though in objective time we know they were faster.
There are times when objective improvement is most important, but there are also plenty of times when subjective improvement is more important. Often this difference is ignored.
Related: Packaging Improves Foot “Taste” – The Psychology of Too Much Choice
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