A Never Stop Learning! Article
“Our lives are frittered away by details; simplify, simplify.”
- Henry David Thoreau
What’s in This Article for You?
- A sad story
- An annoying GPS
- The dreaded “if”
- The horror of “or”
- Solutions!
Name two words that strike fear and terror into the hearts of prospects watching a software demonstration: Two words that lengthen demos and turn short, crisp pathways into journeys worthy of Norse sagas. These are, of course:
“If” and “Or”
A Sad Story
I was watching a demo of a tool that was organized like a wizard, stepping the user through the various workflow steps. It was a rather wonderful wizard. Rich with features. Ripe with options. The depth and breadth of the capabilities it offered were legion!
How do I know this?
The rep delivering the demo introduced his plan, noting that he would execute one specific task. He then began clicking and talking, clicking and talking, finally finishing the process fifty-five minutes later. Truly breathtaking, but not in a positive way!
I said, “Could you please start again and run your software the way that someone would use it to complete that same task on a day-to-day basis?”
He said, “Sure” and launched into the process a second time. How long do you think it took for this run? Three and a half minutes.
Wait, what?
That’s right: Using the tool to complete this same task as it would be done by a real user took only 3.5 minutes vs the 55 minutes consumed in his demo. What was the difference?
You can find the balance of this article here – enjoy!
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