What do post office doors that won't open and door handles that scrape your knuckles have to do with product strategy?

Something, it turns out.

We start with Corissa's baffling post office experience (like in any good panto, the button is behind you!) and we tumble into the world of Norman Doors, affordances, and why bad design persists even when everyone knows it's bad.

We turn the lens on our own home, where knuckle-scraping door handles have been annoying us (and our guests) for 3 years. Why haven't we fixed them? And what does that tell us about organisational decision-making?

This one's about the hidden complexity in "obvious" problems, the seesaw between pain and cost, and why sometimes the best solution is the one you didn't consider at first.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why adding more signs doesn't fix bad design
• The economic systems that create Norman Doors in the first place
• How we got trapped thinking we had only two solutions (spoiler: there were more)
• The seesaw principle: pain of current situation vs. cost of the fix
• Why visitors (to your home or product) spike your awareness of problems you've learned to ignore
• Manufacturing constraints vs. relaxing stories to see more options
• The "replace just the worst handles" strategy and why mismatched might actually work
• When to burn the boats (or remove all the door handles) to force a resolution

All in all, a v v Crown & Reach conversation about design, constraints, and decision-making. Recorded while walking, naturally.

References:

• Norman Doors (Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things)
• Affordances and signifiers in design
• Chesterton's Fence principle
• Platform Incentive Gravity – episode 122 https://shows.acast.com/tentacles/episodes/68bc47099a81ed86f1aeafa1

Tell us about your knuckle scraping doors and bodged remote controls - [email protected]

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