inputs/outputs

Last night, I went to see a free a cappella show at the college that I graduated from. Afterwards, a few of us, in order to get to the parking garage, needed to pass through what was known as The Tavern, a communal space with couches, a chic fil a, and a greasy grill area called American Pi. I hate American Pi. It’s the type of place where they take your order, but don’t communicate it to the cooks. At dinnertime, the wait can be nearly 30 minutes, and you have to claim your food. There’s no real way to prove that the cheeseburger you ordered was truly your cheeseburger. No one checked your receipt. They just took your word for it. People took advantage of that system constantly. If I wanted to, I could walk up to the end of the tavern line and claim a cheeseburger without paying for it.

We walked into what seemed to be a second system - blue lights were now tacked up against the previously lifeless walls, the black trash cans had been replaced with open top silver bins, and there was a row of computers surrounding the perimeter. The place looked beautiful. There was less clutter, and more tables, and the tables were warm and inviting.

The problem is that it wasn’t a second system at all. It was a new user interface that didn’t do anything to solve the problems from the previous set-up. There may be more space, but after the novelty wears off, the line at the tavern will still be as long, and it will still be run just as poorly. If a system is broken to begin with, sprucing up the UI is only going to be a temporary delight. Spend money on coming up with a new process first, and then change the UI accordingly.

The Second System Effect is a theory from Frederick Brooks’ book The Mythical Man Month, a collection of essays about software design. He basically explains that a first system will inevitably fail, and that designers must keep that in mind. It almost seems pointless, then, to even build a first system. The catch is that you can’t have a second without a first.

The Regal Center, a shopping center in my hometown, has grown slowly over the past few years, with gigantic parking lot and a few auxilary stores next to the theater, so that people could grab a bite before a movie. Over the next few years, the center installed a Potbelly, and that restaurant soon became more than the pre-show bite. Pretty soon, it was a high school hangout, a concert venue, and a place to grab a really nifty/innovative sandwich. Other shops opened nearby, like Ben & Jerry’s, another store which is more than your run-of-the-mill ice cream vendor.

The parking lot overflowed, and all of the other parking lots nearby were off-limits for whatever reason. They installed a booth and a $1 fee to park, but the lot was still constantly full during peak hours. The booth was also awkwardly placed, and the cars have to snake around it, dodging the make-shift lane they had created with orange cones. It was pretty clear that adding anymore stores to this area would cause major problems with the traffic, especially since there’s a major route adjacent to the center.

Recently, a new center has opened directly behind the Regal center, and it is beautiful. Instead of one sidewalk, they’ve created a pavilion. There are multiple parking garages, and there are lights over every space that change color to indicate if the spot is occupied or not. The parking is free. There are restaurants that are a tad bit expensive. Well they’re more expensive than Potbelly, anyway.

There may not be a movie theater in this lot, or a nifty shop like Potbelly, but the user interface is a lot more elegant than the one of the center directly in front of it. That’s enough for me to ditch the Regal Center on a Friday night, even if I do love Potbelly’s award winning sandwich, “The Wreck.” A good user interface is enough, a lot of the time, to make consumers feel comfortable with paying a premium. It’s why we pay more for iPods/iPhones, Tablet PCs, etc.

Imagine the potential of a bunch of second systems that haven’t been invented yet: highways, tollbooths, plumbing, vending machines, medicine…