We've got a boiling water unit in the tea room that I pass by every day, that is over-engineered. I feel a short rant coming on...
This boiling water unit's primary function is to deliver boiling water, so people can make their instant coffee or tea. It does this well - there's a big black button that, when pushed, runs boiling water from a nozzle directly underneath the button. So far, so good.
If the boiling water unit was limited to this functionality, it could be regarded as a success. However, it also has:
- an screen with the time and day of the week
- four nameless touch-sensitive buttons (which are very cool - all you have to do is hover your finger near them and they flash red...but what do they do?)
- a red "lock" LED
- a switch that has a label "Lock", that is miles away from the LED
Why this over-engineering is a problem is that because no-one needs the time or day of week, no-one has set it. So now it's wrong. Further, there's no clear way to set it (unless you can find the manual). Why have the touch-sensitive buttons if they don't do anything? And why not have the "lock" switch in a visible location, and ditch the LED altogether?
Whoever made the boiling water unit could simplify it by removing the cruft, and so actually improve it. End rant :-)
Tags: design, water, engineer
posted @ Wednesday, April 23, 2008 11:12 PM