Comment by dmos62
7 years ago
I see this discussion about the conflict between user needs and developer needs coming up time and time again. I think this disconnect between user and developer is an interesting phenomenon in itself. What's more, often this disconnect seems to be defended as a natural feature of the service sector: it's an exchange of money for service, so the service provider's experience doesn't matter, as long as he's willing to work for that much. Reducing the relationship to money is often how these discussions go, in my experience, and I think that it's something that can look much better on paper (unintentional pun) than in practice.
Here's an example from my experience with ordering food or drinks. I'm floating the idea that it generalises to other areas as well, but that's up for debate. If I don't know the restaurant or bar well and I have a chance to ask the kitchen staff or bartender (in case of a drink) for suggestions, I'll do it. I'll ask what they like to make. I'll always ask indirectly, because it's a personal question. I'll engage them in a short dialogue in which I get a feel for _what would feel good for them to make_, _how_, etc., and then I'll ask them to do it for me. It's often something that involves a bit more skill or know-how or is stimulating to do in some other way. Sometimes it's something gourmand that they're proud to be able offer, and they're thrilled that someone's willing to walk off the beaten path and that they can accomodate that.
That's the geometric opposite of looking at the menu and picking what you fancy the most. In a way it's about not taking your likes and dislikes seriously, so as to stay open, because, this is a place you don't know, while, this person you're talking to, he essentialy is the place.
So why do I prioritize the experience of the service provider over mine? I don't. I recognize that my experience is very closely tied to that of the cook or the bartender, and if she's happy, all other things being equal, my chances to be satisfied are the highest. A happy cook makes better food, a happy bartender makes a better drink, and the experience of us aligning our needs leaves us both feeling uplifted, because this wasn't just another impersonal money-for-goods transaction.
Would you extend your experience with the food sector to your car? Say you bought a car that was made by people who loved working with it. The mechanics even love to repair it.
But now, 1 year passes and you go for a regular check-up to your mechanic and they start visibly sighing when you enter. They now hate repairing this ancient piece of tech, it barely matches any of their tools, and they caution you that the tool manufacturers are actually moving to a six-month schedule for new car repair tools getting released, and half the tools they use for your car are already deprecated and likely to be discontinued next release.
Would you be happy to just buy a new car, to prioritize the service provider's experience? Or would you seek a different service provider/car brand, that doesn't do this?
That's a thought evoking question. I don't own a car, so this is hypothetical. Use a car that your mechanic does like to work on (doesn't start to dislike it after 1 year). In your scenario the tooling sounds like a significant investment, so the mechanic probably also "sighs" that he has to get new tools often, and that he can't service older models. Is there a repair-friendly car on the market that's also good enough in other respects? From what I hear people take note of repairability when choosing a car (I do it when choosing a laptop). If the mechanic liked the "1-year car" initially, he misjudged it.
I guess what I'm talking about is looking for win-win situations. I get the feeling that when it seems like you can't get there, a more fundamental problem has been introduced earlier in the process. Your example looks a bit complicated, because it's more obvious that the relationship is actually made up of more than 2 parties. Those explicit in your example: manufacturer, mechanic, driver. You could keep adding parties: regulator, importer, suppliers to factory, trade unions, etc.
That is not what it looks like at regular car repair shops.