Did I miss the point?

A few posts ago I wrote about wanting software that was as nice to use as a great steak knife. But last night I was out with a friend, and after talking it over with him, I think I may have missed the point, or what really happened.

Donald Norman talked about three ways we experience products: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. Visceral: being your initial feelings about the object, behavioral: using the object, and reflective: your memory about the object.

Well looking back at the steak knife, I believe I assumed that it was the steak knife that I was impressed with. But I paid no attention to its build, its weight, hold, material or anything that would fall under the visceral. When I started the use, it was just another knife. But in its use, the experience it allowed, transformed the knife into something great.

Objects rarely have value attached to them without some sort of physical interaction. Diamonds, rubies,  and other precious materials’ value is solely in the visceral, but almost everything else gains value on contact. Bang and Olufsen have been know to add weight to their products because the weight adds perceived value. Car doors are design to sound good when closed because it has typically been an area where we assume quality.

I believe that Donald would consider these examples to be part of the behavioral, but I disagree. I think that using a car door, and making assumptions based on the sound, or lifting a remote and assuming value based on weight are part of the visceral. It’s really their ability to do their job well that is the behavioral? Maybe not… let me rethink that.

Yes, it was the knifes ability to do its job so well that made me love it. But as I stated above. It was actually the experience that it afforded that transformed the knife from “just a knife” to “Wow! that’s a nice knife”. So maybe the sound of the door and the weight of the remote are just some of the first experiences you have while using the product. It’s all about the experience. And this isnt something software lacks, is it?

Granted you cant add weight to software to change its perceived value, and the sound really wont attest to its value or build quality. So how do we add value to software? The same way we do with physical products… Experience.

I have had great experiences with software before. So why don’t I feel connected to it in the same way I do the knife?

Just something to think about: Can you look at or use a piece of software and  assume an accurate cost? What is it about software that makes you feel its value or cost? Complexity, functions, look and feel?

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