[Design] FYI: Complexity causes 50% of product returns:

[Pieter Hartsook]

I thought, hmm, probably applies to software too...
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Complexity causes 50% of product returns:

Mon Mar 6, 4:50 PM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Half of all malfunctioning products returned to
stores by consumers are in full working order, but customers can't
figure out how to operate the devices, a scientist said on Monday.
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Product complaints and returns are often caused by poor design, but
companies frequently dismiss them as "nuisance calls," Elke den Ouden
found in her thesis at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the
south of the Netherlands.

A wave of versatile electronics gadgets has flooded the market in
recent years, ranging from MP3 players and home cinema sets to media
centers and wireless audio systems, but consumers still find it hard
to install and use them, she found.

The average consumer in the United States will struggle for 20 minutes
to get a device working, before giving up, the study found.

Product developers, brought in to witness the struggles of average
consumers, were astounded by the havoc they created.

She also gave new products to a group of managers from consumer
electronics company Philips (PHG.AS), asking them to use them over the
weekend. The managers returned frustrated because they could not get
the devices to work properly.

Most of the flaws found their origin in the first phase of the design
process: product definition, Den Ouden found.

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Original story at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060306/tc_nm/productreturns_dc;_ylt=Am6DAFG4jMVT4xPJbONruokh2.cA;_ylu=X3oDMTA4ZnRnZjhkBHNlYwMxNjk1