#qwikster

In which I talk about Ray Bradbury and tattoos:

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury I would be hard pressed to tell you which of the three collections I’ll talk about this week is my favourite collection. But The Illustrated Man does sell itself hard. The premise for the story itself is fascinating to me. Several of the short stories in the collection appear in other collections as well. So when I read The Illustrated Man it felt odd to…

'Lilyhammer' Trailer

This is a phrase as old as time. It doesn't matter whether it involves reinventing the shape of a wheel, or it involves a multi-billion dollar tech company changing its' website, the old adage rings true, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

I couldn't help but think how much this advice could have helped good old Reed Hastings today as he announced (in his same "apologetic" tone that none of us take as very apologetic) that he has decided to reverse his decision that he made in futile only a month ago, bringing newly formed, Qwikster, back to Netflix. Although I agree that he has made the right choice on some level, I know at some point he is actually wishing that he had never messed with it in the first place. Netflix wasn't broke, it didn't need fixing, it was on the top of it's game until it got messed with. Now Netflix has been trying everything possible to recover from the downward spiral that they started when they decided to mess with a good thing.

Netflix isn't the only company lately that should have taken this age-old advice. Facebook has repeatedly made this mistake and a week ago they made their biggest mistake yet. A whole new interface, a whole new "way of thinking and exploring" as explained by Mark Zuckerburg, its CEO. Facebook gets changed as quickly as we adapt. It's one radical change after another, never slowing down. As soon as we start to get the hang of one layout we get another. After one bad idea (Facebook credits) starts to settle down into something we can tolerate, then we experience another horrible idea (Facebook places). 

While Netflix suffered because they decided to take a great company that had evolved very slowly and then flip it upside-down overnight, Facebook suffered because it ceased to accept the critiques that everyone was giving them and refused to listen to it's user that they like the old way. Their users like things, and Facebook insists on messing with it.

If it ain't broke, Don't fix it.

Google knows this well, and so does Apple. Look at Google's homepage at launch, and compare it to their homepage today. It is largely the same. Considering that Google now offers 100's of services compared to the 1 original service that they offered at launch, it is impressive that Google has managed to maintain things the way they were. Google knew something, they knew that people came to their website because it was simple. When people visit Google, they know what they want to do, and they have no problem finding it. 99% of their visitors come to Google to search, so that is what their homepage focuses on. I use Google for Docs, RSS Reader, mail, and more, but I can get to any of those services within 2 clicks. Google has specifically avoided change because they know that people don't want the change. People want what it is, they will continue to want what it is, and they don't want it to be anything else. It isn't broke, so Google won't fix it.

On October 30, 2009, Google removed the "I'm Feeling Lucky Button" (trademark from Google's launch days) from the homepage to test a simpler look. The comments were so overwhelming that Google replaced the buttons the following day in their original form. Even though less than 1% of Google users, use the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, people didn't like it missing. Google estimates that it costs them roughly $110,000,000 a year because 1% of all searches use this feature and thus bypass all advertising. Despite this tempting statistic, Google continues to leave the button intact for its users since they don't want it to change.

Apple understands these concepts well, and Apple is an incredible example that while following this slogan you can still initiate major evolution and progression while still appeasing customers. For example, Apple used the white plastic on nearly every device until it reached a point where it was cracking, fading, and discoloring to the point that it needed fixing. Apple addressed the issue and came out with Aluminum. This aluminum was met with great reactions among the tech community and they slowly brought all their products into this realm. The still brought innovation to the table by making the Aluminum bodies stronger, lighter, and more durable and even shocked people with the revolutionary unibody design. They innovated while still maintaining what people needed and wanted.

When a decision has been made to move forward, Apple makes the transition slow and seamless. Thing about the aqua interface, for so long this is what made an Apple, an Apple. With the release of Lion, Apple is beginning the transition away from this. Instead of changing it all at once, they tested the waters with Betas, and then slowly transitioned over. You will still see the aqua interface in many of Lion's windows, but you will also notice distinctions from this look as well. Take a look at the iOS-style scrollbars, and the more polished stoplight buttons on windows. These are the beginning of a change, that Apple knows will be better in the long run, but they give people time to get used to it.

Always remember, if something is working well, leave it alone. You can still follow the likes of Apple and Google and innovate while maintaining what makes you great.