Instructions included

I was working on doing some new instructions for rentoid.com – It’s in an area on the website where things a slightly confusing. Then I thought. Why am I doing this? Wouldn’t it be better to re-design the system so it just doesn’t need instructions at all. Like a chair. It doesn’t need instructions. We just know how to sit on it by looking at it. Next time you start investing time in defining how to do something for our audience think about this:

“If we need steps to explain how things work, the system is broken.”

By definition it’s overly complex because it requires instructions. Especially if our business is web based. It’s a more valuable investment in time to fix the system, thing or service, not educate people how to use it.