How The “User Experience” Became A Thing & How To Change Someone’s Mind

SYSK - “Don’t spoil the ending!” It seems no one wants to know how a story or movie ends until they see it end in real time. But maybe knowing the ending first could make the experience better. Is that possible? Listen and find out. alerts.  

Remember when computers and other electronic devices came with huge instruction manuals? Not anymore. Today we expect things to be user-friendly, so we don’t need instructions. The whole concept of the “user-friendly” and the demand for a good “user experience” actually traces back to a point in time not so long ago. Cliff Kuang is a user experience designer and author of the book User Friendly: How the hidden rules of design are changing the way we live, work, and play. Listen as he discusses the evolution that has gone from teaching people how to use complicated machines to making complicated machines easy for people to use.

Trying to change someone’s mind is often a waste of time. Clearly, arguing doesn’t work nor does rational explanation. Perhaps there is a better way. Or maybe it just isn’t worth the effort. Maybe people should believe whatever they wish. Eleanor Gordon Smith has researched this and written a book about it called Stop Being Reasonable: How We Really Change Our Minds. She joins me explain her fascinating research on why changing someone’s mind is amazingly difficult.

In almost every workplace people complain that it is either too hot or too cold. So how do you make sure you are comfortable no matter where the thermostat says? Listen for a quick and simple secret to feeling just right no matter what the temperature is.