In our daily lives we live surrounded by complex networks of organisations. What appears to be simple in how we book health appointments, show tickets, plane flights, dinners and so on is a complex arrangement of organisations, procedures and technologies to deliver what we ask for.
We can call these networks or systems. Their aim is to serve. Information systems and technologies help these systems provide value to their users, giving them something extra that users do not get in other ways. Nice and easy, these systems look good on paper, like this one:
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/EHSNet/images/Food_Service_as_a_System.jpg, accessed November 2010
So we access and are served by these systems. But what happens in the case that something goes wrong? For instance you got poisoned by the food produced by the above system, and /or you need to see a health specialist urgently, or you need to return or cancel your tickets?
This is where often a journey to fight these systems starts for the user...
Systems and networks have been designed to respond to certain events: purchases, requests, deliveries, events of people in life from the time we are born. Sophisticated communications arrange organisations and people within them so these events are managed. Some contingencies are factored in. If you decide to return a pair of jeans you bought off the internet you just pack it and post it at no cost. You should though use the postal address label they give you and report the 'event' (it was too small, or you did not like it after all). They can also refund money if you cancel your bookings in advance, provided you do it within a 'reasonable' amount of time (28 days) and that you have not 'used' what you bought.
That seems to be at the root of many problems in systems: Their notion of what is 'reasonable' , something which is not 'average', does not happen to you or either to them every day.
It is precisely life at its full which is not reasonable. We do not reason to get ill at a particular time and place. We do not also reason to have to change addresses in the databases of these systems to be delivered what we bought. We do not reason if payment has been taken wrongly (twice, or not take at all); we just get furious or silent. We somehow expect these systems to do the reasoning for us. That should be their problem.
But in many of these systems the expectation is that WE do the reasoning for them...because we are the users, and we are reasonable (or 'average' as I was explaining this to one of my students last week). Do not ask for silly things. Do not jump your place on the queue...remain calm and carry on. Thank you for your patience...we are sorry for the delay. Average responses by today's standards.
What do do if you, like me feel frustrated on the 'unreasonability' of any of these systems? From experience, I can suggest the following:
1. Get inside their network, by complaining, phoning, protesting, explaining that it is their problem, not yours. Many of these systems have become blind to the 'non-average' cases; their own cost reduction goals aim at transforming non-average cases into average ones. So they can send you to the call centers or the online portals. In a previous post I mentioned that this is the case for e-government systems. However, there are parts of the networks that these systems assemble where it is still possible to make your point. You may need to combine both your online and offline expertise to make your case stronger. In a way you are helping these systems to become less blind.
2. If you can afford it, pay to see those individuals who the network does not allow you to see. This is true for the case of health specialists. Sad but true. These and other networks protect their managers and those who can make decisions because their time is very precious and needs to be invested in either serving everyone else, or thinking about strategic issues. I wonder how non-important these 'non-average' cases have become so as not to be strategic.
3. Use your own networks of friends. I am not implying that you are doing this to jump the queue (although if this is a serious case you might think about it), but friends can help in sharing the pains involved, or give some extra knowledge and advice. Or if you fail in shaking up the system, at least they will buy you a drink and will tell you that there are more important things in life (if you or your loved ones are still alive).
4. Tell us of your ordeal via facebook, twitter or a blog.
5. Or do nothing, that is an average response...with average consequences. Life is a precious but serious matter.
We can call these networks or systems. Their aim is to serve. Information systems and technologies help these systems provide value to their users, giving them something extra that users do not get in other ways. Nice and easy, these systems look good on paper, like this one:
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/EHSNet/images/Food_Service_as_a_System.jpg, accessed November 2010
So we access and are served by these systems. But what happens in the case that something goes wrong? For instance you got poisoned by the food produced by the above system, and /or you need to see a health specialist urgently, or you need to return or cancel your tickets?
This is where often a journey to fight these systems starts for the user...
Systems and networks have been designed to respond to certain events: purchases, requests, deliveries, events of people in life from the time we are born. Sophisticated communications arrange organisations and people within them so these events are managed. Some contingencies are factored in. If you decide to return a pair of jeans you bought off the internet you just pack it and post it at no cost. You should though use the postal address label they give you and report the 'event' (it was too small, or you did not like it after all). They can also refund money if you cancel your bookings in advance, provided you do it within a 'reasonable' amount of time (28 days) and that you have not 'used' what you bought.
That seems to be at the root of many problems in systems: Their notion of what is 'reasonable' , something which is not 'average', does not happen to you or either to them every day.
It is precisely life at its full which is not reasonable. We do not reason to get ill at a particular time and place. We do not also reason to have to change addresses in the databases of these systems to be delivered what we bought. We do not reason if payment has been taken wrongly (twice, or not take at all); we just get furious or silent. We somehow expect these systems to do the reasoning for us. That should be their problem.
But in many of these systems the expectation is that WE do the reasoning for them...because we are the users, and we are reasonable (or 'average' as I was explaining this to one of my students last week). Do not ask for silly things. Do not jump your place on the queue...remain calm and carry on. Thank you for your patience...we are sorry for the delay. Average responses by today's standards.
What do do if you, like me feel frustrated on the 'unreasonability' of any of these systems? From experience, I can suggest the following:
1. Get inside their network, by complaining, phoning, protesting, explaining that it is their problem, not yours. Many of these systems have become blind to the 'non-average' cases; their own cost reduction goals aim at transforming non-average cases into average ones. So they can send you to the call centers or the online portals. In a previous post I mentioned that this is the case for e-government systems. However, there are parts of the networks that these systems assemble where it is still possible to make your point. You may need to combine both your online and offline expertise to make your case stronger. In a way you are helping these systems to become less blind.
2. If you can afford it, pay to see those individuals who the network does not allow you to see. This is true for the case of health specialists. Sad but true. These and other networks protect their managers and those who can make decisions because their time is very precious and needs to be invested in either serving everyone else, or thinking about strategic issues. I wonder how non-important these 'non-average' cases have become so as not to be strategic.
3. Use your own networks of friends. I am not implying that you are doing this to jump the queue (although if this is a serious case you might think about it), but friends can help in sharing the pains involved, or give some extra knowledge and advice. Or if you fail in shaking up the system, at least they will buy you a drink and will tell you that there are more important things in life (if you or your loved ones are still alive).
4. Tell us of your ordeal via facebook, twitter or a blog.
5. Or do nothing, that is an average response...with average consequences. Life is a precious but serious matter.
1 comment:
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