Change is hard.

It’s human nature to ask if there’s a better way. So why do so many software decisions settle for what’s known or what’s easy?

People will almost never complain about things they’ve been doing for months or years, because that’s Just How It Is. Sending mail used to involve a physical process which would take several days in most cases. Sure, sure, minor complaints would pop up when a piece of mail was lost, but that process was seen as an unshakable, solid way of communicating. Then, email took over and won. But in the quest for something better still, instant messaging, text messaging, Twitter, and Facebook all stepped up.

Unfortunately, it’s also human nature to resist change. If there’s a workflow that users have come to rely on, it may be important to design software around that workflow. But we should strive to do more than just copying the workflow. We must fully understand and analyze the workflow, determine where it can be improved, and make it sing. It’s what users really want - even though they aren’t saying it.