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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: September 20, 2002 Common Sense and Usability -- "Using common sense is not only unwise but sometimes also dangerously misleading." (Comments: The article is kind of boring but the topic is fun. I once thought that common sense and intuition were words I could not use in the same sentence as usability. However, if someone is smart, has experience in usability, and training in usability, then relying on their gut feel for something isn't all that bad. In fact, I'd take that over some chump doing a mediocre job with a usabilty test any day of the week.)
Reader Comments...
That's my gripe with Steve Krug. His tagline is "advanced common sense." I took a black pen to the phrase on my copy of the book. In lending the book I have to explain Steve's got great ideas, just ignore the slogan.
The thing about common sense is that it's not all that common. :) Posted by: MadMan on September 20, 2002 10:18 AM
Whenever I hear the words "common sense", I anticipate that I'm going to get someone's half-baked opinion which they are unable to back up with proof or research of any kind. I could provide some examples, but I don't want to start any arguments, so let's just say - don't trust common sense! Posted by: Alan Fisher on September 20, 2002 10:21 AM
You people are all insane. I suppose next you'll start demanding data. Posted by: John S. Rhodes on September 20, 2002 10:26 AM
common sense experience intuition This reminds of the 'nature vs. nurture' debate. I think that common sense is a bit of a statistical thing, whereby if more people eat in McDonalds than Pizza Hut then it's 'common sense' that burgers are better than pizzas. However, 'gut feelings' are 'intuituion' are not the same as 'common sense'. When I feel something intuitively then I am usually taking advantage of a short-cut in my brain that's been built up through experience. When I do something 'intuitively' I can always dissect it afterwards and see exactly why it sprung to mind. I'm not explaining myself very well, but it's friday afternoon, I've just been out for a lunch-time drink and my brain hurts.
Yeah, right on Mac. I always think of intuition of being sort of like a Hebbian synapse, where the link between two neurons becomes stronger the more they fire together. Posted by: Ryan on September 20, 2002 11:03 AM
Yes I guess to some System Engineers its complete 'common sense' to design a product they *believe* is usable ... and on a recent project, with zero user input 2 weeks before launch ... scary! Posted by: daniel szuc on September 20, 2002 11:16 AM
Mac, thanks for pointing out the difference between common sense and "common knowledge." I do think common sense has a place in usability (ducking objects being thrown at me) because it is basically an intuitive practice. In usability testing, just because you test the reactions of others doesn't mean you have hard facts - what you have is (when all the techno-speak is stripped away) a feeling, albeit a really strong one. It's up to the tester and designer, then, to use that information to their advantage, thus, the application of common sense. If twenty people tell you they love the strobing logo but you know that it causes seizures in approximately one out of every 10 visitors to the site, common sense tells you that you will not use the strobing logo. Or, at least, you'll make it less seizure-inducing. Posted by: Lydia on September 20, 2002 12:15 PM
"In 1945, Russell could write, as an unexceptionable fact, that science dealt with the realm of the definite, philosophy with the unprovable. A half century later, no philosopher (including Russell) would have written that. Everyone accepts that science centers on the hypothetical and the conjectural, the imaginative leap and the subsequent search for a significant test, and the questions turn on just what tests, and just what guesses, count." -- David Edmonds and John Eidinow; Wittgenstein's Poker
Common sense is dangerous when you think only you have it and no one else does. Or you think you think that your common sense is indicative of everyone else’s.
Good point, JB, but I also worry about the converse situation of relying to much on empirical data because it seems more justified or official somehow. I follow the lessons I learned from Benny Hill at a young age: don't assume, or you make an ass out of u and me. That seems to be the best policy. Posted by: Lydia on September 20, 2002 06:55 PM
Remember, "empiricial" is NOT the same as "scientific". You can almost always devise a study to "prove" whatever you want. (If you're going "huh?" at that remark, pick up a copy of How to lie with statistics) Posted by: MadMan on September 21, 2002 01:18 AM
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