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contradictions. If you think of
the product as a service, then
the separate parts make no
sense—the point of a product
is to offer great experiences to
its owner, which means that it
offers a service. And that expe-
rience, that service, is the result
of the coherence of the parts.
The real value of a product con-
sists of far more than the prod-
uct’s components.
A successful product or ser-
vice has to navigate a complex
terrain of hurdles, constraints,
technologies, and opportunities.
There are myriad market forces,
fundamental needs, competitive
strategies, core competencies,
and market adoption forces.
And the product must deliver
its promises, not only function-
ing well, but also providing
pleasure in the interaction. This
list only scratches the surface.
I have deliberately left out
numerous critical issues that
determine a product’s viability
and I am certain to have unwit-
tingly left out even more.
How to negotiate this thicket
of issues is the subject of many
books and specialized semi-
nars. Not all companies man-
age, and even those that do
face occasional failures. To me,
however, the most important
aspect for the delivery of a
cohesive experience is systems
thinking. It is amazing how
few companies understand and
A product is actually a service.
Although the designer, manu-
facturer, distributer, and seller
may think it is a product, to the
buyer, it offers a valuable ser-
vice. The easiest example is the
ATM, or as many people think
of it, a cash dispenser. To the
company that manufactures it
as well as to the bank that pur-
chases it, the ATM is a product.
But to the customer, the ATM
provides a service. In similar
fashion, although a camera is
thought of as a product, its real
value is the service it offers
to its owner: Cameras provide
memories. Similarly, music
players provide a service: the
enjoyment of listening; whereas
cell phones offer communica-
tion, interaction, and other
pleasures.
In reality a product is all
about the experience. It is about
discovery, purchase, anticipa-
tion, opening the package, the
very first usage. It is also about
continued usage, learning, the
need for assistance, updating,
maintenance, supplies, and
eventual renewal in the form
of disposal or exchange. Most
companies treat every stage as
a different process, done by a
different division of the com-
pany: R&D, manufacturing,
packaging, sales, and then as a
necessary afterthought, service.
As a result there is seldom any
coherence. Instead, there are
practice this. Let me give some
examples.
There are many great digi-
tal cameras available today.
Most are attractive and take
good pictures; some are even
relatively easy to use. But many
camera companies wrongly
believe that the product is
all there is to the camera.
The product is more than the
product. I have seen the ini-
tial enthusiasm for wonderful
cameras destroyed because of
the many hurdles to first use.
Beautiful cameras are packaged
in nondescript, hermetically
sealed boxes. Opening the box
for the first time is an opera-
tion fit for a hammer and saw
(sometimes literally), with
occasional damage to one’s
body or the product in the pro-
cess. The manual for one of my
digital appliances still bears
bloodstains. And even when
the product is finally extracted
from the box—with its intimi-
dating installation discs, legal
warnings, and manuals—it
cannot be used until a lengthy
battery-charging procedure is
complete. The initial excitement
falls prey to lengthy, complex
manuals in umpteen languages,
which start not with a joyful
opening statement, but with
lengthy legal warnings about
dangers and misuse. Amazing
negligence lurks in the hearts of
companies.
interactions September + October 2009
52
Breaking Traditional Boundaries of Interaction
Systems Thinking: A Product
Is More Than the Product
Donald A. Norman
Nielsen Norman Group and Northwestern University | norman@nngroup.com
Not all companies are so
clueless. There are numerous
success stories. For products we
have the BMW Mini Cooper, the
ubiquitous iPod, and Amazon’s
Kindle. For websites there is a
long list of excellent services
coupled with great experience
and underlying smooth, effi-
cient operations that instantly
deliver upon their promises:
Amazon, eBay, FedEx, Kayak,
UPS, and Netflix. For pure ser-
vices we have luxur y hotels
and low-cost business hotels
as well as stores such as IKEA.
Even Domino’s Pizza joins the
list: Order a pizza by telephone
and then you can follow its
progress on the website. You’ll
get not only an estimated wait
time, but also the name of the
pizza maker and then the name
of the delivery person. “I think
I get more enjoyment out of
watching pizza tracker than
eating the pizza,” said one blog-
ger. Systems thinking trans-
forms the antagonizing wait
for delivery of the food into an
enjoyable, personalized experi-
ence. In all of these instances,
the company has thought
through the entire experience,
ensuring that all the parts are
coherent, consistent, and plea-
surable.
The iPod story has been told
many times, but most of the
storytellers miss the point.
The iPod is a story of systems
thinking, so let me repeat the
essence for emphasis. It is not
about the iPod; it is about the
system. Apple was the first
company to license music for
downloading. It provides a
simple, easy to understand pric-
ing scheme. It has a first-class
website that is not only easy to
use but fun as well. The pur-
chase, downloading the song to
the computer and thence to the
iPod, is handled well and effort-
lessly. And the iPod is indeed
well designed, well thought
out, a pleasure to look at, to
touch and hold, and to use.
Then there is the Digital Rights
Management system, invisible
to the user, but that both satis-
fies legal issues and locks the
customer into lifelong ser vitude
to Apple (this part of the sys-
tem is undergoing debate and
change). There is also the huge
number of third-party add-ons
that help increase the power
and pleasure of the unit while
bringing a very large, high-mar-
gin income to Apple for licens-
ing and royalties. Finally, the
“Genius Bar” of experts offering
service advice freely to Apple
customers who visit the Apple
stores transforms the usual
unpleasant service experience
into a pleasant exploration and
learning experience. There are
other excellent music players.
No one seems to understand
the systems thinking that has
made Apple so successful.
Amazon’s Kindle is my lat-
est example of superb systems
thinking. This is Amazon.com’s
ePaper-based book reader. Now,
there are competing products
on the market which offer
superior features. Amazon
wins, however, because of its
systems thinking. No computer
is necessary for most transac-
tions. When the Kindle arrives,
it is preloaded with the books
•
Syste ms thinking is apparent from the iPod’s cle an, si mple p ackag ing to Apple’s overall
strategy for mar keting their products and servi ces.
Photograp h by Mathew Wilson
interactions September + October 2009
53
OPINION THe WaY I See IT
that were ordered. Moreover, it
can work instantly. Even more
important, Amazon thought
through the entire system, from
discovering a book to loading it
onto the Kindle. Users can order
new items from the Kindle itself
and receive them on the device
within roughly a minute. Files in
a variety of formats can simply
be emailed to the Kindle, for
each device comes with its own,
unique email address. Again,
the true beauty of the Kindle
is that it is a system. Like the
iPod, the Kindle itself is well
designed, attractive, lightweight,
and easy to use. Try as I might, I
can think of only a few tweaks I
would make to the interaction.
In their recent book, de
Souza and Leitão show how the
communication approach of
“semiotic engineering” can help
ensure consistency and coher-
ence [1]. They critique the HCI
community (and my past work)
for optimizing the individual
components at the expense of
the whole. They are correct. A
systems analysis goes beyond
the design of individual screens
or actions. It considers the
entire experience from start to
finish: thought through action
through reflection. To make
this a whole, seamless, coherent
exper ience requires consider-
ing each action, each system
response, each message—
whether verbal or visual, silent
or audible, visceral or behavior-
al, haptic or happenstance—all
as part of the whole. Make sure
that each message is consistent
with the others in tone, voice,
locus, and message. All steps
must be readily accommodated,
with the system always antici-
pating and ready for whichever
choice the person makes. This
is what it means to be a system:
to think of everything.
Systems thinking, some
people say, is all very fine for
luxury goods and services, but
far too costly for the everyday
items. Look at your examples—
iPod, Mini Cooper, and Kindle—
lower-priced , s mal ler-m arg in
goods can’t do that! This argu-
ment is false, for the success is
not due to expensive services;
it is due to thoughtful analy-
sis and provision of consistent
coherent services. Whether it
is a bargain airline (Southwest
Air), bargain food (McDonald’s),
bargain car rentals (Enterprise),
or bargain hotels (Tata’s Ginger
hotels in India), all it takes is
the right point of view.
No product is an island.
A product is more than the
product. It is a cohesive, inte-
grated set of experiences. Think
through all of the stages of a
product or ser vice—from initial
intentions through final ref lec-
tions, from first usage to help,
service, and maintenance. Make
them all work together seam-
lessly. That’s systems thinking.
About the Author Don Norman
wears many ha ts, incl uding c ofounder of
the Ni elsen N orman group, professor at
Nort hwestern Unive rsity, v isiting profess or
at KA IST (South Korea), and auth or. His lat-
est boo k is The Design of Future Things. He
lives at jnd.org.
DOi: 10.1145/1572626.1572637
© 200 9 ACM 1072- 5220/ 09/09 00 $10.00
Photograp h by Paul Mullett
[1] de Souz a, C.S., and
Leitão, C .F. (200 9).
“Semio tic Enginee ring
Method s for Scient ific
Research in HCI.” http://
www.morganclaypool.
com/doi/abs/10.220 0/
S00173ED1V0 1Y20090
1HCI 002
•
The Mini Cooper sits atop the list of the most-wanted cars due to BMW’s superb market-
ing st rategy and f orwa rd-thi nking approach.
interactions September + October 2009
54
Breaking Traditional Boundaries of Interaction
