Instruction Manuals

I just spent 20 minutes outside in my driveway sweating in the front seat of my wife’s car trying to set the damn clock on her new car stereo. Unbelievable!!! Sometimes I can’t believe how little we have progressed toward making technology easy to use. It feels like we are going backwards in time.

This is from an engineer with the manual open in front of him. I did exactly what they tell you to do and was getting nowhere. Finally after trying countless different ways to get to the clock setting menu, by sheer chance I found the right arcane combination of button presses and tilting the “multi-control” up down left right, push in, turn right, turn left, etc. etc. etc. I discovered that they left out a few critical steps before you start with the sequence in the book and they never tell you how to exit the process. Unbelievable!

When I say we are going backward, this is what I mean: In my 12-year-old suburban, I have a stereo that still works great. It is one of the larger format GM style units which allows for buttons that are actually readable without leaning over to get close to the thing – even at night. To set the clock there are two small inconspicuous buttons marked HR and MIN. All you need to do to set the clock is hold down either one of these for a few seconds and it automatically goes into the clock setting mode. You then press the appropriate button until the display reads what you want.

No need to worry about AM or PM, they assume that you have the IQ to know whether it is 8 in the morning versus 8 at night. When you are done, you leave it alone for about 5 seconds and it reverts to normal mode and the time is set. When daylight savings time comes around, I can change the hour while I’m sitting at a stoplight – it takes less than 10 seconds. No manual required, no 15 step process, I just reach over and voila’ it’s done.

I have probably set over fifty different digital clocks in my lifetime and none were as non-intuitive as this Pioneer DEH-P30001B unit. Some are a little more complicated than the one in my Suburban, but none come anywhere close to this %$#@** Pioneer unit. Just so the people at Pioneer don’t think I’m ganging up on them, I had a Sony car stereo a while back that was just as bad, except the instructions were better. The problem with the Sony one was the clock would not keep good time so I had to reset it every month or two. After about 4 times I was eventually able to go through the multi-step process without hunting for the manual. Another fine piece of engineering designed by computer nerds with no regard for ergonomics.

By the way, this stereo has a 51 page operation manual crammed to the gills with instructions on how to access the hundreds of features that this fine stereo can handle. Impressive, but good luck remembering how to access most of them unless you have the infinite patience to sit in your driveway with the book and do a lot of trial and error. Please refer to a previous post about the application of intuitive design principles in complex electronics. Nice work Pioneer.