What web designers can learn from mechanics
It’s inspection time again. I’m not sure about your locale, but where I live we have to have our vehicles inspected once a year to determine whether it is safe to drive. Currently, there is a 152-page document that describes the process. From a user’s perspective, it works like this:
- Make an appointment with a local mechanic.
- Drop off your vehicle at the agreed upon time.
- Wait for the call to come in about everything that needs fixed.
- Pay an absurd amount of money to get the vehicle up to spec.
- Promise to take better care of your vehicle next year to avoid costly repairs.
- Repeat yearly.
From a consumer standpoint, there are a few flaws in the system, but overall I do believe that it keeps us all safer. It ensures that higher quality products are on the road.
What can web designers learn from this process?
The hard part is that no regulatory agency is going to (nor should they) require businesses to have their websites inspected. But what if you were willing to do it for free? What if you were willing to write an inspection process and then evaluate your industry’s websites as a service?
You see, in a world of new-new-new, we forget that a lot of products and services just need some upgrades. We don’t want a redesigned iPhone. We just want a better one. Most web designers are hell-bent on redesigning every site that they touch.
What if we thought of ourselves as mechanics rather than car salesman?
Could you create a better website? Maybe. But your mechanic could also argue that you could just trade in that Ford Explorer for a Ferrari instead of getting it fixed.
Here’s the point. We need to stop pushing our skills on clients and start fixing their problems instead. I don’t care how good you are at Javascript or if you understand the CakePHP framework better than most of the world. Every website is a tool being used to better accomplish a larger mission.
Fix the tool and stop redesigning new ones.
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