Optometry
Explaining Empiricism
Have you ever been to the optometrist?
In general, here is how it works. The optometrist sits you down on a chair that is clearly not designed for aesthetics but for one single purpose only and lowers a machine in front of your face that resembles a 50’s sci-fi robot mask more than glasses. You would never buy those glasses. They are too big, too clunky, and the color is atrocious. The optometrist knows that, but the things have a purpose.
Then, the optometrist puts the glasses they think you need in and asks you “Does this get better or worse? Can you see that sign up there? Can you read those letters? What color is that ball?” until you have passed a list of tests to their satisfaction.
Only when they have all those data does the optometrist take you back out front and discuss with you what kind of design and color you would like for your frame.
How often do you come back to the optometrist, see the glasses you chose, put them on and go “Nah, I’m not buying these, they aren’t even close to what I want?” At worst you are going to ask for some changes, which the optometrist will usually get done for free, within an hour or so.
This is how empiricism works, and how you can use it to delight the customer.
I understand a very small number of people don’t like going to the optometrist, but I suspect the number is vanishingly low. Do you know anyone who truly, truly hates going to the optometrist? Let’s say that you know someone who does.
Have they considered the alternative?
Does the optometrist look at you, acknowledge your presence, go into a back room with 9 other optometric colleagues and emerge, two years later, with glasses that they are sure you would like, based on their past experience?
Would you be happy with that?
But then why do we do that in software development all the time? Why do we look at the customer from afar, go into our back rooms and read tea leaves to divine what they might like, then present them with a product that we have pre-designed based on a lot of guesswork?
Let’s build ugly sci-fi glasses that we could never sell. Let’s put our customers on a single-purpose chair. Let’s keep asking the customer “Can you see this up here? Is this better or worse? What color did you expect this to be?” Let’s collect data. And then let’s add snazzy details like funky frames and color options. Let’s Collect even more data.
Even if you have 20 “Optometrists” and a million customers, the idea stays the same. Find out what the customers need, then build exactly that.
Then they will have no choice but to love your product.
