FOREWORD “ The software engineers had assumed a universal retail model ”
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Assumptions are stalling technology for the masses
I went into a small , independent art shop the other day and bought a couple of cards . I paid with my credit card . Then the shopkeeper – about my age – picked up a pen and itemised the cards I had bought on a piece of paper in a folder that was obviously regularly used for such a purpose . I asked him why his EPOS wouldn ’ t automatically log the stock , perhaps even re-order , and fully expected him to say that he just preferred to do it the old-fashioned way .
But , no . He went into a long diatribe about how he had spent so long trying to sensibly configure his stock system that it had ended up being cheaper – in time terms – not to continue with the endeavour . He had also started building an ecommerce website at the start of the pandemic , still not ready . He pointed out that the solutions he was using did not take account of the fact that he might buy and sell a work faster than it was possible to set up an electronic record for it .
There isn ’ t room for all of it , but basically he wasn ’ t a luddite . He ’ d tried to modernise and technology had proved more a hindrance than a benefit . A lack of flexibility had not suited the way his business works . The software engineers had assumed a universal retail model that my shopkeeper did not recognise in his own operation and this rendered their solution pointless from his perspective .
We ’ ve all seen it – the smartphone feature that ’ s clever but ultimately pointless , the online booking system that takes twice as long as a phone call , the satnav that takes you the long way to your house . Technology needs to look at usefulness before possibility . There ’ s still gold in those hills .
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