Re[2]: Understanding v. instruction

["Walker, Arlen P" <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

      The product is a
      symbol for all or part of the solution to their problem, and the
      information associated with the product is what actually sells the
      product and tells the user how to solve the problem.

This is true in some cases, but not others. For example, I go to the
hardware store and buy a hammer. Now, I'm sure somewhere along the line I
learned what a hammer was for and how to use it; frankly it's been so long
I've forgotten. There's no need for any sort of information to accompany it
(though perhaps some marketingspeak to justify paying more for a different
kind of handle).

Let's take another example: I go buy a bandsaw blade. Now, this can come
with a varying amount of information, from detailed instructions to "refer
to your band saw owner's manual for instructions on changing the blade."
The point is, no matter *how* detailed the instructions are, they won't
help me. I'm going to take the blade home, cut it into sections and use the
sections in my bow saw. The information the manufacturer includes is
irrelevant to my use the product.

      Think, for instance, of a rubber washer, the kind you buy at the
      hardware store to repair a faucet or a garden hose connection. Taken
      outside the context of a problem statement, few of us would know what
      it is or how to use it. Some might think it was an odd sort of hand
      decoration, much the way some kids think pitted olives are for
      sticking on the ends of your fingers and eating by putting your
      fingers in your mouth.  So by itself, without information, the
      product (washer) is useless.

I think this is a bad example. How many people who need to be told what a
washer does are going to go to the store and buy one (before being told,
that is)? If you're looking for a washer, it's because you know you need
one, either because you've sussed it for yourself or because someone (in
person or in print) has told you that you need one. The washer folks have
made the entirely justifiable assumption that if you're buying their
product, you already know what you're going to do with it. While this may
not cover 100% of their potential market, they've decided that the small
portion it doesn't cover won't add enough to their sales to pay the extra
expense.

      So clearly the information is more important than the product, right?

Wrong. All the information in the world isn't going to stop that drip-drip-
drip in the middle of the night. You could make a case for the product
being no more important than the information, but it's hardly less
important. In the example you've chosen, the washer manufacturers have
simply chosen to supply the information in a different manner than they
supply the product.

      In this case, the manufacturer is assuming that most of the
      information on where and how washers are used, and what kind is
      appropriate, is available elsewhere - when was the last time you saw
      a user's manual with a rubber washer? Some hardware stores address
      this lack of information by posting helpful charts (more
      information).  But this is clearly an example of a manufacturer
      spending more attention on product than on information.

Just curious; have you taken a good look at those charts in the hardware
store? If you look, you'll see that those charts are supplied to the
hardware store by either the washer manufacturer or the hose/faucet
manufacturer. What, did you think the stores created the charts themselves?
Clearly the washer guys decided that there was no need for individual
documents for each washer; one doc would serve a million washers. It's
naive to think they *assume* the information will be available. They take
positive steps in oreder to make it happen. Just because they don't see the
need to print and distribute a 17-page guide with every washer they sell
doesn't mean they're leaving it all up to chance.



Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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In God we trust; all others must provide data.
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Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
If JCI had an opinion on this, they'd hire someone else to deliver it.

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