I began to wonder why I was reluctant to eat lunch; OK, so my usual fare (King Oscar sardines, Wasa crackers, apple, water) is nothing to be eager about, but why would I be avoiding it?
So, I went down to the cafeteria, grabbed a couple of napkins (the sardines are in oil), and picked a table. As I sat down, my calves banged painfully into a horizontal metal rod that spans the two front legs of the chair. Was this what made me reluctanct to eat lunch?
While pondering that, I began to think about why the cafeteria is full of uncomfortable chairs. Maybe the Cafeteria Management prefers chairs that employees don't want to spend a long time sitting in? Does that make them last longer?Most likely, the Facilities Department simply required inexpensive, durable chairs that are stackable. The chairs certainly fulfill those requirements, but I imagine that there were several options. I checked, and there is indeed a version of the same chair that has the support rod spanning the back legs.
When designing, developing, or selecting something that others are going to use, run a pilot test first. Even two or three users can save you from expensive re-work. I recently deployed a 32-question survey; a pilot user caught a subtle issue that would have compromised several of the questions and prevented me from making some interesting correlations. I've been including pilot tests for years in my work, but there are times when I am tempted to skip it. Make sure to include this step in your plans; a little work now can save you a lot of regret later.
