Stop Asking People to Close the Door. Fix the Door.
For years I asked everyone to please shut the door behind them, and for years they left it wide open — until a self-closing hinge solved it in an afternoon. When a problem looks systemic and unfixable because everyone keeps doing the same thing, that is usually a sign you are attacking human friction with willpower instead of designing around it.
Transcript
What you see there is a self-closing hinge.
Well, duh — of course, Mendy, you should have a self-closing hinge on your door. But for many years I didn't. And everybody would walk in and leave the door wide open.
I tried to solve the problem with brute force. Hey guys, please don't leave that door open. Please close it right away when you come in. It didn't work.
If you've got a problem and you're thinking it's systemic — all the time, everyone's doing the same thing, and I don't think I can solve it — you may be looking at the wrong way of solving the problem.
You've got to think more broadly about the whole experience, and see how you can get around the human friction and human challenge.
