A dishwasher that works
Sometimes I think that companies chase innovation for the sake of innovation, or because everyone else is doing it, and that thoughtlessness shows up in their products.
Right now there is a frenzy to innovate in the kitchen, and with good reason. But successful innovation often means recognizing which things should stay the same. And even if you’ve identified the right things to change, there is always a trade-off when you create a new interface or a new feature in a well-understood product, because your customer will have to learn something new.
Last night I finished loading the dishwasher and in order to get it to wash my dishes, I had to follow a ritual that makes no sense to me. Sometimes, when I hit the “start” button, the display will blink at me. I don’t know why the display blinks, but I have learned by trial and error that if I want it to wash my dishes, I have to hold the “reset” button until the display blinks “0:01”. Then I need to power it off, and power it back on again. Then I can select “auto” — and then I can hit start and it will wash my dishes.
If I try just turning it off and on again, it won’t work. If I try just resetting it, it won’t work. If I download the app and connect it to the appliance (which is a long and frustrating process that requires connecting to some dishwasher-specific wi-fi network), all the app can do is tell me that I need to buy some particular extra-shine liquid if I want shiny clean dishes, and that the dishwasher is not currently running.
There are lots of good innovations in this dishwasher. I love the new trend of placing a silverware tray as a third “drawer” on the inside. The placement options and the use of space inside are great improvements over dishwashers from a decade or two ago.
But all this work is wasted if I can’t get the machine to wash my dishes.
Sometimes when you’re making a new product it’s tempting to compare the statistics or performance of what you’ve made with what your competitors have created. But features are far less important than you think. What matters most is whether or not your product solves the customer’s problem.
All in all, I’d trade the whole fancy dishwasher for a decade-old unit that doesn’t do a great job cleaning dishes but starts every time I hit the start button.