User Manuals

I think there may be two types of people in this world.  Those that read User Manuals and those that don't.   I fall into the category of "those that don't".  In Donald Norman's book "The Design of Everyday Things", he believes the best designed things are those that are intuitive and require no user instructions.  An automobile is one of the most complicated and sophisticated pieces of machinery, yet how many of us have actually read the user manual? 

I just downloaded my LG EnV (yes I have a dinosaur phone) VX9900 user manual (thank goodness now you can find most users manuals on the internet).  I needed to review how to set up voice mail/messages.  However there were two systems to look at - the handset (i.e. hardware) and the Verizon prompts (i.e. software).  As simple as voice mail is there are 54 paths in the tree diagram with the ability to go four levels deep.

Jenna called me yesterday asking why her TV screen was showing red tint.  Was it the component plugs, the TV menu settings, the DVD progressive interlaced 720i setting ..... the list goes on and on.  And do you really want to spend the time to find the user manual, download it, read it in detail and troubleshoot the issue?  NO!!  I just want it to work.

What's the real answer.  "You are only as smart as the best technology guy in your network" is what I say.  So when it comes to friends - find the guy that reads the user manual.

And for life? - 2 Tim 3: 16-17