Commercial Software Suffers, Too


Not only are computers taking over the cockpits of jet airliners, but they are also taking over the passenger cabin, behaving in that same obstinate, perverse way that is so easy to recognize and so hard to use. Modern jet planes have in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems that deliver movies and music to passengers. IFE systems are merely computers connected with LANs, just like the computers in your office. Advanced IFE systems are generally installed only on larger airplanes flying transoceanic routes.

One airline's IFE system was so frustrating for the flight attendants to use that many of them were bidding to fly shorter, local routes to avoid having to learn and use the difficult systems. This is remarkable, considering that the time-honored airline route-bidding process is based on seniority, and that those same long-distance routes have always been considered the most desirable plums because of their lengthy layovers in exotic locales such as Singapore or Paris. For flight attendants to bid for unglamorous, unromantic yo-yo flights from Denver to Dallas or from Los Angeles to San Francisco just to avoid the IFE system indicated a serious morale problem. Any airline that inflicted bad tools on its most prized employees the ones who spent the most time with the customer was making a foolish decision and profligately discarding money, customer loyalty, and staff loyalty.

The computer IFE system that another large airline created was even worse. It linked movie delivery with the cash-collection function. In a sealed jet airplane flying at 37,000 feet, cash-collection procedures had typically been quite laissez-faire; after all, nobody was going to sneak out the back door. Flight attendants delivered goods and services when it was convenient and collected later when their hands weren't full and other passengers weren't waiting for something. This kept them from running unnecessarily up and down the narrow aisles. Sure, there were occasional errors, but never more than a few dollars were involved, and the system was quite human and forgiving; everyone was happy and the work was not oppressive.

With cash collection connected to content delivery by computer, the flight attendant had to first get the cash from the passenger, then walk all the way to the head end of the cabin, where the attendant's console was, enter an attendant password, then perform a cash-register-like transaction. Only when that transaction was completed could the passenger actually view a movie or listen to music. This inane product design forced the flight attendants to walk up and down those narrow aisles hundreds of extra times during a typical trip. Out of sheer frustration, the flight attendants would trip the circuit breaker on the IFE system at the beginning of each long flight, shortly after departure. They would then blandly announce to the passengers that, sorry, the system was broken and there would be no movie on this flight.

The airline had spent millions of dollars constructing a system so obnoxious that its users deliberately turned it off to avoid interacting with it. The thousands of bored passengers were merely innocent victims. And this happened on long, overseas trips typically packed with much-sought-after frequent flyers. I cannot put a dollar figure on the expense this caused the airline, but I can say with conviction that it was catastrophically expensive.

The software inside the IFE systems worked with flawless precision but was a resounding failure because it misbehaved with its human keepers. How could a company fail to predict this sad result? How could it fail to see the connection? The goal of this book is to answer these questions and to show you how to avoid such high-tech debacles.



Inmates Are Running the Asylum, The. Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy &How to Restore the Sanity - 2004 publication
ISBN: B0036HJY9M
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 170

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