{"id":2223,"date":"2014-02-03T15:21:12","date_gmt":"2014-02-03T20:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thinking.is\/?p=2223"},"modified":"2024-07-11T10:59:20","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T14:59:20","slug":"how-to-tick-off-your-user","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/?p=2223","title":{"rendered":"How To Tick Off Your User\u2026."},"content":{"rendered":"

The other night I was peacefully asleep, enjoying a pleasant dream, when suddenly\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

After a few confusing seconds, I realized it wasn\u2019t my alarm clock. It was my\u00a0Personal Diabetes\u00a0Manager (PDM) gently<\/i> reminding me to test my blood sugar. Yes, I was expecting it, but, no \u2026 that didn\u2019t make me any less annoyed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sacrificing the User Experience<\/span><\/h2>\n

That\u2019s what happens when you sacrifice the user experience and design to cover your \u2026 Pod.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve read my post about<\/span> Medical Devices, the TSA, and Chewbacca’s Lightsaber<\/a><\/span>\u00a0you already know I\u2019m an OmniPod wearer. OmniPod is a two-part insulin pump system from Insulet; I wear a Pod adhered to my body that administers insulin and I control the Pod with the PDM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been using the system for three years and have been immensely pleased with it. Insulet seemed to have done the research to truly understand their users \u2014 something Daedalus advocates and perpetually strives for.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I had high hopes for the recently FDA-approved second generation. Those hopes have been surpassed with the new Pods. Smaller and yet capable of holding the same amount of insulin, the new Pod is lighter, easier to wear, and more comfortable.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I\u2019m disappointed with the new PDM. Why? Well, first there\u2019s that gentle<\/i> reminder to test my blood sugar. I put on a new Pod every three days, and that reminder goes off approximately\u00a0 90 minutes after I put on a new one. It\u2019s a great idea in theory \u2014 in those rare cases where something goes wrong with the new Pod, I\u2019ll catch it before my blood sugar rises too much. But if I put on a new Pod within 90 minutes of going to bed\u2026 well you know what happens. Usually, I schedule Pod changes to avoid being woken up, but that night the Pod I was wearing failed unexpectedly just as I was climbing into bed. I seriously thought about not putting on a new Pod until morning, so I could sleep in peace \u2014 but that would have meant a really high blood sugar by the time morning arrived.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are also several new confirmations that mean added button presses just to perform basic functions like testing my blood or giving myself insulin.<\/span><\/p>\n

But neither of these is the change that irks me the most. The one that does was such a simple change\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

There used to be two ways to turn on the PDM \u2014 press a button for the status screen or insert a test strip to activate the glucometer. Now, the first screen, regardless, is always an ID screen requiring me to verify that my PDM is actually my PDM. So 12+ times a day, I have to confirm that I am me \u2014 every time I test my blood, every time I administer insulin, every time I want to check my records or change my settings or do anything<\/i>\u00a0 \u2014 yes, I am Carolynn\u2026yes, I am Carolynn\u2026YES, I AM CAROLYNN!!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

As a designer of medical devices, I understand why they made this change. Obviously, a multi OmniPod household reported an adverse event to the FDA \u2014 maybe Mom grabbed the wrong PDM and instead of giving herself insulin, administered some to little Timmy causing a hypoglycemia event. Insulet obviously has an obligation to reduce that danger.<\/span><\/p>\n

I get it. Really, I do. But in the three years I\u2019ve been using OmniPod, how many times do you think I\u2019ve picked up someone else\u2019s PDM? I have yet to even knowingly\u00a0encounter another OmniPod user.<\/span><\/p>\n

Multi OmniPod households are a small minority of the user base. Insulet\u2019s solution for a few means extra work for the majority. Rather than creating a smarter PDM, they put the burden of identification on the user. They solved an internal liability problem by compromising the user experience. And from reading comments on OmniPod forums, users aren\u2019t happy about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

You may be thinking that this isn\u2019t any worse than a person who passcode-protects their smartphone and perpetually enters the code. But there is a difference: the smartphone user opted into that feature. I didn\u2019t. And there is no way to opt out; just as there is no way to opt out of the 90-minute reminder or the extra confirmation screens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Creating a Great User Experience Means Understanding Your User<\/span><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve argued in the past that the path to creating a great product lies only in understanding your user. Without that understanding, you may create a good product \u2014 one that lets the user accomplish goals in a straightforward, easy manner \u2014 but you won\u2019t create a great product that your users love and one that drives word-of-mouth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than creating elegant solutions for their problems, Insulet\u2019s second-generation PDM put the onus of solving those problems on the user. Will these changes drive users to the competition? Right now, there is no competition in patch pumps. But that will change, and when it does, Insulet needs to make sure that they have the best option on the market \u2014 one that serves their users instead of covering their backside.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Featured photo by<\/span> Andre Hunter<\/a> on<\/span> Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other night I was peacefully asleep, enjoying a pleasant dream, when suddenly\u2026. After a few confusing seconds, I realized it wasn\u2019t my alarm clock. It was my\u00a0Personal Diabetes\u00a0Manager (PDM) …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,3],"tags":[36,28,132,109,133,66],"class_list":["post-2223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design-research","category-design-thinking","category-product-development","tag-design","tag-home-health-care","tag-insulin-pump","tag-omnipod","tag-user-annoyance","tag-user-experience"],"yoast_head":"\nHow To Tick Off Your User\u2026. - daed.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.daed.com\/?p=2223\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Tick Off Your User\u2026. - daed.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The other night I was peacefully asleep, enjoying a pleasant dream, when suddenly\u2026. 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