
Everything I Needed to Know About Good UX I Learned While Working in Restaurants - jamessun
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-learn-in-restaurants/
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dikaiosune
I can do it too!

Everything I Needed to Know About Writing Software I Learned While Working in
Restaurants (Kitchens)

Sanitize all inputs.

If you have a single point of failure, it will only be a problem when it
matters most.

Your recipes will need to be constantly tweaked in alignment with the stars.

Users will always do things you don't expect, and will be upset when your
system doesn't behave as they'd expect.

Expect many complaints about the lack of _insert unadvertised feature here_.

Team communication often trumps raw skill.

Snark aside, I do think that many people would be better off doing a tour of
"civil service" in retail or food service before going off to fancy jobs. I
really did learn a lot both as a line cook and in retail.

~~~
js8
> I do think that many people would be better off doing a tour of "civil
> service" in retail or food service before going off to fancy jobs

I thought that it was a hallmark of American culture that you get to do that
in college, before you get a professional job.

~~~
twblalock
A lot of students don't work during college. They are supported by their
parents' money, student loans, or a combination of both.

~~~
dikaiosune
In my not-so-humble opinion, they are also usually the ones who need the
experience the most (ahem).

------
MuEta
I've worked as a server and I thought this was going to focus on POS systems
and how horribly they are (often) implemented. Talk about a design nightmare,
with at least 5 clicks to put in one person's order (x2-4 for a typical
table). And items were almost always in a random configuration with little
reasoning for placement of, for instance, extra mayonnaise versus no lettuce.
I'm not sure if the new mobile POS systems are any better, but I will never
forget how bad restaurant POSs are when designing UIs.

~~~
jasim
On Keyboard Centricity: POS system in DOS.

    
    
          1. C:\> a                                    {enter}
          (a.bat starts c:\pos\pos.exe)
          
          2. Pull-down menu: Transactions -> Sales     {enter}
          (Sales is the default selection)
    
          3. Bill no: <last + 1>                       {enter}
          (new id starts a new bill)
    
          4. Item code: <4823>                         {4-digits+enter}
          5. Quantity: <2>                             {2-digits+enter}
    
          6. Item code: <blank>                        {enter}
          (just one item; give blank to exit)
    
          7. Menu: [Print, Next Bill]                  {enter}
          (Print is default selection)
    
          (loops back to 4, keying in a new bill)
        

Without a barcode scanner, a keyboard-centric interface takes the minimum
possible number of keystrokes for a POS system. This efficiency was the norm
in DOS-based text-centric systems, but with today's GUI interfaces, developers
have to put extra effort to make things keyboard friendly. This is not done
well enough in many cases, and is an instance of how the forced-advancement of
technology makes things worse.

~~~
coldcode
(4) understates the problem, the user is required to memorize 4823 items
without having a way to find the item they are looking for. If you try to
solve the memory issue, the system must become more complex.

~~~
jasim
It does. The way it works is you can either type in the item-code if you know
it, or you can type in search letters which will prompt a browse screen (which
is again highly keyboard-friendly).

The way it happens in places with low number of SKUs (< 10k) is people who're
new typically search a lot in the beginning, but over time, they'll learn the
most frequently used item-codes without any deliberate learning. They also get
really fast at the keyboard. This was my experience building DOS-based POS
software for small supermarkets and grocery stores.

If there are a much larger number of SKUs, or if the item-codes are provided
by the manufacturer (like in the automobile spare parts business with 16-digit
alphanumeric item-codes), you have to key in them manually.

A paint store I built software for had a huge number of SKUs, but they were
renowned for their customer experience. This was made possible by putting new
employees through a training whose qualifying test is to key-in a bill of
materials at a really fast pace. They also chunked item codes into well-
defined easily-learnable categories. This was the grouping: [Manufacturer,
Product, Packing, Color, Code]. There would be < 20 manufacturers, of which
only 4 or 5 are frequently used. Same for product. Packing and Color were more
of attributes, but were easily learnable and helped uniquely identify a
product.

------
orf
> Photos of food and other products help create desire, answer common
> questions, and set expectations for a high-quality experience

Uhhh, no. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but here in England no restaurants have
pictures. It's cheap and tacky, and it's a huge red flag when you encounter a
rare one that feels the need to show you photographs of bowls of pasta/steaks.
I defy you to show me any European restaurant that treats it's customers like
children by showing them brightly coloured pictures of their food on the menu.

The only exception I can think of is the desert menus for Indian restaurants,
but that's mainly because they don't really 'do' desert and just buy the ice
cream and menus from some distributor as a package.

~~~
bpodgursky
I've been to plenty of hole-in-the-wall Thai and Vietnamese restaurants with
pictures on the menu. They are not chains.

It's helpful if you don't know much about what you're ordering (is it a curry?
soup? stir-fry? etc).

~~~
joshschreuder
I think it's fairly common in Japan too to have the elaborate plastic versions
of the various dishes on display in the windows.

I'm not sure if this is a thing aimed at tourists or not, who might have
trouble reading the menu but can visualise the dish easily.

~~~
oftenwrong
>I'm not sure if this is a thing aimed at tourists or not

It's not. Even out where tourists don't go, beyond the reach of English menus,
you will see the same plastic food samples. It is just nice to have an idea of
what the dish is like.

------
jasonkostempski
> don’t slow down those who are in a hurry

I used to be able to go through the drive through of a local taco place and
order "2 Super Mightys, mild with sour cream", "Anything else?" "Nope", done.
They've added a bunch of options to it and now I have to have a conversation:
2 Super Mightys... white or wheat? white... hot, medium or mild? mild... Would
you like sour cream, guacamole or salsa on that? sour cream... Any chips?
No... Would you like anything to drink today? No... Anything else? No... They
always ask in the same order and I've tried giving all the selections at once
in hopes they realize I know what I want and just let it be done, but they
always ask the follow up questions anyway or they get tripped up and I have to
repeat everything. Now, if I'm moody, I just go over to McDonalds and get the
#1.

~~~
voltagex_
I was really shocked when first ordering food at a diner in Canada - what
sides would I like, what kind of bread, what kind of sauce. Too many
questions! In Australia the choices are normally already made on the menu or
you have to go out of your way to ask for something different.

~~~
greggman
I know lots of people like the choices. I hate them. I don't want to be the
chef, I want the chef to choose. When I choose I have no idea what goes
together so I pick 3-4 things I love and then find out together they taste
like crap. When the chef picks usually I get something that tastes good. If
I'm lucky I get something I haven't tried before.

~~~
CaptSpify
And if you do want to choose, I've never heard of a place not letting you. "I
see this comes with a salad. Instead of that, can I get the soup?"

~~~
pc86
You've never seen "No substitutions" on a menu?

~~~
CaptSpify
Ah, yeah, but it's super-rare from my experience. YMMV of course.

------
callmeed
_> Pictures sell_

Uhhh, what? I'm struggling to think of a favorite or popular restaurant that
has pictures on the menu or in the restaurant. That's a move generally
relegated to cheap chinese or mexican restaurants. You'll find pictures on
yelp and sometimes on the restaurants website. But, in general, no–pictures
aren't what sells.

~~~
lgunsch
Up here in where I am most restaurants have pictures on every page of the
menu. For example Earls, Joeys, Red Robins, Boston Pizza. Menu's that don't
have pictures often feel cheap and non-professional.

 _Edit: typo_

~~~
jgn
Where do you live? In Vancouver, Earls and Joeys don't have pictures on their
menus. Red Robins and BP do, but they're definitely a tier below the former
two.

~~~
lgunsch
I'm in Edmonton, AB. Last time I went to those places I seemed to recall they
had pictures on the menu, but I could be mistaken.

Red Robins and BP are definitely lower tier, but they still count as a
"popular restaurant," at least in Edmonton they are very popular.

------
dawnbreez
As someone who's worked in a Starbucks, they definitely get the points about
not forcing jargon and remembering repeat customers; both were mentioned
directly in training.

I like to spin jargon as a teaching opportunity: "Did you know that we call
the large cup a 'venti' because venti is italian for 20, and the cup holds 20
ounces of coffee?" Now the customer feels like they've learned something about
how we make coffee, will use our fancy jargon, and might even tell all their
friends that we taught them a snippet of Italian.

~~~
LoSboccacc
Why is trenta 31?

~~~
BookmarkSaver
Maybe they're being generous. Or it is supposed to be 32oz and they are
skimping on their portions, like cans that contain 7.5oz instead of a round 8.

~~~
tim333
Apparently the venti coffee cup is 20oz but then they launched a large cold
drink cup of 24oz which they also called venti and then a larger 31oz cup
which they called trenta. I blame the marketing department.

~~~
dawnbreez
Can confirm, the cold Venti is slightly bigger (most likely to account for
ice).

~~~
pc86
So if I order my next iced chai without ice I will get more? :)

------
douche
Everything I needed to know about software development I learned while working
maintenance in a power plant:

1.) If you have to call in outside contractors, expect it to cost too much,
and be done incorrectly, so you'll have to go over it again yourself.

2.) Investing in good tools saves a lot of time and money in the long run.

3.) If you let the cruft build up without cleaning it out once in a while, it
can bring everything to a screeching halt eventually.

4.) Talking about doing things doesn't get things done. Somebody has to go out
and get their hands dirty actually doing it.

5.) It's easier to schedule your work when there is a regular, defined
schedule of interruptions (9AM coffee break, 12PM lunch, 3PM coffee break)
versus random ad-hoc interruptions.

6.) Some operations really need locks to safeguard users and data - i.e. make
sure you've locked out the circuit on the wood chipper before you climb in to
replace the knives...

7.) Respect the old geezer who has been around forever and had their hands
into every component of the system. They know not just how the system works,
but why things are the way they are now, when that differs from the original
spec. Ignore their wisdom at your own peril.

8.) Most people don't take a lot of pride in their work, and will try to do
just enough to get by. If your life depends on something, make sure you trust
the person doing it isn't in "good enuff" mode. Then check it again anyway.

9.) Paid overtime is a great incentive to management to have people get shit
done during normal hours. Calling workers in off-hours should be expensive and
rare.

------
meesterdude
I can do one better!

Everything I needed to know about good UX I got from a book title: Don't make
me think

The book helped too though.

------
chestervonwinch
> Translate menus and descriptions as needed, by using the customers’
> vocabulary instead of brand names, foreign words, and insider jargon.

I think this is great advice not just for UX, but also for when communicating
technical topics across disciplines or to nonprofessionals. Of course, this is
easier said than done -- many concepts are often not directly translatable, so
it takes work to come up with near optimal approximations.

------
brianmurphy
Has anyone had to wait behind a senior citizen trying to use those touch
screen 100 flavor Coke machines? It's an eye-opening experience.

~~~
dizzystar
I don't think this is just for older people. I've seen college students
struggle immensely with them. Not only that, but just about everyone who uses
it for the first time misses the cup.

But if you think the UI for the end-user is bad, you should see the UI for the
people who have to maintain and refill the machine. Having these things
internet connected throws a pile of rotten eggs on IOT.

~~~
pc86
My few problems have always been that a part of the screen is unresponsive,
either by not being cleaned recently or being less sensitive due to the amount
of use. Even then, pushing harder or holding your finger on longer generally
does the trick (and probably exacerbates the problem if it's normal wear and
tear).

