In the great 1980s movie "The Blues Brothers," there's a scene where John Belushi goes to visit Dan Aykroyd in his apartment in Chicago for the very first time. It's a cramped, tiny space and it's just three feet away from the train tracks. As John sits on Dan's bed, a train goes rushing by, rattling everything in the room. John asks, "How often does that train go by?" Dan replies, "So often, you won't even notice it." And then, something falls off the wall.
1980 年代一部很贊的電影 《福祿雙霸天》 當中有一幕是約翰·貝魯奇 第一次去拜訪 丹·艾克洛德在芝加哥的家。 屋子又窄又小, 三尺之外就是火車軌道。 約翰坐在丹的床上, 一列火車快速駛過, 整個屋子裡的東西都晃動起來。 約翰問:「火車駛過有多頻繁?」 丹就回答:「很頻繁, 頻繁到你根本不會察覺。」 然後,有東西從牆上掉下來。
We all know what he's talking about. As human beings, we get used to everyday things really fast. As a product designer, it's my job to see those everyday things, to feel them, and try to improve upon them. For example, see this piece of fruit? See this little sticker? That sticker wasn't there when I was a kid. But somewhere as the years passed, someone had the bright idea to put that sticker on the fruit. Why? So it could be easier for us to check out at the grocery counter.
我們懂他指的是什麼。 我們人類, 對日常事物習慣得相當迅速。 作為一名產品設計師, 我的職責是察看日常事物, 感受、然後試著改善這些事物。 譬如,看到這個水果嗎? 看見這個小標籤嗎? 我小的時候, 根本沒有這樣標籤。 但隨著歲月的流逝,在某個地方 有某位人士想法很了不起 將這小標籤黏在水果上。 目的是什麼? 目的是方便我們 在商店櫃檯過機。
Well that's great, we can get in and out of the store quickly. But now, there's a new problem. When we get home and we're hungry and we see this ripe, juicy piece of fruit on the counter, we just want to pick it up and eat it. Except now, we have to look for this little sticker. And dig at it with our nails, damaging the flesh. Then rolling up that sticker -- you know what I mean. And then trying to flick it off your fingers. (Applause) It's not fun, not at all.
這很棒, 我們可以快速購物。 但現在有一個新的問題。 當我們到家,肚子餓壞了, 我們看見桌上這個豐富多汁的水果, 我們想拿起就吃。 不過現在,我們得找出這個小標籤。 用手指甲把它挖出來, 同時也破壞了果肉。 然後捲起這個小標籤—— 你懂我的。 然後試著把它甩走。 (掌聲) 不好玩。 一點都不好玩。
But something interesting happened. See the first time you did it, you probably felt those feelings. You just wanted to eat the piece of fruit. You felt upset. You just wanted to dive in. By the 10th time, you started to become less upset and you just started peeling the label off. By the 100th time, at least for me, I became numb to it. I simply picked up the piece of fruit, dug at it with my nails, tried to flick it off, and then wondered, "Was there another sticker?"
但有趣的事情發生了。 看,你第一次經歷時, 你可能有上述的感想。 你不過想吃掉這個水果。 你覺得不爽。 你只想一口咬下去。 但經歷過十次之後, 你就開始習慣了 然後你就開始把標籤摘掉。 經歷過 100 次之後, 至少對於我來說, 我開始對此麻木了。 我只會簡單拿起這水果, 用指甲挖走標籤, 試著把它甩走, 然後就想, 「還有第二個標籤嗎?」
So why is that? Why do we get used to everyday things? Well as human beings, we have limited brain power. And so our brains encode the everyday things we do into habits so we can free up space to learn new things. It's a process called habituation and it's one of the most basic ways, as humans, we learn.
為什麼會這樣? 為什麼我們 會對日常事物習以為常? 作為人類,我們的腦力有限。 因此我們的大腦內化 我們經常做的日常事物, 這樣我們就可以騰出空間 去學習新的東西。 這個內化過程叫「習慣化」 這是我們人類最基本的 學習方式之一。
Now, habituation isn't always bad. Remember learning to drive? I sure do. Your hands clenched at 10 and 2 on the wheel, looking at every single object out there -- the cars, the lights, the pedestrians. It's a nerve-wracking experience. So much so, that I couldn't even talk to anyone else in the car and I couldn't even listen to music. But then something interesting happened. As the weeks went by, driving became easier and easier. You habituated it. It started to become fun and second nature. And then, you could talk to your friends again and listen to music.
其實,習慣化不總是壞事。 記不記得學開車? 我當然記得。 雙手緊抓方向盤的 十點鐘和兩點鐘方向, 觀察著外面的每樣事物—— 車輛、燈光、行人。 這經歷相當神經緊張。 緊張得不行,緊張得 無法跟車裡的人聊天 甚至連音樂也聽不進去。 但是有趣的事情發生了。 數週之後,開車變得越來越簡單。 你習慣開車了。 開車變得有趣了, 成了你的第二天性。 你又可以跟車裡的朋友聊天 可以在車裡聽音樂。
So there's a good reason why our brains habituate things. If we didn't, we'd notice every little detail, all the time. It would be exhausting, and we'd have no time to learn about new things.
所以我們的大腦習慣化事情 是好事。 如果我們不去習慣, 我們得每時每刻都關注著 每樣瑣碎的細節。 這樣得多費神, 我們就沒有時間去學習新事物。
But sometimes, habituation isn't good. If it stops us from noticing the problems that are around us, well, that's bad. And if it stops us from noticing and fixing those problems, well, then that's really bad.
但有時習慣化不是好事。 如果習慣讓我們 無法留神身邊的問題, 那就不妙了。 如果習慣讓我們無法 注意、解決這些問題, 那就真不妙。
Comedians know all about this. Jerry Seinfeld's entire career was built on noticing those little details, those idiotic things we do every day that we don't even remember. He tells us about the time he visited his friends and he just wanted to take a comfortable shower. He'd reach out and grab the handle and turn it slightly one way, and it was 100 degrees too hot. And then he'd turn it the other way, and it was 100 degrees too cold. He just wanted a comfortable shower. Now, we've all been there, we just don't remember it. But Jerry did, and that's a comedian's job.
喜劇演員懂得這個道理。 傑里·賽恩菲爾德的整個演藝生涯 就是建立在注意細節上, 我們每天都做的蠢事, 自己也記不得。 他說有一次他去朋友家, 想洗一個舒服的澡。 他伸手去抓住把手 稍微往一邊扭開, 水燙得不行, 然後他將把手調往另一邊, 水又變得太冷。 他不過想洗個舒服澡。 嗯,我們都有過這樣的經歷。 只是記不住而已。 但是傑里記住了, 這就是喜劇演員的工作。
But designers, innovators and entrepreneurs, it's our job to not just notice those things, but to go one step further and try to fix them.
但是設計師、革新者、企業家, 我們的工作不只是注意到這些東西, 還要再邁一步,試著解決這些問題。
See this, this person, this is Mary Anderson. In 1902 in New York City, she was visiting. It was a cold, wet, snowy day and she was warm inside a streetcar. As she was going to her destination, she noticed the driver opening the window to clean off the excess snow so he could drive safely. When he opened the window, though, he let all this cold, wet air inside, making all the passengers miserable. Now probably, most of those passengers just thought, "It's a fact of life, he's got to open the window to clean it. That's just how it is." But Mary didn't. Mary thought, "What if the diver could actually clean the windshield from the inside so that he could stay safe and drive and the passengers could actually stay warm?" So she picked up her sketchbook right then and there, and began drawing what would become the world's first windshield wiper.
看,這個人, 這是瑪麗·安德森。 1902 年她來到紐約。 她去拜訪紐約。 那天又冷又濕,雪下不停, 她在電車上挺暖和的。 列車前進時, 她注意到電車司機打開窗戶 去清理窗上堆積的雪 好讓他安全開車。 但是,當他打開車窗, 他讓滿面的冷濕空氣入侵, 車上的乘客都痛苦不堪。 可能大部分乘客只會想: 「這就是人生,他得開窗清雪。」 「很正常。」 但是瑪麗不這樣想。 瑪麗想: 「要是司機可以從裡面清理車窗, 讓他可以安全駕駛, 也讓乘客不受寒侵?」 她馬上拿出掃描本, 開始描畫世界上第一個雨刮。
Now as a product designer, I try to learn from people like Mary to try to see the world the way it really is, not the way we think it is. Why? Because it's easy to solve a problem that almost everyone sees. But it's hard to solve a problem that almost no one sees.
作為一名產品設計師, 我致力向像瑪麗那樣的人學習, 致力觀察世界真正的運作方式, 而不老是理所當然。 為什麼? 因為人人都注意到的問題 很容易解決。 但是無人注意到的問題 很難解決。
Now some people think you're born with this ability or you're not, as if Mary Anderson was hardwired at birth to see the world more clearly. That wasn't the case for me. I had to work at it. During my years at Apple, Steve Jobs challenged us to come into work every day, to see our products through the eyes of the customer, the new customer, the one that has fears and possible frustrations and hopeful exhilaration that their new technology product could work straightaway for them. He called it staying beginners, and wanted to make sure that we focused on those tiny little details to make them faster, easier and seamless for the new customers.
有些人認為自己天生 有能力解決這些問題 或者相反, 以為瑪麗·安德森天生異才 才看世界看得特別清楚。 那不是我。 我得花功夫。 我在蘋果工作的那幾年, 史蒂夫·賈伯斯會挑戰我們, 每天來上班, 讓我們從客戶的眼光 看自己的產品, 從新客戶的角度考慮, 新客戶會有恐懼、 可能感受過挫敗、 會興奮地期望 他們的新技術產品 能夠為他們提供便捷服務。 賈伯斯稱之為「保持初始心態」, 他想確保我們專注微小細節, 給新客戶呈現 更快、更簡單、更無暇的產品。
So I remember this clearly in the very earliest days of the iPod. See, back in the '90s, being a gadget freak like I am, I would rush out to the store for the very, very latest gadget. I'd take all the time to get to the store, I'd check out, I'd come back home, I'd start to unbox it. And then, there was another little sticker: the one that said, "Charge before use."
我清楚記得剛開發 iPod 時 的這個經歷。 90 年代的時候, 像我這樣喜歡科技產品的怪胎, 我會跑去商店 買最新最新的科技產品。 我會專門花時間去商店, 付款之後,回到家, 我就開始拆包裝。 然後,上面又有一個小標籤: 寫著:「使用前請充電」
What! I can't believe it! I just spent all this time buying this product and now I have to charge before use. I have to wait what felt like an eternity to use that coveted new toy. It was crazy.
什麼! 難以置信! 我剛剛才花這麼多時間 去買這產品, 現在我得充了電才能用。 我得遙遙無期地等待, 等著使用這新寶貝。 簡直要瘋掉。
But you know what? Almost every product back then did that. When it had batteries in it, you had to charge it before you used it. Well, Steve noticed that and he said, "We're not going to let that happen to our product." So what did we do? Typically, when you have a product that has a hard drive in it, you run it for about 30 minutes in the factory to make sure that hard drive's going to be working years later for the customer after they pull it out of the box. What did we do instead? We ran that product for over two hours. Why? Well, first off, we could make a higher quality product, be easy to test, and make sure it was great for the customer. But most importantly, the battery came fully charged right out of the box, ready to use. So that customer, with all that exhilaration, could just start using the product. It was great, and it worked. People liked it.
但你知道嗎? 那時候幾乎所有產品都這樣。 要是產品有電池, 你得先充電才能使用。 史蒂夫注意到了, 他說: 「我們不會讓這情況 出現在我們的產品上。」 我們怎麼做? 一般,要是產品有硬碟, 就要在工廠內 讓產品運行 30 分鐘 以確保出售後, 客戶拆開包裝之後, 硬碟仍能長期運作正常。 我們又採取什麼辦法呢? 我們讓產品運作超過 2 小時。 為什麼? 首先,這樣我們可以生產 更高質量的產品, 讓產品易於測試, 並確保客戶喜歡這樣產品。 但最重要的是, 包裝裡的電池完全充滿電, 隨時都可用。 這樣,充滿期待和歡喜的客戶 就可以馬上使用產品。 這辦法非常棒,很有效。 人們很喜歡。
Today, almost every product that you get that's battery powered comes out of the box fully charged, even if it doesn't have a hard drive. But back then, we noticed that detail and we fixed it, and now everyone else does that as well. No more, "Charge before use."
今天,幾乎所有帶電池的產品 打開時,電池都是充滿電的, 即使產品沒有硬碟。 但在此之前,我們 注意到、處理了這個細節, 而且現在所有人都這樣做。 不再有「用前請充電」。
So why am I telling you this? Well, it's seeing the invisible problem, not just the obvious problem, that's important, not just for product design, but for everything we do. You see, there are invisible problems all around us, ones we can solve. But first we need to see them, to feel them.
為什麼我要講這件事? 這是關於看到無形的問題, 不只是明顯的問題, 這很重要, 不僅對產品設計很重要, 對我們做的所有事情都很重要。 大家看,我們身邊有無形的問題, 我們可以解決的問題。 但首先我們要 看到、感覺到這些問題。
So, I'm hesitant to give you any tips about neuroscience or psychology. There's far too many experienced people in the TED community who would know much more about that than I ever will. But let me leave you with a few tips that I do, that we all can do, to fight habituation.
我不確定是否要向各位 提供神經學或心理學上的小建議。 TED 的圈子裡有太多的能人異士, 他們對這方面的了解 遠超我所能。 但讓我留給大家 我的一些實踐建議, 大家都可用這些建議 來對抗習慣化。
My first tip is to look broader. You see, when you're tackling a problem, sometimes, there are a lot of steps that lead up to that problem. And sometimes, a lot of steps after it. If you can take a step back and look broader, maybe you can change some of those boxes before the problem. Maybe you can combine them. Maybe you can remove them altogether to make that better.
我的第一條建議是: 看得更廣。 當你在處理問題時, 有時引發問題的步驟有很多。 有時,問題出現後 又有很多其他步驟。 如果你可以退一步,看得更廣, 也許你可以在問題發生前 改變其中一些元素。 也許你可以結合一些元素。 也許你可以把它們一起摒棄。
Take thermostats, for instance. In the 1900s when they first came out, they were really simple to use. You could turn them up or turn them down. People understood them. But in the 1970s, the energy crisis struck, and customers started thinking about how to save energy. So what happened? Thermostat designers decided to add a new step. Instead of just turning up and down, you now had to program it. So you could tell it the temperature you wanted at a certain time. Now that seemed great. Every thermostat had started adding that feature. But it turned out that no one saved any energy. Now, why is that? Well, people couldn't predict the future. They just didn't know how their weeks would change season to season, year to year. So no one was saving energy, and what happened?
拿自動調溫器為例。 20 世紀初初次出現時, 調溫器相當易使。 你可以調節溫度。 大家都會用。 但在 20 世紀 70 年代, 能源危機降臨, 顧客開始考慮如何節能。 然後怎樣? 調溫器設計師 決定插入一個新步驟。 你不能簡單調節溫度, 你得事先設定調溫器。 你可以設定某個時間段的理想溫度。 聽上去很棒。 所有調溫器都開始添加這功能。 但是結果沒人真正節能。 為什麼? 大家無法預測未來。 大家不知道幾週內 會發生什麼改變, 季節不同,年份不同。 因此沒有人真正在節能, 然後呢?
Thermostat designers went back to the drawing board and they focused on that programming step. They made better U.I.s, they made better documentation. But still, years later, people were not saving any energy because they just couldn't predict the future. So what did we do? We put a machine-learning algorithm in instead of the programming that would simply watch when you turned it up and down, when you liked a certain temperature when you got up, or when you went away. And you know what? It worked. People are saving energy without any programming.
調溫器設計師回歸原來的設計, 專注於溫度設定這一步。 他們做了更好的用戶界面, 做了更好的記錄。 但數年之後,人們仍然沒有節能, 因為他們就是不能預測未來。 我們採取了什麼辦法? 我們添加了一個機器學習算法, 而不是設定程式, 這個算法會簡單觀察 你什麼時候調高溫、低溫 什麼時候你喜歡什麼溫度, 你起床時, 或者你出門時。 然後呢? 這行之有效。 人們無需任何設定 就可以節能。
So, it doesn't matter what you're doing. If you take a step back and look at all the boxes, maybe there's a way to remove one or combine them so that you can make that process much simpler. So that's my first tip: look broader.
你做什麼並不重要。 如果你退一步看所有的元素, 也許找到辦法 減少或結合一些元素, 這樣你就可以讓事情簡單很多。 那就是我的第一條建議: 看得更廣。
For my second tip, it's to look closer. One of my greatest teachers was my grandfather. He taught me all about the world. He taught me how things were built and how they were repaired, the tools and techniques necessary to make a successful project. I remember one story he told me about screws, and about how you need to have the right screw for the right job. There are many different screws: wood screws, metal screws, anchors, concrete screws, the list went on and on. Our job is to make products that are easy to install for all of our customs themselves without professionals. So what did we do? I remembered that story that my grandfather told me, and so we thought, "How many different screws can we put in the box? Was it going to be two, three, four, five? Because there's so many different wall types." So we thought about it, we optimized it, and we came up with three different screws to put in the box. We thought that was going to solve the problem. But it turned out, it didn't.
我的第二條建議: 看得更近。 我最棒的老師之一 是我的祖父。 他教我學會這個世界。 他教我如何建東西、 如何修理東西、 專案成功所需的工具和技術。 我記得他說過 一個關於螺釘的故事, 需要有對的螺釘 來完成對的工作。 世上有很多不同的螺釘: 木螺絲、金屬螺絲、 固定螺絲、自攻螺絲, 種類多得很。 我們的任務是 確保產品容易安裝, 無需專業知識, 所有客戶都會使用。 我們怎樣做? 我記得祖父告訴我的故事, 所以我們想: 「盒子裡我們能放 多少種不同的螺絲? 是要放兩顆、三顆還是四顆? 因為牆的種類也有很多。」 我們認真考慮,進行優化, 我們決定放三種螺絲在盒子裡。 我們認為那就可以解決問題。 但結果是不行。
So we shipped the product, and people weren't having a great experience. So what did we do? We went back to the drawing board just instantly after we figured out we didn't get it right. And we designed a special screw, a custom screw, much to the chagrin of our investors. They were like, "Why are you spending so much time on a little screw? Get out there and sell more!" And we said, "We will sell more if we get this right." And it turned out, we did. With that custom little screw, there was just one screw in the box, that was easy to mount and put on the wall.
所有我們寄出產品, 人們不是很喜歡。 我們怎樣做? 我們意識到做得不好之後, 馬上重新構想設計。 我們設計了一種特別的螺絲: 客製化螺絲, 我們的投資者很懊惱, 他們說:「為什麼花那麼多時間 在一個小螺絲上?」 「出去推銷更多螺絲!」 我們就說:「如果弄對了, 我們會賣更多螺絲。」 結果是我們成功了。 盒子裡只放了一個螺絲 ——客製化螺絲, 容易安裝在牆上。
So if we focus on those tiny details, the ones we may not see and we look at them as we say, "Are those important or is that the way we've always done it? Maybe there's a way to get rid of those."
因此要是我們專注於微小細節, 我們可能看不到的細節, 我們問自己: 「這些重要嗎? 還是我們一直就這樣做? 也許有辦法可以擺脫這些東西。」
So my last piece of advice is to think younger. Every day, I'm confronted with interesting questions from my three young kids. They come up with questions like, "Why can't cars fly around traffic?" Or, "Why don't my shoelaces have Velcro instead?" Sometimes, those questions are smart. My son came to me the other day and I asked him, "Go run out to the mailbox and check it." He looked at me, puzzled, and said, "Why doesn't the mailbox just check itself and tell us when it has mail?" (Laughter) I was like, "That's a pretty good question." So, they can ask tons of questions and sometimes we find out we just don't have the right answers. We say, "Son, that's just the way the world works." So the more we're exposed to something, the more we get used to it. But kids haven't been around long enough to get used to those things. And so when they run into problems, they immediately try to solve them, and sometimes they find a better way, and that way really is better.
我最後一點建議是: 想得更年輕。 每天我的三個小孩 都會問我各種有趣的問題。 他們會想出各種問題: 「為什麼汽車不能飛過其他車?」 「為什麼我的鞋帶沒有魔術貼?」 有時那些問題很聰明。 我兒子有天走過來,我說: 「跑過去郵箱 看看有沒有郵件。」 他疑惑地看著我說: 「為什麼郵箱不能自己去看, 然後告訴我們?」(笑聲) 我就說:「問得好。」 他們可能問一大堆問題, 有時我們發現 我們就是沒有對的答案。 我們說:「兒子, 那就是世界運作的方式。」 我們越多地接觸到東西, 我們就越習慣世界。 但是孩子們接觸有限 還沒完全習慣那些事物。 所以當他們遇到問題, 他們馬上試著解決問題, 有時他們找到更好的辦法, 他們的辦法確實更優。
So my advice that we take to heart is to have young people on your team, or people with young minds. Because if you have those young minds, they cause everyone in the room to think younger. Picasso once said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is when he or she grows up, is how to remain an artist." We all saw the world more clearly when we saw it for the first time, before a lifetime of habits got in the way. Our challenge is to get back there, to feel that frustration, to see those little details, to look broader, look closer, and to think younger so we can stay beginners.
所以我的衷心建議是: 讓年輕人加入你的隊伍, 或者是有年輕心態的人。 因為要是你有這些年輕的思想, 他們會讓隊伍的想法更年輕。 畢加索說過: 「每個小孩都是藝術家。 問題是當他們成長時, 如何讓他們一直藝術家。」 第一次看世界時, 我們總看得更清楚, 那時長期的習慣還沒形成。 我們的挑戰是回到那個時候, 去感受挫敗, 去察看那些微小細節, 去看得更廣, 看得更近, 想得更年輕, 讓我們可以保持初始心態。
It's not easy. It requires us pushing back against one of the most basic ways we make sense of the world. But if we do, we could do some pretty amazing things. For me, hopefully, that's better product design. For you, that could mean something else, something powerful.
這並不容易。 這需要我們對抗, 對抗我們理解世界 的最基本方式之一。 但要是我們做到, 我們可以做一些很棒的事情。 對於我來說, 希望是更好的產品設計。 對於大家,那可能是不同的東西, 厲害的東西。
Our challenge is to wake up each day and say, "How can I experience the world better?" And if we do, maybe, just maybe, we can get rid of these dumb little stickers.
我們的挑戰是 每天起床問自己: 「我如何能更好地體驗世界?」 要是我們做到了, 也許,只是也許, 我們可以跟這些傻標籤說再見。
Thank you very much.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)