I’m working on a project at my day job (technical writing) that goes a little something like this: we’re reducing the length of our documentation.
It’s not the easiest thing for us — we’ve all been technical writers long enough that it can be hard to let go of the way we’ve done things for years. But it’s important to trust the training staff and users to not have to remind everyone of where the Save button is on the screen, when what matters is that the user already knows how to save changes they made to things.
The Holdout
I’ve worked other places where the holdouts have final say. You can do a usability study on a group, and 99.99% of the people say they’d prefer things to be a certain way, but the one person who’s done things a certain way for decades shouts, “WE MUST CONTINUE THE OLD WAYS!!!”
This is the person who waits four months for the one thing overlooked out of thousands to bellow, “I TOLD YOU SO!!!”
Right Just Once (Is Enough for Them!)
That one thing — the .001% wrong out of all you improved — becomes their day. No, it becomes their week — their reason to be!
It’s a thing etched in their minds until the end, something allowing them to refer to that time “We upgraded our documentation’ and this thing I was concerned about? It came TRUE!!!”
These are the people who will lie on their deathbeds thinking, “Man, I was RIGHT! … that .001% out of a majority of documentation that was vastly improved because even the Old Guard [of which I just might belong] said, ‘Ya know…if more than 99.99% of the people we asked want it this way, we’ll do that — because it’s documentation for THEM — not for US!!!'”
We’re All Often Holdouts
Taking it a step further, we’re all often holdouts. We get used to things, and we want them to stay the way we’re most comfortable with — even if times have changed and methods have improved
. I’m sure most of us have those few things we hold on to — no matter what — instead of letting go.
You may “lose” a tug of war by letting go of the rope, but it sure is funny to watch people fall on their asses. Or, better yet — gain a new sense of confidence that reminds us all that sometimes fixating on our grip is a sure-fire way to end up blistered or simply defeated by a stronger team.
