Case: Destination-Control Elevators

Two design professionals were so offended by a "new" elevator system that they wrote an article of complaint. The system: Elevator Destination Control — you enter your destination floor on a keypad in the hallway (not inside the car); the system groups passengers and assigns each to the most efficient elevator. There are no floor buttons inside the car.

The twist: the new system is genuinely superior (faster trips, or equal service with fewer elevators). Its only real disadvantage is that it is different — it violates the deeply ingrained convention "enter the car, then choose your floor."

Lesson: Conventions (a form of cultural constraint) are powerful guides but make change extremely hard, even when the change is for the better, even for professionals. Invented 1985, first installed 1990, still spreading decades later. Demonstrates the gap between a better design and its acceptance — see Incremental vs Radical Innovation.

Confidence

1.0 — explicit case.

Sources: ["DOET ch.4 'When Conventions Change' p.146-149 (Portigal & Norvaisas, 2011)"]