Want Your Views:

[russdev]

As I said elsewhere I have started writing for ComputerWorldUK. Would like peoples views on a topic I am writing. In my last post talked about users having choice?

 

Coca-Cola, loyalty and IT support - Community - ComputerworldUK

 

My question to you guys and girls is how do you build in that choice but keep things realistic to support?

 

Russ

[bossman]

@russdev:

 

Choice Hmmm let me think now!

Well in my own opinion there is just too much choice available and not enough standardisation today.

 

Lets take for instance the good old sweetshop, when I was a lad there was very little choice in the way of sweets and therefore your time stood in the shop making your mind up on what to spend your tuppence on was very limited.

 

Today the range of sweets is immense and this is the reason behind the 2 children at a time constraint you have in most corner sweetshops as the children cannot make their minds up about what they would like and therefore the shop owner tends to get a little frustrated.

 

What is choice really? is the best thing for us and how do we as people deal with choice?

I feel personally as I have stated too much choice could be detrimental to our health and our well being as it creates frustrations and indecision.

 

Balance I feel is the key? this is really difficult to maintain and those people who can create and maintain the balance in whatever they do will always be at the forefront of the human race.

[sippo]

Choice has recently been highlighted with Microsoft browser stuff.

 

I think you need a choice nowadays, and have to by law I think? I think if we don't have a choice a lot of people would be very unhappy and feel controlled.

[TwoZeroAlpha]

posted as a comment on your article but essentially I don't give my users a choice on anything important. I am here and paid to make those choices for them, they understand this and a happy about it.

[sparkeh]

I think if we don't have a choice a lot of people would be very unhappy and feel controlled.

 

I am not sure that is true.

An interesting talk on the bad side of choice: Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice (worth a viewing).

 

Central ideas (with some supporting evidence)

 

Too many choices cause:

*Paralysis rather than liberation - people prefer to make no decision rather than make a complicated choice.

*Less satisfaction with decisions as people have greater reason to regret the decisions they have made.

*Unrealistic expectations.

*Self-blame - when experiences are not perfect, people blame themselves.

Edited March 4, 2010 by sparkeh

[sippo]

Choices in a controlled environment are restricted more so, like in a school due to security. But in a business place is probably more relaxed?

[SYNACK]

@sparkeh - beat me to it, was going to post a link about it as soon as I read the OP

 

I agree with others though, choice in certain instances is more trouble than it is worth and causes more complication. We offer multiple browsers etc but within sane limits and the use of whichever one is mandated by the teacher depending on the task. (Primary School)

[sonofsanta]

After 4 months trying to decide which components to buy for my PC - yes, too much choice is paralysing and To Be Avoided.

 

Within a reasonably sized field of choices - 3 or 4 clearly delineated options - choice is indeed a welcome thing. When you are trying to pick between 20 things differentiated on a dozen different atributes it becomes ridiculou and unfeasible.

 

This is probably a significant part of why people have favourite brands and brands they are dubious of, often based on little more than a gut feeling - it helps narrow the field down and make a choice easier to manage.

[apoth0r]

Isn't choice an illusion?

There is no spoon.

[jcs808]

My question to you guys and girls is how do you build in that choice but keep things realistic to support?

 

Russ

 

I make the choices at our school when it comes to hardware. Departments give me a spec of what they need to do and I source the correct equipment. Keeping them informed and therefore involved as much as is possible.

 

Departments, most anyway, return the courtesy of involving me when they are deciding on a new piece of software or a specific item of hardware for which they have the expertise. An example would be the recent purchase of a laser milling machine by our DT department. I wouldn't dream of telling them which model to buy, just offer advice on if it could be integrated into our current setup.

 

Trying to get the balance between what people need and what they want is difficult, but if we let everyone buy whatever kit they wanted then it would just be impossible to provide any sort of effective support.

 

That's my opinion anyway.

[russdev]

So being a bit of devils advocate here (help I am turning into Tony).

 

But you want BSF to give you choice are then doing same as us and not giving us the choice? standardisation isn't that what BSF brings?

 

What about Microsoft Office vrs OpenOffice?

 

What about teacher wanting a laptop station instead of desktop as they on the move a lot?

 

What about choice of which way you access the support?

 

It will be interesting to see this from a flip side and teachers point of view?

 

A more fuller response later

[sonofsanta]

So being a bit of devils advocate here (help I am turning into Tony).

 

But you want BSF to give you choice are then doing same as us and not giving us the choice? standardisation isn't that what BSF brings?

 

What about Microsoft Office vrs OpenOffice?

 

What about teacher wanting a laptop station instead of desktop as they on the move a lot?

 

What about choice of which way you access the support?

 

It will be interesting to see this from a flip side and teachers point of view?

 

A more fuller response later

 

Removing choice altogether is, I feel, never an option - at the very minimum, fake a choice so that people feel invested in it. Even that is a risky business though, as I wouldn't like it done to me - but sometimes there may well be no choice when someone with just a little knowledge (that oh-so-dangerous level) wants to make a decision they don't truly understand the ramifications of.

 

Best practice is to narrow the choices down, imho - as I said before, 3-4 is manageable, especially if you can boil it down to someone in a simple manner such that they can make a genuinely informed decision. As technical people it's our job to filter down to only the viable options, particularly given that we will have to support any decision make - by all means, decide you want a laptop, but bear in mind we will nag you every term to pass it to us to do a healthcheck and updates on it, and if you don't like that, you can't have a laptop. Choices are compromises; you just have to make it acceptable to everyone.

 

As ever, knowledge is power. People who don't have the knowledge (and aren't willing to gain it) don't deserve the opportunity to make the choice.

[dhicks]

how do you build in that choice but keep things realistic to support?

 

As long as people have the perception of choice then they're happy - ask them their opinion, give them the impression they thought of an idea in the first place, but in reality just get on and do things the best way anyway.

 

--

David Hicks

[russdev]

A fuller response again little of me is playing devil’s advocate here.

 

So what about choice to teach in a style that is right for the teacher at hand (we are expected to personalise learning so why not for the teacher)?

 

If by disallowing choice, are we bringing out the stereotyped view of IT support? What about Office does that mean you have to use Microsoft? What if a student can’t afford Microsoft Office and they have OpenOffice but then forget to save it in Microsoft Word format?

 

What about BSF does bring the standards people are asking for only problem is it is not your standard!

 

My own view is we have to offer choice. To make a point I never said that we had to offer every choice but users should have some choice.

 

As for making users think, they have a choice but not giving them a choice. My view is that is a very dangerous game to play and one could backfire in big way if caught doing it.

[tmcd35]

I don't think it's about choice at all. It's about communication.

 

It's not about giving choice on what IWB/Printer/Laptop/Office Suite may be used. It's about informing and updating on and discussing changes ahead of time. Keeping teachers in the loop rather than after fact 'this how iti is'. - A lesson I'm currently learning the hard way.

 

It's not about giving choice on how they recieve support or report problems. It's about keeping them updated, let them know the progress of the support issue.

 

Communication not choice.

[sonofsanta]

So what about choice to teach in a style that is right for the teacher at hand (we are expected to personalise learning so why not for the teacher)?

So if I went into a lesson and started teaching Maths by flinging various quantities of my own faeces at the students, then tried to claim that it was my choice to teach that way because that was how I communicated best, would that make it right for that choice to be an option? No, it wouldn't, and give me another banana.

 

If by disallowing choice, are we bringing out the stereotyped view of IT support? What about Office does that mean you have to use Microsoft? What if a student can’t afford Microsoft Office and they have OpenOffice but then forget to save it in Microsoft Word format?

Disallowing choice entirely is, as I've hinted at, the wrong move (imho, of course). The important move is restricting choice in a logical and sensible way. I don't know a damn thing about teaching methods; as such, if I had to take a class, I'd take advice from a teacher I knew and trusted about the best ways to do it, and make my own choice on what I wanted to do from the sensible options they presented. I'd expect the same to be true if they wanted technology; I need to make myself trustworthy and approachable so that teachers want to ask for my help on making these choices.

 

To answer the more specific questions there, if supporting OpenOffice was unfeasible from a technical standpoint, then you have to draw the line and say it is not economically viable in terms of technician time to provide that option, as other areas would suffer as a result. Granted that it is actually straightforward and therefore I do support it, but there could be plenty of other scenarios where it wasn't reasonable - a student coming in and asking to work on a Mac because that's what they have at home, for example. How much time and money would have to be invested to meet that choice? An unreasonable amount given the size of the problem. Perhaps if 25% of your student body start demanding it, it would need to be considered - but then you have issues with timetabling students for different rooms etc.

 

As for making users think, they have a choice but not giving them a choice. My view is that is a very dangerous game to play and one could backfire in big way if caught doing it.

Agreed, it's very risky - and if someone was pushing a ridiculous option to the point where I just want to slam the metaphorical & literal door in their face, then it's time to go to their superior and say how unreasonable they are being. After all, if they're so set on one option to the point where you can't trust them with a valid choice, then they're not giving you a choice either, are they?

[ICT_GUY]

I would have to agree, people take a very long time to forget.

 

PC pro this month (or last I forget) ran a review of the new Norton Security suite. They mentioned the horrors that the company had committed in the past and the dire effect that it would have on the performance of a PC. They also said that the company had made huge changes in the way their new suite had been created and that this process had started 3 years ago. The suite as it stands today apparently does not suck monkeys dangly bits.

 

Persuading consumers that Skodas are really cheap BMW's has to be an order of magnitude or two easier than getting a techie to install Norton on a PC of someone they like.

[mac_shinobi]

I would have to agree, people take a very long time to forget.

 

PC pro this month (or last I forget)............. etc

 

 

The suite as it stands today apparently does not suck monkeys dangly bits.

 

The above 3 comments made me chuckle, esp the last bit / one.

[bossman]

@Russdev:

 

Why are we debating BSF as part of this choices?

 

As far as I can see there is no choices in BSF it is "do it our way or your for the highway" in any case we are stuffed but then you would probably argue the case that the schools are being given a choice of new build and the teachers given the choice of open teaching spaces plus all the new classrooms and the IT equipment to go with it all.

 

But then again I know of cases in particular where all this choice has ended in heartache for the new schools as the soaring costs of replacing the equipment has cut deep into their already dwindling budgets and therefore the equipment has not been replaced.

 

Case in question: Somewhere in the North East brand new academy has had quite a few of the Macbooks and Iplayers lost stolen or both to the tune of around 12k and it is still going on.

 

Bad decisions made by consultants who think that they know what schools need is driving the schools under as far as equipment is concerned.

 

Choice is a good thing but when it is managed properly.

[russdev]

That is my point people made point there is too much choice and should be no choice and at same time want standards. Then at that point could be argued that BSF brings that

 

As said this is me being slightly devil advocate here...

 

Russ

[_Bob_]

The free choice/established standards debate is like usability/security. It's a balancing act. You need freedom to choose a solution that is appropriate and standardisation to implement it efficiently.

 

I think an important point though is that you should avoid making a choice today which drastically limits the options or choices available to you tomorrow. This is why on a technical level open standards are a good idea. You can choose one system/file format etc. and if you change your mind further down the line, you aren't locked into it. In the same way BSF involves being locked into a long term contract which is likely to limit future choices.

Edited March 5, 2010 by _Bob_
Dyslexic keyboard

[witch]

I've always worked the choice issue the same way I did with the children when they were small:

eg: your child needs a hairwash. There isn't a choice as to whether the hair is washed or not, but they can choose yellow or red shampoo.

Sounds a bit simplistic, I know, but as others have said, too much choice leads to problems, but people work better if they feel that they have some small grasp on their own destiny.

So, give them a small amount of choice (eg choice of browser) but make sure that both choices will have the same result...

[tmcd35]

Whose choice are we talking about? End user choice or our choice? As I said before I'm not convinced the end user needs or wants choice, they want communication and results.

 

When we talk about BSF taking away choice what we really mean is it taking away the ability for an ICT services department to be flexible and creative in tayloring solutions to fit the schools needs.

 

This is different from given end user choice. The end user coudln't give a carp which model IWB be they use, just that they are informed when they are getting one and given some training rather than having it thrust upon them.

 

From our point of view though it is useful to be able to go to market and say -'that IWB best fits that classroom as a solution in this instant' and for us to have the flexibility and choice to taylor our solutions for the end customer.

 

The perseption of BSF is that it takes away that choice from us and says 'this is the model of IWB we install and support - get on with it'.

[GrumbleDook]

If we go to an educational level on this first, you are talking about imposing tools on people who we should be teaching to be able to make choices (with some given direction) or rather, to be completely correcting, helping them learn how to make choices, understand the consequences of those choices and make better choices in the future. You hear me talk about transferable skills and by providing a choice in the tools you are helping staff and students achieve the above.

 

Then we get to the fact that not all teachers work in the same way. They don't teach in the same way so why would they all need to use the same tools? Better to give them some flexibility and choice, but around a framework of needs.

 

Then we get to the technical level. We should be producing and delivering solutions based on the requirements of the users ... students, staff and leadership. Whilst we can guide them to particular solutions it has to fit their needs.

 

This is where I agree with Bossman that this gets missed from BSF. I've only heard of it happening a few times and takes a heck of a lot of hard work to make sure it stays in their.

 

You cannot have innovation without choice. You cannot have change without choice unless you turn it into a dictatorship ... the one size fits all of most of BSF can be this ...

 

Back to Russ' point of too much choice ... do we have too much choice for TV? Do we have too much choice of music? I go back to the above point of helping people learn how to make choices ... for me, that is an important point ... don't limit choice because by doing so you are saving yourself some work ... help people choose so that that they can keep making their own choices.

[contink]

But you want BSF to give you choice are then doing same as us and not giving us the choice? standardisation isn't that what BSF brings?

 

What about Microsoft Office vrs OpenOffice?

 

What about teacher wanting a laptop station instead of desktop as they on the move a lot?

 

What about choice of which way you access the support?

 

It will be interesting to see this from a flip side and teachers point of view?

 

A more fuller response later

 

As soon as you mention BSF you change the dynamic because the then the motivation becomes a bit more suspect as profit vies with pragmatics. Actually in all of this you have to question the motivations of the person choosing.

 

Is the teacher wanting a laptop really after one because they move around a lot or is it because they want to be able to use it to surf the web and chat with their friends via Skype at home?

 

And we're not completely white and pure on this either... We don't want too much choice as it creates a wider range of problems, sidesteps our experience and knowledge when the teacher buys an Acer so we're left dealing with cr*p support or some software package from hell...

 

 

So , yeah choice is good to a point but you need to provide limits to that range of choices otherwise it's like saying "we're rewriting the laws of the land, do what you want"... Anarchy results.