User Ex for IoT

At the low end of the IoT spectrum, simple, commoditized solutions often deliver poorly
implemented user interfaces. This article examines various problems that result from a
inadequately designed UI for IoT products.

At the high end of Internet of Things (IoT) products in the commercial, industrial, or
consumer space, it’s common to have well thought out and nicely implemented
complementary apps combined with reliable hardware as essential parts of an IoT
solution. This optimized user interface (UI) results in a very satisfying user experience
leveraging IoT technology.

However, at the low end of the IoT spectrum, simple, commoditized solutions often have
poorly implemented user interfaces that create disappointing IoT solution user
experiences. In the best-case scenario of commoditized IoT, the hardware works fairly
well, but the setup process, software functionality, and mobile application are weak. Or
worse, they evoke frustration or even fury in the user.

We have seen solutions where the IoT UI is so poorly implemented that it makes the
product virtually unusable, resulting in a sub-optimal user experience and a big fail from
a product solution perspective. I suspect this is because the developers are driven to
provide commoditized hardware features at a rock-bottom price to compete on selling
price. However, it’s clear they often have no or very limited expertise in designing for the
total customer experience or for the intended use case.

Having tried and implemented a wide variety of smart, connected lighting and audio
products as well as electrical outlets, switches, etc., here are some of my experiences
with the problems systemic in poorly-designed bottom end IoT solutions:
Applications with totally unclear mobile application logic flow

It’s not uncommon to deal with applications that have a confusing means to access
supported features. There are all kinds of frustrating paradigms out there, from
application widgets that bring you to unexpected places, unclear pathways to access the
features, graphics with no or cryptic text overlays to enable features, and a myriad
others. Even very basic functionality (like setting on and off times or recurrence of
events) is often botched beyond recognition. It can seem as if the developers had no
system design or flow diagrams experience to understand the application they’re
developing.

Applications totally lacking in creativity as to the software feature set

There are many ways to leverage even simple IoT devices. With products that fail to take
advantage of IoT capabilities, it seems very little thought is given into the various ways
one may use a simple piece of technology. The investment in the software feature set is
so limited that the results can only be explained by the need to just get the product out
there and quickly knock off the most basic features of the competition.

Applications with setup processes that are fundamentally broken or

highly unreliable

This is a major issue, especially when the target buyers aren’t engineers or software
developers. As an engineer in and around smart connected systems for more than 25
years, I can work through setup processes that fail involving Bluetooth (BT) and/or Wi-
Fi implementation. The only thing I can think of for some products is that the buyer has
to call in their engineer brother-in-law to help set up the light switch. Well
implemented, this can be quick and easy. Poorly implemented, you need 10 years of
experience in Wi-Fi or BT application development to make the product connect and
work.
 For example, a well-known brand recently released a consumer wireless LED product
that required a lengthy series of sequential press and release steps to connect or
reconnect to a network—hold a button down for 2 seconds and releasing for 1, then
press for 5 and release for 7, and then 3 and 1, etc., going on for about 10 steps. This
became such a source of annoyance for users that the product became a notorious
internet sensation.

Hardware implementations that are unreliable or provide very poor

communication stability

I’ve seen products in this category that are unable to retain a stable Wi-Fi or BT
connection. While I’ve never done a teardown of any of my own devices, I suspect that
antenna design is at the root cause. Antenna design is extremely difficult and a skillful.
Reliable design requires the oversight of an engineer highly experienced in laying down
antennas and optimization of signal strength and coverage patterns. From the results
I’ve seen, few cheap IoT products reflect anything more than the most rudimentary
knowledge. In the end, this causes communications-related failures, disconnects, etc.

Hardware devices for outdoor use with inadequately sealed electronics

On the hardware front, I’ve seen products supposedly for outdoor use fail within a year.
Open them up and you will see water and corrosion on the circuit boards. The designs
reflect only the most rudimentary understanding of how to design a waterproof
enclosure. This shows a mindset that either doesn’t realize the design errors in the
product or a lack of caring that a product will fail prematurely.

Instructions that are virtually useless (or worse than useless)

The following are commonplace problems with either the paper (or online) instructions:

· Graphics that are unreadable and font sizes requiring an electron microscope to read.
· Instructions that provide no insights in error correction or the process to recover from
install issues.
· Text that’s unintelligible because the authors lack basic knowledge of English-based
language (and I’m sure many other languages not native to the authors).
· Outright errors in the instructions that subvert the process for deployment on a wireless
network or a BT connection.

It’s bad enough when a tech-savvy user struggles to get the IoT solution up and running.
It’s unimaginable what the experience is like in the hands of a customer who isn’t
particularly tech- or IT-savvy. I suspect products often get thrown away in frustration.
Or returned, whenever possible.

With better products, it’s expected that the total out-of-box experience will be seamless
and easy from the packaging to the device setup to accessing a rich set of product
features. On the commodity end, it’s much more hit-and-miss with a stronger tendency
toward miss than hit. Generally, as the old adage goes, one gets what one pays for, and
getting a great experience starts with quality UI and IoT product design practices.