Change is Hard

Well I logged into my banking website today and everything had moved around on me. Menus had been changed, the wording was different - I was not a happy camper. I needed to pay a bill and I couldn't figure out how! Why did they do this to the site that I had known and loved?

I caught myself before I fired off a nasty email to the company.

This is the exact same behaviour that most users go through when you change a UI on them. I know this first hand from my time at Tribe. Even if the change is for the better and you have the testing data to prove it, some of your existing users are going to get disconcerted. Large change where the primary navigation is involved is incredibly hard on users. The flame mails that I used to get were testament to that.

It's funny but in it's easier to start over again with a fresh canvas and a new site than it is to change your existing one. It's much easier to let someone learn how to do something once than it is to make them break their habits to learn a new system.

Tribe is going to be going through a major UI change in the next month or so and even though I haven't seen it yet, I know that no matter how good it is and how much simpler it is for users that some people will be disoriented and confused. They will want things to stay the same. They will scream, shout and wail. I understand and sympathize with them.

I suppose that it's only fair that the shoe is now on the other foot. I'll give it a few weeks before I scream bloody murder.

Change is hard but things can't stay the same forever.