Home Depot – A study in UX failure

I have a guest post today from my partner who works at the Pro-Desk at Home Depot helping contractors with large orders. Management decided to redesign the work space without getting feedback first. Enjoy!

photo of a checkout area in Home Depot

This is the redesigned Pro-Checkout area of Home Depot with four Pro registers: two facing south and two facing north; drinks & snacks in between.

Primary customers: Contractors

  • with large orders; and
  • large pieces of lumber

Problem 1: Register bottlenecks

This aisle is wide enough for one associate with a client, plus one typical lumber/flat-top cart, which are extra wide, yet there are two registers per aisle creating a bottleneck that prevents clients from getting around someone already checking out at the front register to an available associate at the back register.

When clients finish at the front register, they are unable to move past a working client at the back register, forcing them to push the line of waiting customers back so they can exit in reverse.

photo of a checkout aisle

This creates a further bottleneck at the output of all four registers where carts pile up and get in the way when clients have multiple carts of goods.

Problem 2: Bagging

Bags are located on the far side of the desk, away from where they are needed while checking out a customer, forcing an associate to look away from the client instead of engaging.

photo of checkout registers with stacks of paper bags on the sides

Problem 3: Lack of space

Our primary clients have large carts of long pieces of merchandise and the narrow aisles don’t leave enough room for turning the corner resulting in items getting bumped or ran into along with client frustration.

photo of the space between the end of the register aisle and the exit

Example: A customer has 20 pieces of 12’ drywall, 4’ wide; or 16’ long dimensional lumber. The back end will hit the drinks and snacks or the person manning the back register, plus the front end may likely hit the wall or desk.

To circumvent this associates have started having customers leave large carts in the main aisle, blocking throughput, so they can scan things there. There is potential loss of product since the associate cannot keep a close eye on the terminal to ensure all items are scanned properly. Additionally this blocks waiting customers from progressing to the next available associate because of carts in the main aisle.

Problem 4: Small drink fridges

One of our biggest sellers is PowerAid which does not fit in the narrow slots for soda or the RedBull slots on the other side.

photo of a small clear front refrigerator that is mostly empty

Problem 5: Light switch placement

Each lighted checkout sign has two sides that can illuminate independently. Instead of putting a switch on each side, both switches are on one side with no label. Which one turns on what light?

photo of two switches stacked on the side of a vertical beam

Problem 6: Desk height

The desktops sit at 2 feet 9.5 inches high, which works fine if you’re sitting in a chair. However, Pro-Desk associates stand all day making this setup less than ideal. This height creates back fatigue or severely bent wrists when using the terminal.

We devised some inventive solutions, like trying to raise the keyboard and mouse level up to a comfortable position, which management promptly nixed.

The monitor post is too short, making it impossible to raise the monitor to eye level.

photo of a man bending over to use a computer

Problem 7: Dead space

Lots of unused space that should have drink machines or something in it. Space is at a premium, use it efficiently!

photo of empty floor space between a wall and a register

Problem 8: Coffee

Our “luxurious” coffee bar is 10 times worse than it was and has gotten comments from customers already.

photo of a small cabinet with two coffee urns

Problem 9: Mouse pads

photo of a mouse pad shaped like a man waving that is barely large enough for a mouse

Whoever made these has apparently never used a mouse and needs to be fired.

AccessNow app

A new app out of Canada, AccessNow, aims to crowdsource the accessibility of communities. Maayan Ziv, a wheelchair user, has made it her life’s work to help others know which places are accessible before going out.

As she told CBC News in Access Now uses crowdsourcing to pinpoint accessible businesses

“Recently, I went to a place and there were three steps at the entrance, and I was told it was accessible. I get to the entrance, and there are those steps and then I’m stuck in the middle of the street without any options.”

I downloaded this app for iPhone to check out what’s going on in Austin. The app doesn’t have many places reviewed here just yet, with only four entries showing up for the Central Austin/UT Campus/Downtown area.

AccessNow map viewIn addition to a searchable map display, the app also has a list view. Icons from a green thumbs up for accessible to a red thumbs down for inaccessible help users know what to expect when experiencing a mobility impairment.

screenshot showing 4 map pins
AccessNow map view

Users can outline specific issues in a description.

screen shot explaining the accessibility issues with the Austin Panic Room
AccessNow app place details

Per the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, new construction and any existing construction that undergoes major renovations are supposed to be accessible. I see how this app would be especially useful for rating those places that were built before the act went into effect.

Users who have created an account can add new entries by tapping the ‘add pin’ icon, searching for a place, then entering details. The app provides several tags like accessible parking, automatic door and ramp, as well as an area to type out a description.

screen shot of the add place screen with options to rate how accessible it is
AccessNow add new place screen

Learn more from this interview with the creator.

Sony DVD Software for Amazon Video

For me to be able to watch Amazon Video content on my TV, I have to access the service through my Sony DVD player. It’s a rudimentary display with tabbing through options one by one and using various buttons on the remote to navigate.

photo of a TV displaying software used to access Amazon Video content

To go backwards and forwards in the interface, you use the remote’s “options” button (left) and “return” button (right) as noted at the bottom of the TV screen. What trips me up is that the buttons on the remote are in the opposite positions that they are on the screen.

photo of a remote with the return button on the left and the options button on the right

It’s a small thing but I have to stop and look down at the remote every time and double-check that I’m using the right button. A simple fix would be to transpose the controls on the screen.