FIXING THINGS
An Exploration of the Experience of Repairing Consumer Products By Greg Burkett
This book is based on thesis research done in the Master of Science in Design program at Arizona State University. Its purpose is to serve as a guide to the human experience of product repair and to the opportunities within repair to create positive experiences, reduce our ecological impact, and create business value.
If you would like further information on this research or my other work, contact me at gregsburkett@gmail.com or visit www.gregburkett.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
06
Introduction & Framing About the Study Ecological Context Cultural Context Business Context
12
THE REPAIR EXPERIENCE The Repair Journey Introduction Use Repair Story: Natalie’s iPhone Repair Story: Peter’s Blender Failure Decision Repair Story: Tony & Leah’s Baby Gate Action Results Repair Story: Dan’s MacBook
26
INSIGHTS & FRAMEWORKS The Support-Value Transfer 5 Key Areas of Need 3 Approach to Repair Moments that Matter Insights into the Broader Context
34
AREAS OF OPPORTUNITY Increase Brand Equity Through Repair Adapt Product–Service Systems to Support Repair Discuss Repair with Customers Influence & Streamline the Repair Decision Support Actions During Repair Extend the Relationship Beyond Repair
42
APPENDIX: THE RESEARCH JOURNEY Planning Data Collection Analysis Backstory
introduction & FRAMING
The practice of product repair has become neglected as consumption has increased and products have become more technologically complex. As companies simultaneously increase focus on customer experience and reducing their ecological impact, the subject of product repair will have an increased importance. This chapter will give you a further introduction to the research, and some context.
• Dan, one of the participants in this study, showed me how difficult and dangerous it would be to repair his amplifier.
About this Study Durable goods are the most difficult to recover through recycling, leaving many in the landfill. Trust and loyalty in brands is disappearing and brand retention is becoming increasingly more complicated. These and other factors have contributed to a gradual increase in the discussion of the creation of more durable consumer products. When companies begin to design products for durability, they are designing an unfamiliarly long-lived user experience, which needs careful management. Hurdles within this experience include creating attachment, fending off desire for new products, upgrading products, ensuring products are reliable, and repairing the products when they are broken or malfunction. Additionally there are barriers to the implementation of repair, including economic, cultural, and technological ones. This research study sought to understand repair from a human-centered perspective, to inform the design of longer lasting, more reparable products and the services and businesses that support repair. All research, essentially, focused around this one question:
What is the experience of repairing products like? What are peoples’ stories of repairing consumer products? What are their attitudes about the repair of consumer products? What are similarities and differences in their experiences? Is there a common framework behind the repair experience? What are peoples’ unmet needs in the repair experience? • THE PARTICIPANTS
Through a series of 8 deep conversations with 10 participants who had a
Participants were sampled based on their experience with repair. I looked to extremes on each end of the spectrum. I will refer to all of the participants throughout this book Below is a cheat sheet:
variety of experiences, as well as an introspective self-study, I have tried
Pseudonym Peter Dan Tony & Leah Felix Mary Everett Natalie & Scott Beth Greg
Age Range 45–54 25–34 35–44 45–54 35–44 18–24 35–44 25–34 18–24
Repair Freq. Average High Average High Average Average Average Low Low
to find answers to these questions. This book documents these answers and provides insight into the repair experience through stories, themes, and frameworks. Finally, a set of opportunities existing within the space of product repair are articulated. These opportunities are framed with questions that designers, business people, and entrepreneurs can use to begin generating product, service, and business concepts that would improve the repair experience, reduce ecological impacts, and create better brand equity with people. Though this research uncovered some powerful connections, it is important to remember that the sample was relatively small, and consists of middle class, mostly caucasian Americans in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Ecological Context Total MSW Generation (million tons)
300
Total Municipal Solid Waste
• U.S. EPA SOLID MUNICIPAL WASTE
CONTAINERS & PACKAGING
Based on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (2008) 2007 report on municipal solid waste. The total amount of solid waste created has continued to grow, as has the amount recovered (through recycling).
150
The recover of durable goods is only 18%, lower than any other category of goods. This data is not adjusted for population increase.
0 150
durable goods
Nondurable goods
TOTAL AMT. AMT. RECOVERED
0 1960
2007
1960
2007
Though much environmental concern is currently directed at CO2 production and energy use related to climate change, it has become an imperative for western countries to reduce their overall material throughput and waste output by massive amounts. Activity in the ecodesign space has been primarily focused on energy use, natural materials, and recycled materials. Chapman1 has argued that most ecodesign tends to be “symptom based”, and relies on a technological approach.
1. EMOTIONALLY DURABLE DESIGN Chapman’s Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences and Empathy is an excellent treatise on product durability.
An over-emphasis on recycling has also led to the new “culture of recycling”2 that promotes recyclable cars and washing machines. Some argue that this approach could lead to all products that malfunction being recycled
2. BEYOND RECYCLING From Tim Cooper’s Beyond Recycling: The Durability Option (1992).
rather than repaired, when repair uses considerably less resources. In this sense recycling becomes an excuse for more consumption1. When the material waste of durable goods is viewed solely from the household waste perspective, it can be misleading2. If household and commercial waste streams are combined and the impact of the replacement products is considered, the waste creation and resource depletion of product obsolescence is considerable. Each ton of waste created by the consumer equates to roughly five tons of waste during manufacture and twenty tons of waste during resource extraction3.
3. BEYOND THE LIMITS From Meadows, Meadows, & Rander’s Beyond the Limits (1992).
No countries of the world have been completely successful in creating an infrastructure to capture and recycle technical nutrients, and it is possible that burdens generated from the collection of materials for recycling may outweigh possible ecological boons. Based on this information, increasing useful product life span has been cited as a key strategy for reducing our resource consumption.
Cultural Context CONSUMPTION OF OBJECTS 4. CONSUMPTION Robert Bocock’s Consumption (1993) covers the genesis of modern day capitalist consumption, which really started post-WWII.
Our society’s consumption of objects and therefore natural resources has continuously grown since the post-WWII years.4 It has been similarly reported that if all humans were “to develop a lifestyle approaching that of the US or of Western Europe, at least two additional planets such as ours would have to be harness to provide the required energy and materials.” 5 The average US person has been found to consume twice as much per day as they did 50 years ago. Yet the nation’s happiness peaked right around that same time.
5. COSTS & BENEFITS OF CONSUMING Psychologist Csikszentmihalyi’s article on the relationship between happiness and consumption, The Costs and Benefits of Consuming (2005).
This has been expanded upon in other studies, showing that despite the fact that most of modern day consumption is to fulfill “higher needs”, that “material well-being does not correlate with subjective well being. For instance, while the average American’s income measured in constant dollars has doubled in the last 40 years, the level of happiness they report has not changed.”5 Many Americans are becoming aware of this and some consumer trends are emerging that challenge our current idea of consumption where we continue to desire the unattainable—the satiation of all our desires. HUMAN-PRODUCT RELATIONSHIPS “We seldom witness users affectionately stroking and caressing machines after they perform well; most users, however, are prepared to invest and enormous degree of emotional outlay in dysfunctional objects.”1 Chapman has argued that people have emotional relationships with objects, and that constant disappointment is one of the contributing factors to product obsolescence and to peoples’ frustration. He posited, “a greater degree of emotional resonance and symbolic exchange between users and objects would elevate interaction beyond its current state.”1 Essentially, if emotional relationships with objects are more meaningful and there is more opportunity for personal connection with a product, we may keep them longer and be a bit happier in the process.
6. EZIO MAZINI From the Time in Design conference, documented in the resource on product durability edited by Ed van Hinte, Eternally Yours: Time in Design (2004).
But how many products can people really love? Ezio Mazini articulated this thought, “Speaking for myself: it is difficult for me to love more than one woman. Maybe its my limitation, but that’s the way it is. And so the idea is that if we try to solve the problem of sustainability by only thinking that you have to love products one by one, which probably is important, you don’t get the real solution. So at the end of the discussion the idea was that maybe we don’t have to have so many lovable products, but that we could have a basic system of services as well that could give us everything else we need for our lives.6
10
Business Context SHIFTING ECONOMICS Much has been written about the need for a paradigm shift in thinking about limitless economic growth, which has been inextricably tied to resource depletion, waste, and planned obsolescence—and therefore product durability. Daly and Farley7 discussed this as a shift from thinking of the economy as a separate entity from the biosphere and argue that
7. ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS Daly & Farley clear up the relationship between economics and the planet in Ecological Economics (2003).
economics must begin to consider its reliance on rapidly depleting resources. Though no real policies suggesting a reduction in consumption of consumer products have been introduced, there have been policies introduced or that are taking shape in the western world that affect the durability of consumer products. Many EU countries have introduced increasingly tighter regulations requiring manufacturers to be responsible for their products at the end of life. There have been other policy changes suggested by economists, such as “ecological tax reform, switching from taxing labour to taxing energy, raw materials and landfill sites”8. Policy like this could resolve manufacturers to think more dutifully about product lifetime.
8. THE LONG SEARCH Cooper & Christer, The Long Search: Looking for longer lasting products (2005).
Durability and the service economy A service economy, which has been predicted as the successor of our current model9, involves the reframing of ownership, and “that manufacturers cease thinking of themselves as sellers of products and become, instead, deliverers of service, provided by long-lasting, upgradeable durables. Their goal is selling results rather than equipment, performance and satisfaction rather than motors, fans, plastics, or condensers.”9 A service economy has many implications for the durability of products. The “reduction of materials use, maximization of product durability, and enhanced ease of maintenance
9. NATURAL CAPITALISM Hawken, Lovins & Lovin’s Natural Capitalism (1999) has much to say on the service economy, among other important topics.
not only improve the customer’s experience and value but also protect the manufacturer’s investment and hence its bottom line.”9 Durability and BRAND Chapman1 offered several arguments for the positive impacts of product durability on a company’s brand, though no empirical evidence of this could be found. When given the time to develop empathy with a company’s product, customers can gain brand empathy, therefore, “when the time eventually does come for replacement, brand loyalty is generally high.” This could also lead to a customer buying other products from that brand, due to their positive experience and empathy with that brand. He also argues that when consumers are able to gain empathy with their products, it “transforms products into talking points, linking consumers to producers through ongoing dialogues.” 11
THE REPAIR EXPERIENCE
What is the repair experience like? Despite the variety of products, companies, and services, there are underlying themes and structures to the experience. This chapter will discuss the different phases, details, commonalities, and anomalies of participants’ repair journeys, and will tell some of their repair stories.
• The blade of my 1980s food processor could not deliver on my roommates desire for crushed ice in his smoothie. 13
The Repair Journey Whether participants were sending digital cameras to manufacturers, taking a MacBook to the Apple store, or deconstructing a baby gate latch they journeyed through six general phases: Introduction; Use; Failure; Decision; Action; and Results. Different interactions, emotions, and touch points existed within each of these phases, and they varied depending on how the repair process was approached.
INTRO
USE
FAILURE
DECISION
ACTION
RESULT
TOUCHPOINTS / FACTORS
Warranty
Intensity
Moment of
Repair vs. Replace
Self vs. Service
Emotions
Durability
Significance
Emotions
Self vs. Service
Manufacturer
Satisfaction
Investment
Attachment
Nature
Warranty
Employees
Anxiety
Expectations
Cause
Attachment
Internet
Return to use
Lifetime data
History
Principles
Product
Reviews
Confidence
Retail
POP
Attitude
Service
Ability
Tools
Parts
Parts
Time
Manuals
Cost
Friends
Internet
Family
Others
INFLUENCE ON REPAIR OUTCOME
Introduction A person’s practical thinking determines the purchase of a product and includes many variables. Some key subtopics of the purchase process affect the trajectory of the repair journey. Participants were not always responsible for the purchase of products we discussed, which can also affect the process. Purchasing for quality and durability
• BETH’S PHONE
Participants mentioned purchasing certain products for quality and
Aware of her propensity for dropping things, Beth challenged the salesperson to find her the most durable phone available. The salesperson demonstrated one phone by throwing it across the room, though she decided to purchase a slightly less bulky one.
durability, and had several methods for determining such qualities. Internet research was a useful tool to, as Felix mentioned, “weed-out” the products that may have not met their standards. Tony attributed he and his wife’s relatively few recent consumer electronic failures to good research. If one wanted a long lasting, quality product, many participants noted, a higher price was inevitable. Many noted that they had to learn their lesson the hard way. Scott noted that “you get burned on stuff,” and many participants alluded to their parents’ better purchasing habits. Warranties
• MY WARRANTY EXPERIENCE
Warranties had strong influence of the flow of participants’ repair experi-
When exploring my own history of warranties I realized that I had never purchased an extended warranty. A few other participants had the same realization.
ences. Dan felt that a warranty’s value rested in the company’s reputation. There was some suspicion that companies used warranties to increase sales, because most consumers would not utilize the warranty. When discussing the purchase of extended warranties, they had mixed feelings. Scott expressed, “That’s just a way for them to make more money off of you.” Other participants shared his sentiment. Mary felt that “if you make a good product, you shouldn’t need a warranty.” The few extended warranties participants had purchased were on consumer electronics with frequent use. Expectation and consideration of failure
• BUYING THE BEST
Participants had varying positions about the appropriate lifetime for different
Tony and Leah had purchased several vacuum cleaners before purchasing their Dyson. Tony declared to me that “you would expect a vacuum to last a little longer than a year for a hundred and forty dollars,” but even after making an investment in the Dyson he felt that “it’s still a crap shoot.”
products, which was influenced by personal beliefs, price, and technology. All of the participants seemed somewhat disenchanted with the average lifetime of many consumer products, particularly electronics. “It’s like everything electronic breaks, it drives me crazy,” Mary exclaimed. Participants, because of both technological obsolescence and low expectations of technology, considered technology a hurdle for durability. Natalie spoke about their TiVo’s upcoming obsolescence, “now there is the HD one that’s
• SCOTT’S DJ HEADPHONES
not compatible with our TV, so now it’s like we have to get a new one.”
After wearing out two sets of headphones from demanding DJing use, Scott began to think about buying for reparability. Learning his lesson, he bought a set of headphones that have all replaceable parts, and has replaced the ear pads once since his purchase.
When purchasing for durability, participants tended to emphasize quality and brand reputation over reparability. Dan noted that he would sometimes look for things that are “user serviceable,” but that it “depends on the product.”
15
Use The use of a product typically leads to its failure. People can use products in ways that were not imagined by its designers, which can lead to failure, but often they are using it as it was specified. What influences the repair process the most about the use phase, is the relationship that people form with their product through its use, which takes form in three qualities: significance, attachment, and intensity. SIGNIFICANCE The significance of a product to a participant’s life can have implications for the course the repair process takes. The significance of a product refers to its impact on a participant’s life. When Peter lost a piece to his espresso machine, it was a big deal because he started almost every day with its coffee. This resulted in immediate action—a phone call to the manufacturer, Starbucks. Similarly, Tony and Leah needed to act quickly when their refrigerator stopped operating. The repair men could not come If not, all of their food would have spoiled. Insignificance of a broken product occasionally lead to procrastination of the repair process. Peter had a broken external hard drive that, eventually, needed to be repaired or recovered. Since it was just a backup drive, though, he had no impetus for immediate action. ATTACHMENT Emotional attachment to a product also affected repair. This attachment can be aesthetic, reminiscent, or sentimental. Natalie had a rug she had purchased on sale from Anthropologie that had begun fraying. She spent a few hours searching the internet for a suitable replacement, but nothing sparked her interest, and she didn’t want to spend a fortune. Instead, she embarked on her first rug repair journey. Beth had thrown away many rings, but when the ring her mother had passed down to her broke, it was imperative that she took steps to have it repaired. INTENSITY In some cases the routine or intensive use of a product was the cause of failure. Beth was hard on her high heels and wore them often, noting that she would “walk around in them like they are Doc Martin’s.” Scott’s DJ headphones were also intensely used, being exposed to sweat and dropped every weekend. Conversely, use can have nothing to do with the need for repair. Dan was using his MacBook as his “don’t mess with” computer that he cared for and used to store important files. The hard drive “made a grinding noise, the machine froze, and then turned off,” without any abnormal or erroneous use. 16
Repair Story: Natalie’s iPhone
After lifting a stack of books with it resting on top, Natalie’s iPhone went spilling toward the ground. Her husband Scott used the internet to learn how to repair it and buy parts. Natalie and Scott were a single couple in their 30s.
Natalie was on her second iPhone. Recently she had
They owned a mid-century home, and invested much
dropped it (two days in a row, actually) and the glass
time finding and fixing up furniture and other items
was cracked. Her immediate reaction was to cry and call
to complement their home. Both were involved in
Scott, who told her not to worry, they could take care of
technology in some way in the past. Scott runs own tech
it. They had not purchased AppleCare, so Scott never
company in Phoenix, whereas Natalie is now a freelance
contacted the company. The phone still worked, so they
internet journalist. They were both busy people with
placed some clear plastic over the cracked screen as a
prominent social lives—and therefore little time. They
temporary fix—and to keep the glass out of Natalie’s ear.
tended to procrastinate on repairing products, due to their busy schedules.
Then Scott went to Google, and searched to find what others had done. He came across some YouTube
They felt that they had reached a point in their life were
videos that explained the process of replacing the glass,
they purchased items they cared about, and often
and discovered that spare parts and tools were being
bought vintage products. They had recently purchased
sold on eBay. He ordered parts from an individual in
a hefty chili warmer, “I mean this thing is ridiculously
Hong Kong for about $15. After receiving those parts,
made…I don’t think you could find anything like this, with
though, Scott realized he needed to replace the LCD
this much material today,” Scott said of it. Though they
screen inside of the phone as well. The phone still had a
often preferred older items, they were also “technology
cracked screen during my follow up several weeks after
people” and kept up to date with newer technology
interviewing them, though Scott assured me they would
products such as computers and phones.
get to it soon.
Repair Story: Peter’s Blender
Peter inherited a really nice blender, but one day his wife dropped the pitcher on the counter. They almost purchased a new blender, but Peter found a replacement pitcher on eBay. Peter, a 50-year-old creative director with a family of four,
One day the couple were in Target and found
told me in an interview about his experience repairing a
themselves in the appliance aisle, pricing out new
blender. When his mother moved in with his brother, she
blenders. It wasn’t an emergency, so his wife vowed to
liquidated most of her belongings—and Peter inherited
find the one they liked at a cheaper price online. After
a few new things. One of these was a KitchenAid brand
this encounter, Peter recalled, “What am I going to do
blender. He and his wife had a blender already, but this
with this big heavy motor unit that is perfectly good?”
one was of higher quality, so they shelved the old one and eventually handed it down to their son.
He made a visit to the KitchenAid web site and it was a bit hard to navigate. “I thought, you know what? I’ll go
It performed well, but one day Peter’s wife was making
on eBay.” With a quick search, he located the pitcher,
a morning smoothie and “somehow she broke a big
in the company of most other replacement parts he
chunk off the top lip of the pitcher.” As only a portion of
might someday need. He purchased the pitcher and as
the glass was broken, the blender was still functional.
well as another part that seemed to be deteriorating
They handled the malfunctioning blender for as long as
on the blender, just in case. He noted his amazement in
was tolerable by holding a towel over the cracked area to
the simplicity of the transaction, “they made it easier
block the leaking liquid from squirting on to the counter
to replace than KitchenAid did…obviously it’s not a big
and unto themselves.
deal to them to help you out.”
Failure
MANUFACTURER CAUSED
Vacuum MacBook MiniDisc Fridge Fridge/ DEFECTIVE DoorPOOR Opener
Laptop 1 DESIGN
Microwave
Projector
COMPONENT FAILURE
Bed
Gate Mower Laptop 2 Food Processor TiVo Phone WEAR & TEAR Rug Furniture Headphones Bike Crockpot Microwave Cat House Umbrella Espresso Toy Blender
ACCIDENT
SYSTEM FAILURE
iPhone
USER CAUSED
SELF-LED REPAIR SERVICE-LED REPAIR
CAUSE & NATURE OF FAILURE Product failures had two primary influences: the cause of failure and its
• FAILURE MAP
nature. Causes of failure fell on a continuum of “user” fault to manufacturer
This plot of failed products (that were repaired) on a biaxial map shows several simple correlations. Most repaired products fail at a component level (the “weakest link”) and, unless the product failed under a manufacturers warranty, they tend to do the repair themselves.
fault (y-axis above). Failures caused by users were typically accidents or misuses. In the center of this continuum were wear and tear failures, caused from both intensive use and non-durable manufacture. In this group were also misuses of the product that may not have been anticipated by the manufacturer. Manufacturer’s fault resulted from defects or poorly designed and produced goods. The nature of the failure describes its severity. Failures can be on entire system levels, individual component levels, or in between (x-axis above). For most participants, products (that were repaired) were single or several simple component failures. Moment of failure The moment of product failure was characterized by diverse signals: a
• PETER’S MISSING ESPRESSO SLEEVE
loud crack, the sudden realization of a missing piece, a gradual build up, or
“One morning I go to make the espresso and…no sleeve. Its gone, can’t find it anywhere. Wake my wife up ‘where’s the sleeve?’ ‘I don’t know’. I want my espresso. We had gotten in this habit of rapping it on the trash compactor…one of us must not have noticed that it popped out into the garbage compactor. Well, the trash had been picked up a couple days ago.”
a pushed in power button followed by…nothing. This moment influences how participants make their repair decisions. Confusion was a common reaction at the moment of failure. Leah, when unsuccessfully attempting to return the hose of her vacuum in to the machine, thought that she wasn’t doing it correctly. Gradual failure can still surprise, but foreshadows it with symptoms. Everett’s laptop had slowed down and was running hot. When it just “clicked off” one day it may have been startling, but he had a notion of what the cause might have been.
19
Decision
TIME
COST
MNFR CONFIDENCE
PARTS
DIAGNOSIS
WARRANTY
ATTACHMENT TOOLS & ABILITIES
• REPAIR DECISION TREE Though it is difficult to simplify into a flow chart, the repair decision has distinct levels of importance. For example, if a product has a warranty, the other factors matter little. If one has attachment for a product, but its cost is too high, and they do not have the ability to repair themselves, it may not be repaired.
PRINCIPLES
APPROACH
ATTITUDE
Influences on the repair decision Warranties were taken advantage of when participants had them, but rarely purchased them. If a product had a warranty, it negated other influences. Some had poor warranty experiences, which reduced their reliance on them. Can Find Parts Have Tools
Willing toTry
Cost influences replacement and repair type chosen. Economic cost led many participants to self-repair decisions or replacement if it was too much.
Have Ability
Attachment to a product was a key driver in the repair decision. If there was emotional or functional product attachment, repair was seriously considered.
Cost of Labor
Have Time
A person’s principles, such as concerns about the environment and a culture too focused on material goods, affected their decision to repair or replace.
• REASONS FOR SELF-LED REPAIR
If there was confidence in the manufacturer to support the repair process, Lack Tools Not Willing to Try Warranty
Lack Time
participants were more likely to repair a product. Many had poor experiences and had lost confidence in a manufacturers ability to even supply parts. Time was individual and contextual, as participants perceived time differently. Some preferred to save money and spend time, others would rather not.
Justifiable Labor Cost Lack Ability
• REASONS FOR SERVICE-LED REPAIR
Those with a positive attitude toward repair tended to repair more products. This attitude did not, however, consistently override other factors. If people had tools and abilities to repair themselves they were likely to repair. Lack of abilities led many people to service-led repair or replacement. Finding parts was a huge obstacle in the decision. Many participants (and even services) attempted to repair products, but were unable to locate parts.
20
Repair Story: Tony & Leah’s Baby Gate
Due to its faulty design (or faulty use, depending on who you ask), Tony and Leah’s baby gate latch failed after only a year of use. Mechanical issues were Tony’s forte, so he did the fix. Tony and Leah were a 30-something couple with a
the frame of the gate, resulting in a broken mechanism.
toddler and a newborn child. As homeowners, they
After dealing with the broken gate for a while, Tony
had repairs related to their homes, but on the whole
resolved himself to fix the problem. Buying a new one
considered themselves “lucky” to have not avoided a
would be expensive, and would require Tony to fully
large amount of product failures. Tony attributed this to
uninstall the broken one, so it made sense for him to
their smart shopping habits, including reading consumer
attempt the repair.
reviews on the internet and buying name brands. We discussed their repair experiences with products
Tony resolved himself to attempt to repair the gate.
including a vacuum cleaner, lawn mower, refrigerator, a
One Sunday, left alone in the house, he gathered a
sprinkler system, and a baby gate.
screwdriver, some glue, and some beers and opened up the gate mechanism. The inside of the mechanism
The couple had purchased a baby gate roughly a year
was “all jacked up,” and required him to disassemble
before its failure. In addition to the price of the gate, they
the many pieces and figure out how to piece them all
also had to purchase materials and spend time to install
back together. After several hours, he had finally put
it. The gate had a locking mechanism that needed to be
everything back together correctly (though there were
released in order to open and properly close it. Rarely,
a couple mystery pieces left on the table). When his wife
though, did people press the button in when closing the
and children returned he was beaming like pride. Leah
gate. This caused the locking mechanism to collide with
joked, “He felt like he was superman.”
PHONE
WEBSITE
SERVICE PERSON
STORE MAIL
SERVICE COMPANY
TOOLS/ MATERIALS
EMAIL CUSTOMER SERVICE
CAR
WEBSITE
TRANSPORT
SPARE PARTS
MNFR / RETAIL
PRODUCT
PAPER WORK
USER RETAIL EMPLOYEE
MANUALS
PART/ TOOL SUPPLY
UNOFFICIAL SUPPORT FRIENDS
WEBSITE FAMILY
22
SOCIAL MEDIA
PHONE
Action The decision-making and action-taking phases of the repair journey are reciprocal and iterative. The action phase of the repair process is the most contextually related to the decision of self-led or service-led repair and is replete with interactions among people and manufacturer, repair store, and between people and the objects that they are attempting to repair. Interacting with the Manufacturer
• EVERETT’S MINIDISC PLAYER
The choice to involve the company at all in the repair process varied per
Everett’s MiniDisc player was under manufacturer’s warranty when it ceased to function properly. He had to search his saved files for the warranty card that included a number to call. His call to the manufacturer resulted in being directed to the closest official warranty repair store. This practice of manufacturer as connector was common.
participant. In many other cases manufacturer contact was a requisite activity to engage in the repair process. Warranties led many participants into contact with the manufacturer. Participants also needed to contact manufacturers for parts or instruction. Many participants had poor manufacturer interactions, and therefore would eschew contacting them unless absolutely necessary. Interacting with other services or retail outlets
• MARY’S SON’S TOY
Some participants needed to seek out independent repair shops for
“My son had this electric toy and one of the pieces on it broke. And it was old—like it was probably fifteen years old when he started using it…its so old its not like you can find replacement parts. So I called the manufacturer and they directed me to someone in California who just collects old parts of old toys, and he just charged me the postage to mail it to mail it back. So he fixed it and shipped it back, and that’s what he did…I think he was subsidized through the government or something.“
consumer products. Participants described this as a common occurrence for vehicle and home issues, such as plumbing, but not for consumer products. The primary concern when approaching a repair service was economic cost. Participants justified the cost in this situation in different ways. Beth liked going to the bike shop. She had no interest in learning to fix her own bike and, besides, she always received something for free at the shop. Both Everett and Natalie set limits for how much they would spend through a repair service. These retail repair experiences varied from mundane, to poor, to great. Manufacturers often connected people with these repair shops, and if the experience was poor, it tended to reflect back on to the manufacturer. Parts & Instructions
• DAN’S IKEA CIRCLE BED
For any self-led repair activity, participants needed some variety of tools,
In Dan’s case, he searched to find if others had encountered similar problems to those he was having with an IKEA circle bed. “I looked, but nobody had solutions because they don’t sell that many…it was like oh, I’m going to have to come up with something of my own. I was actually on the toilet, where I have my best ideas. I said oh, if I can just cinch them all together.” His solution involved a trip to the hardware store to buy a large ratchet strap to compress the four modular pieces of the bed that had drifted apart.
parts, or other materials in order to succeed. Some participants’ first instincts were to contact the manufacturer. When Mary’s microwave oven button broke, she called the manufacturer to order a new part and, though she frowned at the forty-dollar price, ordered it. Felix was unsuccessful in his attempt to purchase a replacement component for a hand-held blender, even though it wa sa removable part. For some participants, the internet served as primary or secondary way of locating parts. If Scott was in need of a part, he looked there first. He recalled the search for a small part for his garage door opener, “It was pretty difficult to find that little piece. I had to do a lot of Google searching.”
23
Results
• SATISFACTION VS ANXIETY Repairing a product oneself can be extremely satisfactory and receiving a product back from a service person can make it seem brand new, but there can still be a nagging uncertainty or the stains of a poor experience that taint the final stage of the repair process.
SATISFACTION
VERSUS
ANXIETY
THE SATISFACTION OF REPAIR I encountered, first hand, the pleasure of a repaired product. My cell phone battery had depleted to the point that I could only hold a three-minute call without need of an electrical charge. At one point, a friend had given me her old battery that briefly increased my talking time. At every step of the journey, including two retail stores, people questioned, “Why don’t you just get a new one for free?” All I had to do was sign a new contract. I was disinterested in this and as a graduate student involved in a sustainabilityoriented projects, I found it difficult to justify phone replacement. After much searching, I located a battery for thirty-five dollars—less than the forty dollars Verizon wished to charge—at Best Buy. I still felt it was overly expensive, but didn’t trust batteries from eBay or random internet sites to be reliable. On the second day with my new battery, having only charged it once, I noticed that my battery level was still at 75%. My phone felt brand new and fully functional. Tony, Dan, Everett, Peter, and others noted good feelings following repair. They also discussed how they enjoyed the process of repair, which was discussed previously. ANXIETY & HARD FEELINGS The end is not always satisfactory, though. Even with my phone, I was concerned for weeks about a repeated failure. Most participants were happy to have their products repaired, but high costs and poor experiences with service representatives also left a stain on their journeys. Everett seemed glad to have his laptop back during its early repairs at MicroCenter, but his battles with customer service representatives made him resent the experience and the company. Similarly, Mary did not intend to get a new microwave but after spending forty dollars for a small plastic part, she was uncertain of its value. Many participants were disappointed in the lack of interest many companies had in helping customers to repair their products. If a participant attempted to repair a product and it repeatedly failed or was impossible to fix, they often harbored hard feelings for the manufacturer. 24
Repair Story: Dan’s MacBook
Dan was trained as computer engineer, but still decided to buy an extended warranty for is Apple MacBook, so that it was “their problem.” Dan was a 27-year-old computer technician, with a
One day the computer made a loud grinding noise and
degree in computer science. He described himself as
shut off. He was sure the hard drive had died. He set
a tinkerer, and was known by his friends to fix, modify,
up appointment online (with one of his many other
and do “weird” things to products. He enjoyed repairing
computers) and went to the Apple store, where he could
things, connecting it with his desire to do hands on
see his name on the waiting screen. When he spoke with
activities due to his sedentary, mostly digital day job. We
the customer service representative, they confirmed
talked about his many self-repairs of a bed, a projector,
what he thought was wrong with the computer. He
computers, a table, and his classic Volvo.
preferred talking with them about it, to make sure that they were not missing anything, as he typically knew
What was unique about Dan’s repair attitude was his
everything that was wrong with the computer.
choice to purchase AppleCare (Apple’s warranty service) for his MacBook laptop, even though he could likely fix
They shipped his computer to their repair center, and
any issue with it himself. He used his MacBook as his
he received an email a week later noting that his laptop
“don’t mess with” computer, so he preferred it to be
was ready for pick-up. When he retrieved the laptop, they
secure and under warranty. With AppleCare, if it the
exhibited the working computer, he confirmed the repair
laptop broke it became “their problem.”
was completed, and took home his repaired laptop.
INSIGHTS & FRAMEWORKS
Further analysis of and reflection on the participants and my own repair experiences led to the generation of theories, insights, and frameworks. This chapter digs deeper into the subtext of the repair experience and synthesizes some of the information with existing research. These insights and frameworks can be used to guide the design of repair experiences.
• Everett had several experiences repairing his Sony laptop, but after repeated issues and failed repairs he gave up on it working again. 27
Principles Parts Abilities
Service
Approach
SUPPORT VALUE Money
P EOPLE
SUPPORT
Time Education
Info
Attachment
People bring what they have, including skills,
Support can come from many places—not
ambitions, and attachment, to make the repair
solely from the manufacturer—such as friends,
process happen but almost always need some
community support, the internet, the hardware
form of outside support.
store, and even the thrift store.
The Support–Value Transfer PEOPLE NEED SUPPORT Myriad external forces, such as cost or availability of parts, and internal forces, act on people during the repair experience. Despite these forces, people tend to do what they can to repair products with the abilities and resources available in their context. In most cases of product failure, partici-
• THE REPAIR SAVVY NEED HELP, TOO
pants in this study preferred to repair their products, rather than throw them
Even my most capable, “extreme” participants needed help, though they often needed help to find obscure parts or advanced instructions.
away. However, participants almost always needed support in some capacity, typically in the form of parts, service, or education. Parts tended to be difficult to find for many consumer products. Repair services were rarely used by participants, due to the high economic cost and general dismissal of them without a warranty. Therefore, in most cases, participants repaired their broken products themselves. They often had no idea what they were doing and at times sought education, though it was not always easy to find. PEOPLE RETURN VALUE For those who received support, particularly good support, they returned it with value. Brand value was created when companies managed a repair experience well; it was removed when the opposite occurred. In the case of an online information and education forum, value is provided through increased readership and, in cases not found in this research but available on the internet, increased participation and content creation on web sites such as Instructables.com and Makezine.com. When companies provided a positive repair experience, such as Dan’s first MacBook repair (which led to a second MacBook), participants lauded
• REPAIR & MAKE COMMUNITIES Many websites have started in the last 5 years, with the rise of the Maker movement, that support DIY activities, as well as repair activities. There is room for these to be less niche, to help average people find information on repairing their products, though.
the company’s care for their customers. When a service rendered a good repair experience, people suggested the service to friends and family. When companies did not provide support, or provided poor support, it reflected back on to them. Everett summed this factor up, “I will never buy a Sony laptop again.” This support-value model builds on the increasingly more important factor of customer experience, and its impact on a company’s brand—and therefore the bottom line.
29
5 Key Areas of Need CONFIDENCE Participants seem to lack confidence in manufacturers’ ability to support REASON
repair, and the general repairability
UNDERSTANDING OF COST
Reasons people repair products
of consumer products. “Am I going to
During decision-making, people
include emotional attachment,
box it up and send it to the manufac-
do a “folk-quantification” in their
personal principles, and cost savings.
turer? They don’t want it. They want
heads that may or may not take into
Everett aptly noted that, “a repaired
you to buy a new one,” noted Peter.
account the full economic, personal, and environmental costs. In some
original one.” Investment in a quality
cases, the net cost could have been
product can provide reason for repair.
less, had participants repaired.
CONFIDENCE
product is only as good as the
SO N
ING
IT Y
ER W PO
AR
EM
CL
M
EN
T
REA
D AN T S R DE U N COST OF
EMPOWERMENT
CLARITY
Many people have become accustomed
The repair process offers multiple,
to repairing products themselves, due
often confusing options. People need,
to high labor costs and dismal service-
and are drawn, to anything that
led repair experiences. They need
provides clarity in decision making.
empowerment in the self-led process,
The simplest solutions found in the
though, as it involves learning new skills,
research were the stickers that said,
locating parts, time, and energy.
“problems? Call 1-800-COMPANY.”
30
3 Approaches to Repair FIX-IT APPROACH A participant, Felix, described his ilk as “fix-it� guys. Those with a fix-it approach have skills and ambitions
SERVICE-ORIENTED APPROACH
to perform most repairs themselves.
Beth, who had this approach, avoided
They tend to have extra technical skills
most self-led repair. She enlisted help
from hobbies or careers, coupled with
from manufacturers, services, or
a willingness to attempt the solving of
friends and family. The needs of a
any repair problem.
person with this approach contrast
R E PA I R O F T E N
with the others based on their reliance upon other individuals and willingness to pay for their skills.
FIX-IT
S E L F- L E D FO CUS
RATIONALIST
S E RV I CE-LED FO CUS
SERVICE ORIENTED RATIONALIST APPROACH This approach was the most common, characterized by a careful balance of the various impacts on the decision, with economic cost as a primary driver. Their primary needs are of
R E PA I R S E L D O M LY
support and cost-effectiveness, and there was a willingness to learn and personally attempt repair. 31
Moments that Matter BECOMING INFORMED
CALL FOR HELP
THE HAND OFF
It would possible to mistake the
Each person will approach the search
When people decide to deliberate
beginning of the repair experience
for help differently, depending on
repair duties to a service, they are
for the moment of failure but,
his or her personal communication
have to transfer the product and/or
really, it begins before purchase.
preferences. Careful consideration of
the responsibility of repairing it to a
Addressing repair knowledge and
the different channels in which these
service person. This activity leaves a
expectations at this point can
distress signals are traveling can
strong impression on the experience,
ensure repair, and improve and
help to simplify and steer the repair
and manufacturers feel the effects of
structure the experience.
process in the right direction.
a poor third party experience.
CALL FOR HELP
BECOMING INFORMED
INTRO
USE
MOMENT OF FAILURE
FAILURE
DECISION
THE HAND OFF
ASSISTANCE & SUPPORT
ACTION
RETURN TO FUNCTION
RESULT
MOMENT OF FAILURE
ASSISTANCE & SUPPORT
RETURN TO FUNCTION
This key moment is characterized
People often decide to go-it-alone,
Having a product that is functioning
by disappointment, confusion, and
and repair by themselves. It is rare,
again can be satisfying, but can also
anger. The decision is often formed
however, for them to have all parts
cause anxiety. Return to function
following this moment—and directly
and knowledge needed to do the
can vary widely, depending on a self
influenced by it. Careful though
repair. They need support in the form
or service-led process. Regardless,
to providing immediate clarity for
of parts, manuals, instructions, etc.
consider this moment in the design
decision-making can create a better,
With good assistance, many could be
of any repair experience, as it can
more plausible, repair experience.
empowered to repair more.
leave a lasting impression.
32
Insights into the Broader Context BRAND EQUITY Brand equity is often seriously affected by the repair experience. Positive repair experiences can lead to future purchases from that brand. Negative repair experiences can lead to total avoidance of brands. People are in a vulnerable state during the repair process, and impressions from everything from a web site to service professionals can be lasting. Enhancing the repair experience can provide positive brand value for people, and vice versa.
10. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE & RETENTION Reichheld & Sasser, in Zero defects: Quality comes to services (1990), note that customers are not as loyal as they once were, and that “companies can boost profits by almost 100 percent by retaining just five percent more of their customers.”
Participants perceived a focus on new customers and offerings rather than support of existing customers and products. If a product was replaced, and the manufacturer was suspect of some fault in the failure, it was rare for the replacement product to be of the same brand. Companies who cared for and supported their customers found repeat customers on several occasions.10
CULTURE
BUSINESS
The internet has created new cultural implications for repair. Its primary use seems to be as an aid in the search for parts and to find advice and instruction to inform the repair process. Manufacturer’s web sites are often visited, but information about repair is often buried under new products. Third party web sites have entered this space to provide support people. As internet communities continue to grow more connected, the DIY movement grows, and more people rely on the internet, its importance in the repair process will grow. The desire for a new product is a constant influence on the
ECOLOGY
SOCIETY
repair decision. The economic costs and benefits of purchasing new, rather than repairing, are nearly always weighed. In many product categories, this desire may overcome other reasons to repair.
ECOLOGICAL FACTORS In many cases repair only extended product life for a short period—often in technology products. In some cases, the opposite occurred, and products lasted for many decades. Repair is only part of a suite of methods for extending a product’s life, and aligns well with other strategies such as design for disassembly and take back programs. Additionally, my intuition was that those who repaired the most would have smaller ecological footprints and those who repaired less would have larger ones. In the case of these participants, the high quantity repairers also tended to have a high quantity of possessions and have interest in different types of technology. Conversely the low repair quantity participants simply had less belongings. There could also be behavioral rebound effects. 33
AREAS OF OPPORTUNITY
There is no formula for creating a positive repair experience. Nor is there a definitive road map to implementing repair for every company. Based on this research, though, there are many opportunities for designers, manufacturers, and entrepreneurs to profitably engage in repair and support people in the repair process. This chapter provides these opportunities and stimulus to begin generating concepts.
• Some entrepreneurs in Hong Kong ceased the opportunity to provide replacement iPhone parts, when Apple was not. 35
Increase Brand Equity Through Repair Based on the primary research, there is a clear connection between a company’s management of the repair process and peoples’ perceptions of a brand. There is much business literature written about the value of keeping existing customers. Repair is one way to show a customer that a company cares about them and extends the customer-company relationship.
SUPPORT VALUE
SOCIAL NETWORK
BRAND
CUSTOMER
M
ar
ke t
vic e
KEY OPPORTUNITIES:
Se r
in
g
How could repair be used to increase retention of existing customers? NEW
OFFERINGS How might repair be utilized to increase brand contact? C US FO
?
Support How might companies use repair as a dialogue with their customers?
COMPANY
Service
How might companies better collaborate with third-parties? U FO C
? 36
EXISTING PRODUCTS
t
S
CUSTOMER
Adapt Product–ServiceSUPPORT Systems SOCIAL NETWORK VALUE to Support Repair CUSTOMER
BRAND
The current paradigm for manufacturers is to produce new goods and sell maximum amounts of them. This focus on new offerings affects a company’s capacity to care for its existing customers, and often undermines the repair process. For companies to have focus on supporting the repair process may require shifts in their existing product-service system.
M
ar
vic e
ke t
Se r
in
F
g
NEW OFFERINGS
S O CU
?
Support
COMPANY
Service FO C
?
EXISTING PRODUCTS
Pa r
ts
US
CUSTOMER
rt
po
p Su
KEY OPPORTUNITIES:
SUPPORT Knowledge How might companies reframe their finances to include positive Service repair experiences? How might companies rethink warranties to align with customer needs? Labor + and planned for?Help What if possible failures repair were anticipated
What are some ways a company might viably retain components for future repairs? Tools
Parts Instructions
Connections
37
TYPICAL COMPANY FOCUS Discuss Repair with Customers
EXTENDED FOCUS
TOTAL FAILURE
A person’sINTRO introduction andACTION awareness of a product rarely includes thoughts RESULT USE or discussions about reparability. Starting this discussion at the beginning Confidence? Purchase Service Return Product and continuing it could provide smarter consumer choices, an opportunity Satisfaction? Warranty Parts Purchase for market differentiation, a positive brand image, and a mechanism to start of
USE
FAILURE
DECISION
Discount? Warranty?
ACTION
RESULT
y? pp ha u yo ? e ng Ar ki fix or o w t it w do ho o tt is
ha
w
o
KEY OPPORTUNITIES:
How could repair be used to increase retention of existing customers? How might repair be utilized to increase brand contact? How might companies use repair as a dialogue with their customers? How might companies better collaborate with third-parties? 38
Is
e er
H
lp
o
td
ha
he
w
is
is
n ca
e er
H
e W
is
Th
is os gn ia ed D ed ne ls ed oo ed tt ne ha W lls ki ts n ha io W at ar ep Pr fe Li
ed ct pe Ex nty ra
ar W
COMPANY
Take back? Apology?
other products?
a long lasting customer relationship.
INTRO
RE-INTRO
Influence & Streamline Knowledge the Repair Decision
SUPPORT Service
Labor + The repair decision is a decisive phase of the repair process. The fewer
Help
options a person must balance, the easier and more likely repair becomes. People who have a streamlined decision making process often had an overall positive repair experience.
Tools
Parts Instructions
Connections
TIME
COST
MNFR CONFIDENCE
PARTS
WARRANTY
DECISION
ATTACHMENT TOOLS & ABILITIES
APPROACH
PRINCIPLES
PRINCIPLES
KEY OPPORTUNITIES: TYPICAL COMPANY FOCUS
EXTENDED FOCUS
How could decision to repair be made a no-brainer? USE What if INTRO the momentACTION of failure wasRESULT a moment of clarity?
Purchase
Service
Return Product
Confidence?
Satisfaction? Warranty What could influenceParts a person to disregard replacement? Purchase of
TOTAL FAILURE Take back? Apology?
RE-INTRO Discount? Warranty?
other products?
How could people be made confident in the ability to repair something? How could the full costs of repairing/replacing a product be communicated? 39
F
NEW OFFERINGS
S O CU
?
Support
COMPANY
Service
Support Actions During ? the Repair Process
U FO C
CUSTOMER
S
EXISTING Supporting repair actions is possibly the largest area of opportunity. Pa PRODUCTS rt Currently support for people in the repair rts process is minimal po and focused p Su a product are the on warranties or full service. The actions taken to repair defining moments of the experience.
SUPPORT Knowledge
Service
+
Labor
Help
Tools
Parts Instructions
Connections
KEY OPPORTUNITIES: TIME
COST
MNFR CONFIDENCE
How might different repair approaches be supported? How could cost effective support be provided to people? PARTS
WARRANTY
ATTACHMENT
How could local support and enablement be provided?
DECISION
TOOLS & ABILITIES
How might the repair system be design to best support self-led repairs? PRINCIPLES
APPROACH
How could people be supplied with the right repair information when they need it? PRINCIPLES
How could the internet be used to improve the repair process? How might companies connect people to the parts and support they need? 40
TYPICAL COMPANY FOCUS
EXTENDED FOCUS
TIME
Extend the Relationship Beyond Repair WARRANTY
COST
MNFR CONFIDENCE
PARTS
DECISION
ATTACHMENT
There are many unexploited opportunities to retain contact with customers
TOOLS & ABILITIES
following product purchase that could both strengthen brands and enable end of life take back. Similarly there are several opportunities to ensure the
APPROACH
PRINCIPLES
experience closes in a positive way at the end of a product repair process. PRINCIPLES
EXTENDED FOCUS
TYPICAL COMPANY FOCUS
TOTAL FAILURE
INTRO
ACTION
RESULT
USE
Purchase Warranty
Service Parts
Return Product
Confidence? Satisfaction? Purchase of other products?
RE-INTRO
Take back? Apology?
Discount? Warranty?
KEY OPPORTUNITIES: INTRO
USE
FAILURE
DECISION
ACTION
y? pp ha u yo ? e ng Ar ki fix or w to it w do ho o tt
Is
e er
H
e er
H
is
is
is
n ca
is
e W
Th
is os gn ia ed D ed ne ls ed oo ed tt ne ha W lls ki ts n ha io W at ar ep Pr fe Li
ed ct pe Ex nty ra
COMPANY
ar W
How might companies maximize a positive repair experience?
RESULT
w
ha
o
td
lp
ha
he
w
How could companies ensure that people are happy with their experience? o
How might companies reduce the emotions of uncertainty following a repair? How could retained contact with a customer benefit both parties?
41
APPENDIX: THE RESEARCH JOURNEY
This research saw me traveling from the library, to strangers’ homes, and in to my psyche. This appendix documents that journey and the details of my rationale for the project, reflections, data collection methods, methods of analysis, and the details of the synthesis all of this in to frameworks and opportunities.
• Some of the tools that went with me on every interview: consent forms, notebook, a few cameras, and most importantly, an audio recorder. 43
Planning FORMING THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS To form a focus and theoretical foundation for the primary data collection and to describe the broader context in which the repair experiences studied were taking place I did a review of pertinent literature. Through the literature review my goal was to sensitize myself to concepts and to provide a sufficient context and setting that would enrich a readers interpretation of the primary research results. Its purpose was not to find theories for which to base data collection or to establish my mastery of the subject matter. The literature review provides this context through the synthesis of various author’s explorations of four major topics: definitions of what product durability is; business factors related to product durability and repair; ecological implications of product durability and repair; and human factors of durability, consumption, and replacement of products. Research design The design of my research plan went through several iterations. I explored ideas of shop-alongs, surveys, focus groups, and various forms of participatory research. At one point, a make tool, to help participants articulate their ideal repair experience, was actually designed and printed. After the pilot study, though, I realized just a long, in-depth conversation with people would be the best use of both their time and my own. To do get a sense for the actual, in action, repair experience, I embarked on 11. THE ETHNOGRAPHIC I Carolyn Ellis’ The Ethnographic Eye (2004) heavily influenced the way I conducted research during this study.
an autoethnographic study. The notion of a researcher immersing her-orhimself in the same experience as their participants has become increasingly popular in the social sciences. Autoethnography is a method that employs the rigor of social science to evocatively articulate an experience through personal narrative.11 By weaving my personal experience in with my participants’ it helped to create a more complete view of the experience and a deeper interpretation of the data.
12. EXTREME PARTICIPANTS Fulton Suri and Gibbs Howard write in Going Deeper, Seeing Further (2006) about the benefits of not just sampling average people, but also the extremes of the population.
I handpicked participants for this study from respondents to a call for participation primarily based on their frequency of repair experiences. Age and gender were considered to create a broad sample, though were secondary. There were eight interviews, including two married couples. This brought the total participant number to ten. Ages were distributed from 18–54 and there were a total of seven men and four women. Extreme cases of repair were sought, based on their self-reported frequency of repair. Extreme cases were useful for their ability to “help magnify the details” that could have been overlooked.12 There was one novice repairer and two expert repairers.
44
Data Collection
In-depth interviews
• FELIX’S BAR
Though largely unstructured, most interactions with participants followed
Felix walked me around his house to show my things he had repaired. In every closet and on every shelf, there was something.
a similar trajectory. Participants were given a pre-interview ‘homework’ assignment to get them thinking about their past experiences. First, I would run the participant through my basic research topics and questions. We would then do an overview of their past repair experiences, which often led to singling out one or two of those experiences to go in to detail. Some sort
• BEING IN CONTEXT
of tour or show-and-tell often occurred, where we would discuss different
Context is key, but in this case I was rarely able to be directly in the context of repair. In participants homes was the second best option, as most of their products were still there, including in-process repairs. I did follow one participant, Everett, on two trips to the computer repair store.
types of products and how they would deal with their malfunction. This is where their personal opinions about the topic would become most evident. All interviews were audio recorded and most were documented with photopgraphs. Following each interview, I completed a post-research audiorecorded recapitulation of the experience, where I would memo important details and capture ideas that bubbled up during the interview. SELF-STUDY The self-study portion consisted of immersing myself in the repair
• MY REPAIRS
experience and understanding my own attitudes about it through the repair
For this study I repaired a failed cell phone battery and an older food processor. They were both objects that I actually needed to repair, so the emotions I felt during the process were real—as was my realization of my tendency to procrastinate and draw out the repair process.
of two objects—a three-year old cellular phone and a considerably older food processor. During the repair of these products, I dutifully documented my experiences with notes, photographs, and screen shots of websites. I attempted to approach the repair of each product as I normally would, had I not been studying it. I must note, though, that this was impossible. Any suspicions of caveats from my typical repair process were noted in memos.
45
Analysis & Synthesis
• THE WAR ROOM
ANALYSIS METHODS
During the analysis of the primary research data, the work room in my apartment was plastered in post it notes.
Grounded theory served as the basis for analysis in this study. As the entire study was flexible, so was the method of analysis, which also adopted elements of the thematic analysis and Miles and Huberman13 approach as necessary, including the use of scoring themes, methods of reducing the data and making it visible both physically and through frameworks.
13. MILES & HUBERMAN
The process began with transcription of the interviews onto sticky notes as
Qualitative data analysis: A sourcebook of new methods (1994).
well as my personal memos. Each data collection session was then initially coded and clustered on its own board. During this process, I created visual representations and diagrams to display emerging temporal and theoretical relationships. Once categories were formed, they were combined, integrated and cross-referenced, which tied them together as theories. Throughout the whole process, I strived to retain the power and value of the stories people told. I wrote different stories as vignettes, and wrote about my past repair experiences. After the different frameworks and theories were formed, I went back to the data and began generating possible opportunities. Combined with the literature and my personal knowledge, I affinity diagrammed these opportunities into groups, and culled them in to six distinct areas of opportunity.
46
Backstory WHY THIS STUDY? As I entered graduate school at Arizona State University, I was interested in the concept of sustainable consumption. Some strategies I explored for helping people to consume in a more ecologically benign way included reducing packaging waste, raising energy efficiency, creating productsharing systems, and extending the useful life of consumer products. Product life extension, or product durability, became my primary focus after exposure to the work of the Eternally Yours foundation6. My interests formed into the question, “how can we support people to purchase and keep products meant to last a long time?.” An article by Van Nes and Cramer isolated different strategies for extending product life: reliability and robustness, upgradeability, variability, attachment, and repair and maintenance. I was interested in the human aspect of product life extension and
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
felt that the areas of attachment and repair afforded the most opportunities.
My name is Greg Burkett. I come from the woods of Pennsylvania, and have a mixed background in industrial, graphic, and environmental design. I now do design research and strategy, with a focus on aligning peoples’ needs, businesses’ needs, and the needs of our planet with a unique approach to qualitative research and problem setting.
There was little research into repair—and nearly none into the human aspect of it—and its connection to manufacturer relations and service piqued my interest in service design. Alex Steffen of WorldChanging.com once said, “If we are going to avert ecological destruction we need to not only do things differently, we need to do different things.” This quote describes my personal standpoint about the
Contact: gregsburkett@gmail.com www.gregburkett.com
use of qualitative, human-centered research in the sustainability realm. I am positive that the creation and specification of more ecologically conscious materials and more efficient manufacturing processes will reduce the impacts that mass consumption has on the planet. However, if we are ever to reach a point of sustainability, systemic behavioral shifts will need to occur. Through a better understanding of human needs, we can begin to understand how to support people to change their behavior. By connecting human needs and sustainability issues in this way, we can influence business strategies that go way beyond eco-efficiency and toward more sustainable consumption worldwide. ACKNOWLEGEMENTS There are quite a few people that, without them, this research could not have been completed. Philip White, ecodesign guru and my thesis chair, guided me through the process, while Prasad Boradkar and Eric Margolis provided pivotal guidance on material culture and ethnographic research, respectively. Friends and classmates shaped the form of my research with invaluable input . Most important, though, were the kind research participants who allowed me in to their home and on trips to the repair store. Thank you all! 47
This book is based on thesis research done in the Master of Science in Design program at Arizona State University. Its purpose is to serve as a guide to the human experience of product repair and to the opportunities within repair to create positive experiences, reduce our ecological impact, and create business value.
If you would like further information on this research or my other work, contact me at gregsburkett@gmail.com or visit www.gregburkett.com