Changing the rules: a short short overview

When I taught script writing, I often had students who had never written a script before who came in and wanted to do everything differently. I've always been that way too. Wanting to change the rules and do it my own way.

What I've come to learn is that it is important to figure out the rules first. There are always things you can learn from what currently works. At that point, you can see how you can make what may have worked before, into something that works better now. Just don't forget that sometimes why something is set out the way it is, is because that way works best for users. You have to find out what needs to change, why and who for. If it's to improve the user experience, then let's go for it. If it's just to make it easier for you, you should perhaps look further into what you want to change and why.

If you are a company that's just starting out, it can sometimes be easier to do some things differently. You are creating an expectation for your customer and your team. Changing the rules externally often means changing them internally too. The bigger challenge is in the companies that have been around for decades. Not only are there expectations of how things are done internally, customers will expect a certain thing from the business. Not that I mean they expect customer service to be crap so they only want crap customer service. But they have an expectation of how things work and how they relate to the company.

I liken it more to someone who talks about cats for 15 years and then suddenly only wants to talk about industrial washing machines. It doesn't work very well. But if it gradually merges and you only take the elements you and your customer need, you can change the rules. Or, in some cases, it's about keeping the current divisions and experiences as is and adding new divisions to change the rules through that.

As this is a short, short overview, I recommend to learn what's happened before. What were the rules 10, 20, or 50 years ago? What are the rules now? And what needs to change to make the experience better for the customer? What will make your work more effective? What will make it an easier journey? Changing the rules are often a necessity. But only if you know why you need to change it and how it will make the landscape better and more productive.