Just this once, Dogbert’s got it right [image]

Frequent readers of this blog know two things:

  1. I have strong feelings about using the word and popular concept of “intuitive-ness” in web design.
  2. I like Dilbert.

It seems that Scott Adams, author of Dilbert, isn’t too far behind. In this April 24th, 2013 comic, Dogbert calls Dilbert out for wanting to use his intuition.


Dilbert Comic for April 24, 2013

Panel 1: Dilbert: “I wonder if I should rely more on my intuition to make decisions.” Dogbert: “You mean guessing?”
Panel 2: Dilbert: “No. Guessing is totally different from intuition because of the… um…”
Panel 3: Dilbert: “These things make sense in my head!” Dogbert: “Is there room in there with all of the intuition?”


Even more than the use of “intuitive,” I think this gets to a point I tried to make in discussing the book Wait. There are moments when we can use our “intuition” safely, but what we’re really doing is applying expertise on some subject developed over thousands of hours of experience.

Without any background knowledge and experience, Dogbert’s right: you’re just guessing.

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