Fill my house with tech...

[thepritch]

Baldchap said:

If you have a requirement, it isn't just 'can'.

Tech is for solving problems.

Believe it or not I wasn’t here to hijack this thread - I like ‘tech’ as much as the next person.

For another thread perhaps, but I’d say : Tech can be used for solving problems, but not all problems need be solved by tech.

[mikeiow]

Baldchap said:

thepritch said:

I think exactly the same. My favorite quite us ‘just because you can doesn’t mean you should’.

I’m a designer, and amongst my peers I’m not the only one to think this. However, we are often asked by product planners or project leads to use or include certain tech that you just wonder ‘why?’ ! I’m all for improving and creating better things but better doesn’t always mean ‘more’.

If you have a requirement, it isn't just 'can'.

Tech is for solving problems.

Of course!
No doubt the folk above all feel they have a need that those massively complicated wired solutions solve….but Product Managers always want to create more opportunities by shoe-horning more features into a product: I spent a large chunk of my career making those requests and engaging with developers to add things, because some customers wanted them (or thought they did!).

In my *personal* life, I’m a believe in the Einstein philosophy: “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler”

We have a fair bit of tech, as mentioned above: Blink cameras, Hive for heating, bunch of Tapo plugs (& front door light), UST projector and big screen, Sonos speakers about the place, Fire sticks, mesh Wi-Fi, home battery, EV, robotic mower….BUT each is a simple distinct thing to add value to us.
The mesh Wi-Fi made a massive difference when I put that in a few years back: the couple of house ‘black spots’ disappeared…highly recommended! 275Mbps leaves no issues for us, often 30+ devices connected.

If something, for whatever reason, stops working, we can just investigate that, without figuring out if a management console screwed up, or something unrelated triggered the failure,,,
No overarching ‘controller’ to break things…no complex hard wired stuff. No need to have upgrade nightmares about things not integrating after something changes, SWMBO-friendly (& indeed she got us into Sonos many years ago!)

I do appreciate that many like that stuff, and probably have more integrated ways than us for many tasks…but I also feel that designers for home kit should focus on simplicity & reliability.


Meanwhile: look forward to hearing what the OP deploys!!