Google, The Law of Average Users and What Does it Mean for Learning Design?

This post by Scott Karp over at Publishing 2.0 is tickling my design fancy. Ponder these quotes:

"Google’s problem with vertical search adoption (as documented by Bill Tancer at Hitwise) is a lesson on how average people adopt and use applications."

"Life is complicated. People cling to simplicity and proven results. Behaviors are deeply ingrained and do not easily change."

"The law of average users tells us that most people have significant limits to the amount of variation, complexity, and nuance they can tolerate in their daily application use."

Makes me wonder how many of these considerations are brought in discussions about the next great learning product.