What matters more when watching sports? The score or the teams? Maybe the better question is not “What matters most?” but “What matters first?”
Before you answer this question, think about your organization’s claims system design. Does it properly highlight the important information you need? And, does it present that information in the right order?
Scorebug Graphics
One of the most watched television networks in the world changed its scorebug graphics for college basketball. In 2017, ESPN introduced a new scoring banner in its lower third. This change caught my attention immediately. By the way, who knew the banner on the screen was called a scorebug? This banner is incredibly important to anyone watching sports. It is hard to imagine how we watched sports before these were introduced. Just the same, I wonder how claims were handled before software gave us a proper screen display.
ESPN’s new scorebug graphic is a reminder to software designers and system buyers. The new graphics heavily highlight the score of the game in large bold font. What’s wrong with that you ask? Well, there was a simultaneous decision to put the team names in a smaller and less prominent font size. So, the thing that pops most visibly is the Score.
The Argument
I have no doubt there was a heated conversation about this change. One side of the argument probably went like this: “The score is what people want to know most! We must bold and “biggie size” the score of the game. The score is critical.”
It would seem like a great argument. No doubt that the score is really important. It’s the item on the banner that likely changes the most other than the ‘time-remaining’ in the period. It is probably the most frequently sought information while watching.
The other side of the argument which clearly lost the battle at ESPN probably went like this:
“Wait, yes, I agree the score is really important and should be prominent and visible. But, here’s the problem. The score is only meaningful once you know what teams are playing. The ‘who is playing who’ question is the first question. Only when that is known and held in one’s memory does the score matter. Score is only important when you know who is playing. We cannot throw two large numbers at a viewer like a hot potato and ask them to hold that information in their head before they have a place to put those numbers. The question of ‘who is playing?’ is primary. If I just hand you the numbers “48” and “36”, you will drop them to the ground unless I first give you a place to put them.”
I have no doubt this argument was faced with a seemingly valid, but flawed response by the more powerful personality in the room. The response likely went like this:
“Once you know the teams playing from your first inquiry, you then only need to know the score from that point on. So, the graphic of enduring value, as viewers flip channels, is the score. We are going with a large, bold font that shouts over the team names and that’s that.”
Something about the new graphics definitely bothered me. And, from the feedback I observed online, it bothered others too. I did not immediately connect the dots on why, but I was bothered. It was an ‘interior and abstract discomfort’. Then, it hit me. ESPN got it wrong. As my 9th grade English teacher would say, “the actor comes before the action” when writing in active tense. That may seem philosophical and even biblical at some level, but the world is right when we first know “Who”.
Order Matters
In software design, the principle holds true. When you look at your organization’s claims software system, you get so much more than just information. You get a glimpse into what the designer felt was most important. You learn about order and importance with regard to functionality.
If your claims system was not designed by a person intimately familiar with claims handling, they would tell on themselves with a poor layout. They will design a system with fields out of order. They will fail to prominently display key information leaving an impression of equality between the primary and the subordinate topics. Use of the program will be awkward, causing wasteful navigation.
Getting It Right
The proper ordering of information to facilitate function is the ultimate sign of intelligence. It would have been interesting to be in the room at ESPN when they debated the new scorebug graphics. Does order matter? Tell me what you think or send me an example of your system design success or failure.
