A memo to the CEO convincing why our company needed to read Design of Everyday Things. We chose it, and I led the discussion.

1. To: Larry Hall, President, PSMS Book Club
From: John Scrugham, Valerie Vesnaver, Dominique Couture; PSMS Book Selection
Committee
Date: January 21, 2014
Subject: Q1 Book Selection for PSMS Book Club
You asked us to choose the Q1 book for the PSMS Book Club, so we are writing to offer our
suggestion.
We have three over-arching criteria for the Q1 book. First, it successfully builds on the past
Book Club books. That is, the book not only incorporates themes from previous books but also
both digs deeper in to a particular theme and extends that theme to new areas. Second, the thesis
of the book relates to at least one of PSMS’s core principles (“3Is’ or “5 Pillars”). Third, that the
book minimizes “business-speak” so that the Club can appeal to a more diverse group of readers.
Over the past two months, Val, Dom, and I have looked through over 50 business-related books
as candidates for the final selection. On January 7th, we sat down together and each presented
three books to the group (a total of nine books). We came out of the meeting with a book that we
highly suggest for the PSMS Book Club to read; below is our suggestion:
The Design of Everyday Things
Author: Donald A. Norman, MIT graduate and Professor of Design and Usability Engineering at
University of California, San Diego
Length: 288 pages (with pictures and lists)
Published: 1988 (current Amazon.com reviews note its continued relevance today, and Cornell
Professor Jeff Hancock’s INFO2450: Communication and Technology class is structured around
the book)
 Summary: The Design of Everyday Things explores how you experience and interact
with your physical surroundings and how the perversity of bad design affects you daily.
This book is especially useful for those who “design anything for humans –from physical
objects to computer programs.” Ultimately, it introduces readers to the underlying
mechanisms of how and why some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate
them.
 Why we should read it: The user experience (one of the ATRIO’s 5 Pillars) can be a
major competitive advantage for ATRIO and even our heritage products. But how do we
continue to improve it? More importantly, for the non-coding and non-designing PSMS
employees, how do we ensure that our product ultimately satisfies our customers? The
Design of Everyday Things addresses these questions by showing fun and interesting
examples of how we deal with the many things around us such as phones, computers, tea
pots, and even door knobs.
* * *
Let us know if you have any further questions about our selection. While we are confident that
The Design of Everyday Things will be a great addition to the PSMS Book Club reading list, we
recognize that you may want to discuss other books, of which, we have plenty to bring forward!