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On Monday, Paul wrote about the common nuisance of a missing bolt in a piece of self-assembled furniture. He argued that to cut costs, companies often give their customers only the minimal amount of fasteners needed to do the job. If there is any screw-up (no pun intended) and a piece gets left out, there is no room for error. Paul suggested that an ethical and cost-effective solution would be to just add a few extra pieces in the bag, as the cost of a few bolts would more than outweigh the cost of customer frustration and the resources spent correcting the error.

It seems to me that another reason why companies make mistakes like this is not merely because of cost, but simply because they don’t care that much about little things like nuts and bolts. A cracked or missing shelf gets most of the attention because it is easy to spot and expensive to replace, but a cheap bit of metal in a bag goes unnoticed.

Doing the right thing starts with the smallest thing. It doesn’t take much to ruin an experience. It’s happened to all of us, at one time or another: an expensive stereo with a remote that doesn’t come with batteries; a fancy bed-and-breakfast with no shampoo in the shower; no pickle with your sandwich. If that little thing was there as it should be, you’d probably never notice, but when it’s missing, the whole design gestalt can be compromised.

Step one, then, is not to overlook the nuts and bolts. No hardware, no bookshelf.

Step two is to ask: what’s your system for making sure the nuts and bolts are always there? And, if they’re missing, how quickly can that mistake be fixed?

I like Paul’s simple solution of adding more hardware, but for something that critical, there has to be a backup plan. Are there clear instructions on what to do if pieces go missing? Is it easy for the customer to ask for them? How quickly can they be replaced? Make it right; get the user experience back on track.

We can take a lesson from the Simpsons. When Lisa and Marge discover their Vincent Price’s Egg Magic is missing vital egg feet, they call the number on the box and Price’s grandson Jody promptly hand-delivers them. Now that’s design ethics in action!

For your homework, take a step back from the big things for a moment and look at the small stuff in your user experience. What little pieces have to be there to ensure that it is complete? Now, what kind of support system do you have in place to make sure they are where they need to be? Sweat the small stuff.