Set It Or Forget It

I’ve watched Ron Popeil’s Showtime Rotisserie infomercial more times than I’d be open to admitting. In one version, I can’t get past the bandage on his finger. It makes me wonder what happened and is why I also got taken by Arrested Development’s Cornballer.

But the catch phrase “Set it and forget it” was a genius line at describing the operation. In the context of IoT devices, however, it’s more like “set it or forget it”. Why? Because the longer time passes between getting a device and setting it up, the less likely one will ever set up that device.

There are many things competing for our time and setting up IoT devices that might eventually at a whim revert back to not working can seem like wasted effort. This is probably why we have to really think about zero setup / plug in play as part of any device (or software) experience.