Are you on your computer right now? Are you texting a message? If so, look at the keyboard you are using to type. Have you ever thought about why the characters are arranged the way they are? I mean real intentional thought. It isn’t exciting but it IS interesting.
Check this out. Did you know that you can spell out the word, “typewriter” just by using the top row of letters? How cool is that? What about the fact that the “m” and “n” are always next to each other? Or how the “r” is six spots away from the “p.” (I bet you just counted!)
Interested? I am because I am very intrigued by the computer keyboard. There are multiple theories describing why the keyboard is not arranged alphabetically and rather in what is known as the “QWERTY” keyboard arrangement. (look at your keyboard and you might see why it is called that.)
In 1868, the first keyboard was patented with an alphabetical arrangement, like piano keys. However, theory has it that the keys would jam frequently because commonly used letters were too close together. By spreading the keys out in a random arrangement, this would slow down typers, spread out keys, and help to avoid mechanical problems. There’s another theory that tracks the evolution of the keyboard back to Morse code, arguing that early typewriters were used by telegraph operators who found the alphabetical arrangement confusing for transcribing messages.
Either way, I see a bigger question at play. At a time when the market is constantly shifting and companies are continuously looking for ways to reinvent themselves and be innovative, why is it that the arrangement of the keyboard has not changed for over 120 years?
There must be a more effective and efficient way to have the keyboard layout, right? The world moved from typewriters with limited capabilities to high-powered laptop devices with the ability to get information at the click of a button. But the keyboard didn’t change one bit.
I don’t have an answer for you, however I do have one question for you to think about:
How do we know when creating a new way of doing something is the right move versus keeping something the same because it has a known success?