Waiting game: An extended look at how we queue

Many of us experience multiple queues on an average day. If they move quickly, they’re soon forgotten. But a slow line can seem to last forever and can put a drag on an entire day. What separates a good queuing experience from a bad one, however, is not just the speed of the line. How the wait makes us feel and line fairness (nobody likes line-jumpers) can have a greater impact on our perception of a queue than the amount of time we spend in it. And while waiting time is often hard to cut down, perception can be altered with good line design and management.”A wait is a psychological state,” Don Norman, a user experience pioneer and director of The Design Lab at UCSD, said in a phone interview. “In that way, it’s a matter of design, of trying to understand the psychology of the people waiting but also their boredom and frustration. It requires a human-centered design perspective, from the points of view of both the people doing the servicing and the people waiting in line. That isn’t hard, but you have to develop a sensitivity to it or realize why it might be important.”

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