A heading bug is nothing like a software bug. It is a small pointer that rides inside of a plane’s heading indicator.

You can move the bug with a knob to set it on a particular heading and it will stay there. If you decide you want to fly west you turn the knob until the bug is over the big W on your heading indicator and then you turn the plane until the bug and the W are at the top of the gauge. The bug stands out and makes it easy to see when you are drifting off course and correct for it.

I don’t know what it costs to build a heading indicator with a bug in it, but I imagine it is well worth the cost. It requires no electricity and is made up of a few small moving parts. These have become common and most planes have them, but I still occasionally fly a plane that doesn’t have it. I am always surprised at how annoying it is not to have a bug. If I am asked to hold a given heading by ATC and I don’t have the bug, I must write the heading down or memorize it. Furthermore, I don’t even get the benefit of seeing, at a glance, if I am drifting. The point is that the bug is a very simple yet very good thing.

The True Airspeed Ring

Another instrument necessary in every plane is the airspeed indicator. This measures the speed of the air over the plane. It is similar to the speedometer in your car. However, this really measures that air that the plane “feels,” which varies with altitude. At a higher altitude you are typically traveling faster even though your indicated airspeed might be the same. This speed you are actually traveling is called your true airspeed. There is also ground speed which amounts to true airspeed plus wind. On long flights it is very handy to know your true airspeed when flying at a higher altitude. When planning a flight, true airspeed is part of the time and fuel calculation, so it is important to be able to verify that you are getting the performance you planned on during the trip.

To measure true airspeed you need to pull out your E6B Flight Computer and spin the wheel to line up your temperature with your altitude so that your true airspeed is aligned with your indicated airspeed. This is not very hard to do, but still engineers have decided to invent an easier way.

 

The true airspeed ring is a simple plastic ring that rides on the outside of the airspeed indicator. It can be freely rotated and allows you to measure true airspeed very quickly without using your E6B. To set it you look at the air temperature on your temperature gauge, and your altitude on your altimeter. Rotate the ring so the temperature at the very top is lined up with the altitude (along the top right in the picture). Then your true airspeed will be set correctly along the bottom of the ring, indicated directly by the needle. This is a much nicer way to measure true airspeed. Even if it really only saves you seconds, it is more enjoyable to use and, like the heading bug, it isn’t very expensive to implement.

When I am the “user” in a plane with a heading bug, a true airspeed ring, or any number of tiny conveniences, I feel like I have more tools and more control. This feeling means that I have a more positive experience with that particular plane and I am more likely to want to fly it rather than other planes.

Mint

I use Mint for my family’s budget at the moment but they are on thin ice. This is because they lack tiny conveniences that would be easy to implement. The worst of these is their inflexibility with categorization. I categorize my bills and spending into a number of groupings to keep track of how much is spent on groceries versus home improvement, for example. Now Mint likes to think that it knows what I am buying and it will categorize my transactions automatically for me. Sounds good, right? Not always! Many stores sell products from multiple categories, so a bill might come through and Mint will put it under groceries, but I know that I was buying a box of nails instead of oranges. Because of Mint’s eagerness to categorize things, I now must keep track of my receipts after I have categorized things, because every time I sit down to look at Mint, it is impossible for me to know which transactions were set by me, and which were set by Mint. My simple solution to this would be to tell Mint to always have transactions come through as “Uncategorized” (unless I set a rule otherwise). When I contacted support with this idea they simply told me that it could not be done. I don’t have the clout or the desire to convince them otherwise, so I will be off to another product when I get time to sit down and try a few more. I’m guessing I’m not the only one. The lesson here is that a very small change that on the surface appears to be easy enough to do, is the main impetus for a customer moving on to another product.

Tiny features can have a big effect

Look at your software and consider where a tiny add-on might make customers feel like they have more control over the product. If you find yourself saying something like, “We don’t need that, the user can easily just do that part themselves,” think about the heading bug or the true airspeed ring and how a tiny feature can have a great impact on user experience.