Not every problem needs a fix straight away, and in some cases, stepping back and leaving things as they are can be the smarter move. Geoff Meads writes.

A few years ago, Facebook went through a period of regular, often major, changes to its interface. The resulting backlash from users saw countless ‘change it back’ user groups form on Facebook itself.

In many cases, Facebook were making sensible changes to improve the experience for users in the longer term. However, when you have a loyal base of regular users, change isn’t always welcomed, even when it fixes an obvious problem.

So, when spotting a problem, should you always fix it right away? What situations might lead us to think that maybe I’ll just leave it as it is…?

When your largest user group hates it

Jaguar cars are a brand that is steeped in racing history and design heritage, heck, even Enzo Ferrari is quoted to have said the company’s E-Type model was “the most beautiful car in the world.” Their customer base was distinct, loyal and ready for each new model, so it was shocking to see the car company launch an entirely new direction late 2024, a move that, depending on what statistics you have on hand, resulted in a 50% to 90% drop in sales. Immediately.

So, what did they get wrong? The move, largely blamed on their brand agency Accenture Song, deleted Jaguar favourites like their logo and prancing cat bonnet ornament in favour of a fashion-led, ultra-modern (some say overly woke) design language. Existing customers hated it, as did pretty much the entire car community.

The move illustrates clearly that understanding both your current and future customers/users is paramount to delivering the right products for them. Major changes that break your core offering are rarely well received, and a practice of evolution, not revolution, is usually the right trajectory.

When it goes against the user’s ingrained behaviours

If you’re an iPhone/iPad user and have updated to iOS 26 recently, then you’ll have seen a dramatic redesign of the operating system. While users are accustomed to, even comfortable with, design changes that involve colours, corner shapes and fonts, they are not used to wholesale layout shifts.

One such shift came in the movement of the search/URL bar from the top of the screen to the bottom. This is particularly odd as, not only have these elements been at the top of phone screens for years, but they are also at the top of the screen for desktop systems.

We can consider this an ingrained layout position, much like the order of the pedals in your car.

Personally, it took me several weeks to get used to this new location. This is because, after years of use, my fingers go immediately to the top of the screen when I want to enter data like a search term or URL.

Scientists would call this established behaviour muscle memory. Forcing your fingers down to the bottom of the screen does make some sense – that’s where the keyboard is! However, with so many years of automatically entering text at the top of the screen, not to mention popular apps like Facebook, Instagram, etc., keeping their search bars at the top, the new system will take some getting used to.

When it will cost more to fix than replace

I’ve recently changed my car. I don’t do that very often, and it’s a wrench whenever it happens. Having done over 170,000km in the car myself, and the car having completed over 280,000km total, surprisingly, it did retain some value. However, when looking at the next stages of its life, I realised the next large bill (timing chain replacement) was going to cost more than the value of the car. In simple terms, I was faced with a choice – a white knuckle period, waiting for the chain to break before scrapping the car, paying for the chain to be replaced (a bill larger than the car’s value) or moving it on. I opted for the latter.

With the current speed of technological change, this dilemma can be found all over smart home tech. Products and systems that are relatively new can quickly stop being upgradable. Often this is not the manufacturer’s fault directly, but more a move by their own suppliers, such as chip makers. At this point, we are faced with a choice – upgrade to an all-new platform or keep living the current one and accept its limitations.

In my view, we are often too eager to go for the new shiny replacement. We tell ourselves that it will be quicker, more reliable, more fun to use or more flexible going forward. Sometimes that turns out to be true. However, often an installed and otherwise reliable system remains the best bet. That is, unless your customer is throwing money at you to always have the latest thing for the sake of ego, a fascination with tech or helpful tax breaks. In that case, take the money and get the job done!

When regular firmware updates are happening

This is a tough one and involves a little gambling. If you have a system that has an issue, or a missing feature, you can play the waiting game and see if future firmware updates deliver a result for you. Some manufacturers might even forewarn you of incoming new features and fixes if you are close enough to them.

This can be a great way to show customers that their initial investment was with the right manufacturer. However, this can also turn out to be a more difficult conversation if the incoming firmware is late, adds other problems or the feature/fix you were waiting for is not included.

Either way, it’s certainly worth investigating firmware changes with your chosen supplier before diving in and changing out major components. You might just be the first person to report an issue that a lot of other installers are having, or that requests a valuable and easily deliverable new feature that puts the manufacturer ahead of their competition!

In summary, a fix isn’t always the right answer, particularly where heavy users of a system are concerned. After all, fixes are also changes and some people simply aren’t comfortable with change.