Quora Question: What can make a smart home great?

 

Its always the simple things that matter the most. Identify a problem, provide an easy solution, and people will love thier system, no matter the cost or complexity of making it happen…

As an example from my own experience, about 15 years ago I designed a system for a couple who were retiring from a tech company and building their dream home in the countryside. It was a large house on a hill with amazing views of a river below and open fields in the distance.

Naturally they wanted to bring that view into the home, and had a very large wall of glass installed, so you could enjoy the unobstructed view from the main part of the house. Unfortunately, in the late afternoon, the sun shining into that huge window made it very hot inside. They realized the problem during construction, and I proposed a motorized shade tied to the lighting system, which also had an astronomical clock…

In the end, each afternoon the shade would automatically lower itself to block the sun, and would open again just before sunset, allowing them to enjoy the view. Out of all of the things we did in that house, consisting of several hundred thousand dollars of electronics, including a nice dedicated home theater, that automated shade was the thing they appreciated the most.

Its often the easy stuff that can, from the perspective of an end user, make the difference between a good system and a great system…