There are many minor annoyances in life that we tolerate and accept as a given. But it turns out that despite years of low-level irritation, it turns out there was a viable solution all along.
One example is the toothpaste tube, the proverbial source of marriage friction. Who knew such tensions could have been avoided all along?
The solution is the stand-up toothpaste tube.
Let’s look at the SSNiF scenarios:
| Stakeholder | Situation | Need | Feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your spouse | Too important to put the cap back on. Toothpaste crusts at the opening. Sometimes “loses” cap entirely, in the same way that last Thursday’s plans were “forgotten.” |
A way to prevent crusty toothpaste from ruining an otherwise wonderful marriage. |
• Cap is attached to the tube so it can’t be lost.
• Cap flips on and off; no laborious screwing of the toothpaste cap. |
| You | Can’t stand crusty toothpaste. Is it too much to ask to simply put the retchid lid back on after using? | ||
| Your spouse | Too thoughtless or lazy to squeeze from the end of the toothpaste tube. Toothpaste gathers at the wrong end of the toothpaste tube. |
A way to streamline the extraction of toothpaste, without unduly burdening the overworked and under-appreciated significant other. | • Tube stands upright with opening at the bottom.
• Lower viscosity of toothpaste collects at the bottom, near the opening. |
| You | Guess who has to pick up the slack yet again, by painstakingly squeezing the toothpaste back to the opening? |
I love this sort of solution, because it’s something that could have been done years ago, but wasn’t. The need was there, the technology was there, but something intangible was missing: the framing of the problem, the inspiration for solving it, the vision to make a product out of it or the courage to go against the industry norm.
If you are interested in this product, it can be hard to find in the real world, despite tracts of supermarket shelf space devoted to every conceivable permutation of toothpaste feature. You can pick up a tube or two at Amazon.
And may toothpaste keep us together, til death do us part.
This tootpaste tube articles is a facetious example of SSNiF Scenarios — little user stories that are expressed in terms of Stakeholder, Situation and Need. If you are interested in this technique, other articles that demonstrate it: Who Read Your Email This Morning?, Hosted vs. Local Applications and Open, yet encrypted Wi-Fi.
[Update 8/21/08 - changed the old name "USN use cases" to "SSNiF Scenarios"]
Newer plastic Heinz ketchup bottles also use this stand-up design with the opening at the bottom. No more antici…. pation!
For your ordinary toothpaste tubes, look for a “Tube Press” toothpaste squeezer. They are sometimes available on eBay. Search ebay for “Tube Press”
I was about to say the same thing about the ketchup bottles. Anyways, I love stand-up toothpaste, it rocks!