The Snow Cruiser and Ego Over Context

Every few years I read another article about this giant Arctic thing on a tech, automotive, or similar website or blog:

It’s huge! It’s Red! There’s an airplane on the roof! It’s an exploration vehicle called the Snow Cruiser, and there’s lots about it on this recent The Drive article. It seems really well thought out, a full of high tech stuff and is a complete mobile explorer facility and lab:

Except… it’s a massive failure.

Having never actually given the vehicle a test drive on snow—its August-November development timeline didn’t allow for that—the crew began the journey of just two miles to the Little America exploration base. The Snow Cruiser was immediately out of its depth. It lacked power and traction. It was far too heavy, and its smooth tires were next to useless on the ice even with the addition of chains. (Winter tire tech was still in its infancy then, and it had been tested on the dunes of Indiana, where those massive balloon tires were actually of use.) The envisioned cruising speed of 30 mph was laughably ambitious.

They never tested it on snow!?

And don’t give me that “winter tire tech was still in its infancy” crap. Who spends (adjusted for inflation) millions on a thing, ships it halfway around the world and then goes “oh, snow? What’s that like?”

Unless your point is to take the money and run — and if that’s your business plan, just admit that to yourself — then there’s no room for brilliant, inspired design if it’s of no use to any end user in the actual environment where they work.

Whether designing a diesel-electric exploration car, creating a website, or helping alleviate a medical disaster, don’t fool yourself with the belief you know better. Your personal opinion, or some dreamed up metrics to prove your ideas, are irrelevant.

Go out. Talk to people. Hire experts in the actual field. Try your products in the real world with real people.