Today I put together one of those DIY bed frames, ordered from Amazon. The instructions were very clear, mostly a series of diagrams with well-placed alphanumeric labels, to match the labels with numbers and letters affixed to the bed parts themselves.
It was really fun. Although it wasn’t very difficult, I had an enormous feeling of satisfaction when the bed frames was completely assembled.
I found myself thinking back on the first time I read Robert M. Persig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Early in the book, he is assembling a barbecue while trying to follow instructions that had been translated (sort of) from the original Japanese. Things have come far since then.
I was aware, during the entire assembly procedure, that I was experiencing a process that had been iterated and improved over many years. By the time it got to me, the modular bed parts and the sequence of instructions had clearly been optimized.
Not only was it fun to put the bed together, but it felt extremely satisfying to be part part of a design process that had been honed over time to a state of perfection.