The adage that “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” has been taken to task probably ever since it was first uttered. ThomasNet.com turned that whole idea on its ear with the newest round of upgrades to its website in 2014. In essence, instead of trying to teach old dogs (in this case seasoned engineers) new tricks, ThomasNet invited them to dinner and picked their brains.

This is not meant to insult seasoned engineers by casting them in the “old dogs” slot; this is a purely an analogous reference and has nothing to do with their hygiene or eating habits. It has everything to do with leveraging the wealth of knowledge and experience these individuals possess to improve the user experience on the company’s website.

The Rubik’s cube of user experience

Another old adage says that, in business “If you’re not moving forward [improving], you’re moving backward.” Unfortunately, this school of thought sometimes prompts change for change’s sake. Not so in the case of ThomasNet, which has been reinventing itself ever since its inception in 1898.

 …