Why Are UI Changes So Difficult?

I am finally getting comfortable with the Salesforce Lightning UI after two and a half weeks of forced immersion. To date, I haven't needed to work deeply in the UI, because my primary domain business unit continues to work on Salesforce Classic. I've dabbled in Lightning through my various developer sandboxes, and lightly monitored it's development and expansion through Salesforce tri-annual release webinars. Switching to the new UI wasn't something I needed to do until a new business unit indicated they were rolling out Salesforce exclusively in the new UI, and asked for help on a few development and governance activities.

The struggle was real. Honestly, it was by no means easy! Initially, I kept switching back and forth because basic admin features and capabilities were not in the place I was habitually looking for them to be. There were new components and screen elements I simply didn't like. My only method of protest was to quickly switch back to the classic UI, do the action I needed to do, then flip back. I'm still not comfortable with all the screen whitespace of Lightning. I have mentally logged development projects to create new lightning components that collapse and condense more information on the screen for the user.

Now going into my third week, I find myself increasingly favoring the Lightning UI over the classic. A lot of Salesforce users have this same adaptation struggle. Change is hard, UI changes particularly so. And the problem certainly is not unique to Salesforce: it took me a long time to adapt to the tiled-experience of Windows 10. The world freaks out each time Facebook does a modest UI change.

Joe Posner of Vox Media made this great video introducing us to the "Norman Door". The link was recently shared around one of our company Slack channels:

Well, that just got me thinking: if I had a struggle adapting to these new UIs, and so many others do, as well -- does that make them "Norman UIs"?

I am certain that designing a UI for a complex application (like a CRM tool, computer operating system, or social media site) is vastly more complicated than designing a door. I don't know if what I through these basic UI changes is a Norman-principle effect, or a natural resistance of the human psyche to adapt to change. Is it even possible to design a UI for such sophisticated applications so as to make them completely intuitive and natural?

It's taken me nearly 3 weeks to get fully comfortable with the Lightning UI -- to the point where I'm favoring it over classic. Is that a reflection of a superior design, one that my conscious wasn't letting me accept during my first hours of exposure?

One thing is certain: Salesforce will continue to add new features and capabilities to the new Lightning UI, and not make those available in classic. If your organization hasn't yet switched over, the business case to do so will become more compelling with each tri-annual release. Mapping your path to switching over is a worthwhile exercise, even if you don't journey down that path immediately.

What's your experience been switching over to Salesforce Lightning? Did you have an easier go of it than I? I love to hear the experiences of other Salesforce Admins, Developers and Users!