For weeks I have been trying to write an article on a new software process. I think I will just save myself some trouble. The world does not need another software process. However, it could use some new ideas and fresh thoughts.
My basic idea stems from the dismal amount of actual user input used to improve the product in software development in general. The problem is simple, most software developers do not see their product in action enough.
Bottom line: the improvements doled out in general are dismal. This is true for any product. I for one, very rarely will buy version 1.0 of a product. It scares me. I refuse to be the guinea pig, since I know my experiences do not count in the big picture. Unless I plan to start a revolution against the product, no one is listening.
Back in the software company, group of managers, marketing experts and developers are huddled together trying to figure out what to do next. Maybe they even have some user representative (most likely someone on company’s payroll). But you know what, I am not there.
Neither are other hapless users like me.
The developers have no idea what I am going through. We are just not building software like that.
Lets take the example of the telephone. Decades of development must have gone into perfecting the instrument. How many people can transfer a call successfully upon first using a new instrument? I rest my case.
How do we fight back? Simply refusing to accept that our voice will not be heard.
Typically as a user, when I complain, I am not talking to the actual developer. I am talking to a customer support person. This person is probably as ignored in the organization as I am. Moreover, this person is dealing with a SEP (Someone else’s problem). Plus I am probably angry or frustrated(which is why I bothered to call). Now he has a vested interest in helping me, however, he is approaching this from point of view of solving a problem, getting through the call satisfactorily. That’s all.
For software producers, aiming to exceed customer expectations, is not a worthy goal, since via decades of software torture, we have set the bar really low.
For more amusing reading, please visit http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?joel.3.229139.16
This entry was written by , posted on October 18, 2005 at 9:51 am, filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.