I LOVE MY JOB.

One of the senior people gave me an outline of a spec they'd done for a new database, and asked me to finish it.

Just to clarify - I will be responsible for writing the specifications for a new government database.

::waits for you all to stop laughing::

So this afternoon I was researching how to actually do this thing, which according to this site puts me in a very tiny minority of 'highly literate' people who actually read user manuals. *smothers a laugh* I love this guy, he makes writing specifications actually sound like something I can do.

One good way to evaluate the usability of a program or dialog you've never seen before is to act a little stupid. Don't read the words on the dialog. Make random assumptions about what things do without verifying. Try to use the mouse with just one finger. Make lots of mistakes, and generally thrash around. See if the program does what you want, or at least, gently guides you instead of blowing up. Be impatient. If you can't do what you want right away, give up. If the UI can't withstand your acting generally immature and stupid, it could use some work.*

Brilliant!


*from 'Joel on Software'

I guess it's busted.

My iPod is stuck on 'Disk Mode OK to disconnect'. Do you think banging it really hard against something would help?

And on the eleventh day Sarren was TEMPTED...

*repeats mantra* I will not livejournal at work. I will not livejournal at work. I will not...

Seriously, I KNOW ME.

So I emailed this to myself instead...

When you invent these users, thinking about whether your design is appropriate becomes much easier. For example, a lot of programmers tend to overestimate the ability of the typical user to figure things out. Whenever I write something about command line interfaces being hard to use, I get the inevitable email barrage saying that command line interfaces are ultra-powerful because you can do things like 'gunzip foo.tar.gz | tar xvf -'. But as soon as you have to think about getting "Patricia" to type "gunzip..." it becomes obvious that that kind of interface just isn't going to serve her needs, ever. Thinking about a "real" person gives you the empathy you need to make a feature that serves that person's need. (Of course, if you're making Linux backup software for advanced sysadmins, you need to invent a character like "Frank" who refuses to touch Windows, which he only refers to as an "operating system" in quotation marks, uses his own personally modified version of tcsh, and runs X11 with four tiled xterms all day long. And about 11 xperfs.)*

Of course, then I was distracted by thinking about Rodney McKay complaining to programmer John Sheppard about how any idiot could do his job. So I ate an apple muffin.


*From Joel on Software