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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
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
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Although she caught me checking out holiday stuff and she came over to talk to me. I had a million windows up and I didn't even bother to close them down.
Boss: You're not even scared of me are you?
Me: I'm on lunch break.
Boss: It's 9.30 am.
Me: Eastern Standard Time!
I say take a chance and do it. You have an OFFICE. I'm cubicle girl and everyone can see what I do!
no subject