The Integrative Stream

Programmers vs. Users

Almost every problem in software development can be traced to one of two sources: programmers and users. The post below, and the comments associated with it, do an excellent job illustrating the major sources of miscommunication between the two.

Some users want hand holding. A lot of it. And they expect the software (or the software developers) to somehow intuit exactly what they want to have happen. I used to call this the “magic button” syndrome, since there was really one thing these users wanted: a magic button on the middle of a web page that would do whatever needed to be done.

On the flip side, though, are programmers who expect users to think like programmers. One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that techies and non-techies look at screens very differently. When I see a new screen, the first thing I do is look at every button, link and text box, and form a mental inventory of what I can do. Most programmers seem to do the same. Most users, however, don’t take an inventory approach: they decide what they want to do, and then hunt around until they find the option that does it. If there’s nothing on the screen that obviously solves the problem, mayhem may ensue.

The Bug is in the Details – The Daily WTF

Incidentally, I should go on record that in this particular example, the programmers were “right” – the end user demands are a bit naive. But I’ve seen worse. And most of the comments focus on issues like the difficulty of writing an email address parser that can say why an address isn’t valid. Yes, it’s hard to do. No, average non-programmer has no way of knowing that, other than intuition based on the fact that most software doesn’t do it.

Management in Software Companies

Those interested in starting or running software companies would do well to read Joel Spolsky’s essay on The Development Abstraction Layer and then think hard upon its meaning.

Spolsky’s an interesting character. He knows what he’s talking about from a software perspective. His writing appeals to developers and engineers, since, if you were to strip away everything except what he seems to care most about, you’re left with someone who cares about creating quality, usable software. From the perspective of cross-hallway evangelism (management to developers, developers to managers) he’s probably the best, or at least most consistent, person writing today.

World at ones fingertips…

I just did a Google search for “throwing out kitchen sinks in Cambridge MA”. The first page told me everything I need. You can toss one per week. The Internet is amazing.

TV Online

Fox Network just announced a contract renegotiation with their affiliates. The new deal will allow them to offer 60% of their prime time schedule online the day after the show first airs. ABC, of course, has just announced that they will be airing shows for free on the web, funded by unskippable advertising. ABC and NBC shows are available on iTunes.

There’s been a lot of talk about this trend, so I won’t waste time recap. However, it’s a great idea. The general consensus is that the networks are “under assault” by digital video recorders. People skip ads, and the whole television broadcast model will fall apart. This is broadly true. I wrote about the future of digital television back in 2002, arguing that DVRs would, all else equal, encourage a drive towards subscription channels like HBO. At that point I didn’t expect video on demand to come to market so quickly. My current Comcast cable system gives me a surprisingly large menu of programming options, and the selection is only going to grow. Without Comcast On Demand I would never have seen Marlon Brando in “The Appaloosa.” So the jury’s still out.

It’s worth looking at ABC’s move from a product development perspective. Why do consumers purchase DVRs? To time shift programs, and to skip commercials. These are not equal imperatives. It’s easy to determine which is more imporant – how much would you pay for a machine that let you do one, but not the other? I’m not sure I’d pay very much for a machine that only skipped commercials (or for scheduled programs that didn’t have them in the first place). But I know it’s much less than what I would be willing to pay for a service that would let me time shift programs but wouldn’t let me skip commercials. The fact that I’d pay even more for both is somewhat irrelevant.

ABC is solving the problem that affects the consumer the most, and doing it in a way that seems sustainable. That’s smart business. The iTunes project is complementary – viewers who are willing to pay a little more to skip commercials can do that. We’ll see what things look like in a few years, when bandwidth and video quality are higher and more PCs have the connectors that link them to TVs (Apple’s iMac is a step in this direction).

Data Modeling

Shadid Shah’s blog has a reasonably technical article about data modeling for healthcare databases. The concept is important in other industries as well, but particularly helps to illustrate the challenges in building interoperable healthcare systems.

The Healthcare IT Guy » Guest Article: Beware of NULLs in healthcare databases