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.