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Zen and the Lost Art of Software Design

Keywords: Design

How come, after 30 years plus in the computer business, I still don't know how to use my fax software properly?

Nor, for that matter, do I use more than 20 per cent of the super-dooper-word-processor-with-business-graphics-drawing-and desktop-publishing-features. Why?

And, when it comes to my feature-packed database program that will store and keep track of everything, why do I prefer the old program that I've had around for 10 years and refuse to discard?

Do you know why? Because desktop software is still not that easy to use even for programmers and highly experienced super-users. I've been reflecting on this problem for awhile now and I think I've finally figured it out.

The basic premise of software design has gone off-track. Actually, current software design is a good example of how things can go wrong, have gone wrong, and are still going wrong in western society. With all the immense benefits of information technology and the massive strides made in improving the user interface (the mouse, graphics, etc.), software for the so called masses remains tough to use.

The cause, I'm afraid, is greed. We're greedy for more. More features. More features we don't use and don't need leading to oversized applications; features documented in bible-size manuals that we hate to read.

There are not too many applications out there where you can master the complete package within one hour.

But then, there are not too many modern automobiles where you can use all of the automated features without either glancing through the owner's manual or finding and playing with all the knobs and dials in a tedious process of trial and error. The last time I rented a car, I was completely lost as to the location of headlights, how to turn on and control the radio and tape player, how to set the heat the way I wanted it. There is now very little transfer of learning from one car to another, except for the basics: use the brakes, press on the gas pedal, steer.

With software programs, it's worse. For most users, the majority of software features remain unused for the lifetime of the software. I would estimate that less than half of the features in word processors, electronic spreadsheets, and personal information systems are ever used.

Software has taken on the semblance of a 27-foot stretch limo with every conceivable gadget and gizmo hanging off it or packed inside. The programs take up massive amounts of computer resources: more memory, more disk space, and more peripherals, more everything! "

The best is the enemy of the good," goes the old saw, the watchword of some forgotten genius.

We are so ambitious, so competitive and so greedy that we aim for the best and miss the good. Don't get me wrong. Try and take one of my application programs away from me. Not on your life! The 10 per cent of the features I use five per cent of the time in the presentation graphics package located on my desktop provide me with immense benefit.

But how are we to convince the mainstream user that he or she should turn to information technology to make life easier and save money and time when the size of the system - computer, peripherals, software, training, support - required to handle all of the applications an office requires can cost in excess of $15,000?

We need to take a different tack to software design, more of a Zen approach, with an eye on the good rather than the best, where less is better than more. Perhaps software houses will offer more breakouts in each of their applications and offer an integrated mix-and-match of features around given targeted business needs. In other industries, they call this "mass-customization."

We need to go beyond appealing to the converted: those who love information technology selling to those who love information technology. We still remain the minority.

Software applications must approach the telephone and fax machine in ease of use. Two things must be immediately obvious: the needs the applications address and how the programs are used to serve those needs. Only then will the mass market, the 50 per cent of the population that remains largely computer illiterate (and maybe justifiably so), reap the benefit of these ubiquitous information tools. ============================================
Dr. George R. Marshall

523 Black River Road,

Scotsburn, Nova Scotia B0K 1R0

Phone: 902-351-2137

Fax: 902-482-5035


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Posted by Angie at June 18, 2004 11:58 AM
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