Modern software and hardware is all about the User Experience. Most users want computers to work without having to know all the nuts and bolts that put it together. My wife downloaded a book off Amazon the other day. She didn’t have the correct reader installed on her tablet to read the book. However, her computer took her to a site where the reader was downloaded, installed, and then opened the book on her behalf. For her, this was a perfect scenario.
Today we want our software to be pleasing to the eye, intuitive to use, simple, fast, transportable, self-managed, and self healing. We tend to give up on lots of sophistication or optimization in order to have a simple, easy to understand user interface. We may even open ourselves up for unwanted or un-secure practices in order to have our simplicity, as demonstrated by my wife downloadind a reader without knowing what was going on.
I remember working with a product manager who designed a security/feature implementation for a product based on the design found in Windows Active Directory. The company director, who had previously been a product manager at Microsoft, saw the design and sent us back to the drawing board. Most systems don’t need security or access control that can slice and dice any one of thousands of different permutations. Most companies are happy having basic roles defined, and assigning users to one or more roles. It’s simpler and easier to understand how an individual was granted their permissions.
That’s not to say that there is no longer a need for a sophisticated software design. However, more often than not we are moving into a world where we are willing to give up sophistication if it can be made simpler to use. Sophistication is ok under the covers; it is not ok when it requires user interaction.
What’s your opinion? Are we giving up too much in order to have a simplified User Experience? Share your thoughts here or drop an email to btaylor@sswug.org.
Cheers,
Ben