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Long story short, the UI devs aren't dogfooding their product, right? I mean if the company just went out for beers one night and had one person try to use the
by jancsika 9y ago
Long story short, the UI devs aren't dogfooding their product, right?
I mean if the company just went out for beers one night and had one person try to use the software to "seat" each employee, they'd figure out pretty quickly that there are too many clicks. Especially if the rule is to take a drink for each employee seated. :)
- askvictor 9y agoI think that's a bit dangerous as developers often think differently to non-developers; also they already know how to use their product since they wrote it. Needs to be tested with actual end-users.
- davegauer 9y agoYou are absolutely right about the danger of knowing your own product too well. On the other hand, a developer is often in a much better position to know how to "make the computer do the work" than the end-user. Ideally, you'd test with both...several times. It would be wonderful if clients were willing to pay for this level of software perfection!
- taneq 9y agoPrecisely. What you suggest here would be a good start - if they took notes, even one evening would pick up probably 20-30 significant UI issues. Next, get the most attractive member of the waitstaff to go through the same process with your prototype. Ideally offer minimal prompting. Ask them at each step what they expected to see. Take notes. Repeat for the rest of the waitstaff, if possible. The designer of a UI being able to do everything they need with it quickly and easily is the first step. The intended user being able do so with minimal training is a much later, much more important step.