5 ms·

All else aside, the UI/UX issues here are heart-wrenching. The captain preferred a graphic representation, even though it was 6 to 12 hours out of date, over a

All else aside, the UI/UX issues here are heart-wrenching. The captain preferred a graphic representation, even though it was 6 to 12 hours out of date, over a more current text-based report/forecast. On two occasions, warnings or new data arrived just a few minutes after a report/forecast was viewed. Crew members watching the Weather Channel had more current/accurate information than the captain. I can easily see how a graphic might be preferred over text, regardless of data currency, and especially during the 95%+ times of smooth sailing, but to see how this situation turned out is troubling.

vpribish 8y ago
I'd like to see the actual BVS UI. Does it indicate how old the data is or just the timestamp the report was generated? This is a detail that bites lots of reports in business.
- marvin 8y ago
  Maybe the people who develop the software don't talk to the end users, or see how they use the software. That would be a classic example of development process gone wrong. Are they, or people sufficiently near to them on the organizational chart, aware that life-or-death decisions are made on the basis of their software? (I'd certainly hope so, plotting weather data definitely qualifies). I'm only conjecturing here; there's no reason to conclude based on the available information that there is a problem here. But it would be a pretty typical situation in an organization that believes software is something you call up a subcontractor to bolt on -- most places are still run like that, although the culture is slowly changing.
  - ethbro 8y ago
    Imho, that's one of the greatest value adds we (software engineers) can bring to the table. The "offloading scope / spec requirements to a PM" trend is a slow motion train wreck. If you, or at least someone else on your team, can't clearly state who's going to be using the code you write, what problem they're using it to solve, and how they're using your code to solve their problem... you need to hire an engineer who can empathize with customers.
  - AnonTemp123 8y ago
    For obvious reasons can't comment too much, but it does, they did, and makes quite clear that it's not for navigational purposes.
    - marvin 8y ago
      Interesting, thanks for the tidbit of inside information :) You'll have to pardon me for asking a stupid question, though -- what other purpose than navigation would a maritime weather report/forecast reasonably have? This seems to me at first look as a protection against liability, rather than an actual clarification of the intended usage of the product. I guess I could imagine a use case such as operations planning, e.g. "will we likely be able to perform work on deck tomorrow?", where the stakes are lower, but I imagine the potential for misunderstanding and incorrect usage of such a service would be dangerously big.
      - AnonTemp123 8y ago
        You're welcome. It's for optimization of future routes -- how do I get from point A to point B while keeping some weather parameters in acceptable range, burning less fuel, and getting there on schedule. And yes, trying not to drive right into a storm. Not quite for trying to maneuver out after you have already driven into one. Of course you can also look at it and figure out of cleaning the deck is a good idea or not. I probably shouldn't comment further, but NTSB's full report is at https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/MAR1701.pdf https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/... and they did not seem to find it too confusing.
        marvin 8y ago
        Thank you :)
- pcunite 8y ago
  It is now StormGeo and looks really nice. No wonder the captain he preferred it. https://vimeo.com/234734651 https://vimeo.com/234734651
hinkley 8y ago
One of the things I’ve learned from doing UI work is that some people absolutely do not picture things in their head. My boss, a generally smart guy, would insist we could squeeze one more thing in somewhere and even though everybody said it wouldn’t fit. So we had to build the stupid thing to show him it wouldn’t work. But until then he needed this thing to happen and neither physics nor his most capable people were going to convince him otherwise. Now, clearly this is a control freak we are dealing with, but also someone in authority who doesn’t trust images or shapes in his head. I had never encountered such a clear case of this happening and it opened my eyes to it happening elsewhere. Some people have low spatial intelligence. You would think becoming a ship captain would cull out a lot of people with that problem but maybe if you’re good enough at other things it doesn’t slow you down that much? Maybe he had to see things to understand them.
Fins 8y ago
From that mentioned Vanity Fair article I sort of got the impression that the captain expected the storm to be similar to what he had experienced when sailing Alaska, not what a proper tropical storm is.

vpribish 8y ago

I'd like to see the actual BVS UI. Does it indicate how old the data is or just the timestamp the report was generated? This is a detail that bites lots of reports in business.

marvin 8y ago
Maybe the people who develop the software don't talk to the end users, or see how they use the software. That would be a classic example of development process gone wrong. Are they, or people sufficiently near to them on the organizational chart, aware that life-or-death decisions are made on the basis of their software? (I'd certainly hope so, plotting weather data definitely qualifies). I'm only conjecturing here; there's no reason to conclude based on the available information that there is a problem here. But it would be a pretty typical situation in an organization that believes software is something you call up a subcontractor to bolt on -- most places are still run like that, although the culture is slowly changing.
- ethbro 8y ago
  Imho, that's one of the greatest value adds we (software engineers) can bring to the table. The "offloading scope / spec requirements to a PM" trend is a slow motion train wreck. If you, or at least someone else on your team, can't clearly state who's going to be using the code you write, what problem they're using it to solve, and how they're using your code to solve their problem... you need to hire an engineer who can empathize with customers.
- AnonTemp123 8y ago
  For obvious reasons can't comment too much, but it does, they did, and makes quite clear that it's not for navigational purposes.
  - marvin 8y ago
    Interesting, thanks for the tidbit of inside information :) You'll have to pardon me for asking a stupid question, though -- what other purpose than navigation would a maritime weather report/forecast reasonably have? This seems to me at first look as a protection against liability, rather than an actual clarification of the intended usage of the product. I guess I could imagine a use case such as operations planning, e.g. "will we likely be able to perform work on deck tomorrow?", where the stakes are lower, but I imagine the potential for misunderstanding and incorrect usage of such a service would be dangerously big.
    - AnonTemp123 8y ago
      You're welcome. It's for optimization of future routes -- how do I get from point A to point B while keeping some weather parameters in acceptable range, burning less fuel, and getting there on schedule. And yes, trying not to drive right into a storm. Not quite for trying to maneuver out after you have already driven into one. Of course you can also look at it and figure out of cleaning the deck is a good idea or not. I probably shouldn't comment further, but NTSB's full report is at https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/MAR1701.pdf https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/... and they did not seem to find it too confusing.
      - marvin 8y ago
        Thank you :)
pcunite 8y ago
It is now StormGeo and looks really nice. No wonder the captain he preferred it. https://vimeo.com/234734651 https://vimeo.com/234734651

hinkley 8y ago

One of the things I’ve learned from doing UI work is that some people absolutely do not picture things in their head. My boss, a generally smart guy, would insist we could squeeze one more thing in somewhere and even though everybody said it wouldn’t fit. So we had to build the stupid thing to show him it wouldn’t work. But until then he needed this thing to happen and neither physics nor his most capable people were going to convince him otherwise. Now, clearly this is a control freak we are dealing with, but also someone in authority who doesn’t trust images or shapes in his head. I had never encountered such a clear case of this happening and it opened my eyes to it happening elsewhere. Some people have low spatial intelligence. You would think becoming a ship captain would cull out a lot of people with that problem but maybe if you’re good enough at other things it doesn’t slow you down that much? Maybe he had to see things to understand them.

Fins 8y ago

From that mentioned Vanity Fair article I sort of got the impression that the captain expected the storm to be similar to what he had experienced when sailing Alaska, not what a proper tropical storm is.