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I completely agree - so much midtier and enterprise software is a complete mess because of these things. People have to be willing to listen to customers, but s

by jnoller 16y ago

I completely agree - so much midtier and enterprise software is a complete mess because of these things. People have to be willing to listen to customers, but say no when it serves the greater good. You must kill ruthlessly - but you must have the metrics to know what to kill, and you have to examine those metrics as part of the process. Feature bloat is especially painful, for the longest time "enterprise" has been synonymous with "a ton of mostly unused features and confusing UI". Don't make your product into something which resembles a pile of tools in the crap-drawer in your kitchen. Say no - kill things, make it clean, organized and usable. Your users will thank you. On the other hand, the guys who make more money than you every year "consulting" on how to "properly use and setup" you bloated confusing product will hate you.

ido 16y ago
That's the point tho, isn't it? It isn't about making good software, it's about making good money. Since the people who buy the software are not the people who use it, what you need to optimize isn't the software's ease of use, but ease of selling to the people on top. If the users are happy or not is comparatively inconsequential, after all - they are not the ones making the decision.
- jman73 16y ago
  Well, the point I guess is that the people who use it are more and more the people who make the decision, b/c the channels of distribution have changed, even for biz software. http://web.hbr.org/email/archive/dailystat.php?date=092110 http://web.hbr.org/email/archive/dailystat.php?date=092110
- jnoller 16y ago
  If you're not optimizing for your users - the poor schmucks who are forced to use you day after day, you're abusing them and making their lives hell. If you're in the business of abusing your users because they're not the people writing the checks, I hope you fail (even though I know you won't). Making money and caring about your users are not incompatible goals.

by jnoller 16y ago

ido 16y ago

That's the point tho, isn't it? It isn't about making good software, it's about making good money. Since the people who buy the software are not the people who use it, what you need to optimize isn't the software's ease of use, but ease of selling to the people on top. If the users are happy or not is comparatively inconsequential, after all - they are not the ones making the decision.

jman73 16y ago
Well, the point I guess is that the people who use it are more and more the people who make the decision, b/c the channels of distribution have changed, even for biz software. http://web.hbr.org/email/archive/dailystat.php?date=092110 http://web.hbr.org/email/archive/dailystat.php?date=092110
jnoller 16y ago
If you're not optimizing for your users - the poor schmucks who are forced to use you day after day, you're abusing them and making their lives hell. If you're in the business of abusing your users because they're not the people writing the checks, I hope you fail (even though I know you won't). Making money and caring about your users are not incompatible goals.