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> And if the tool is meant to be used by devs, still describe your tool in a way a non-developer can understand Why?
by DC-3 8y ago
> And if the tool is meant to be used by devs, still describe your tool in a way a non-developer can understand
Why?
- wastedhours 8y agoDevs are often not (although sometimes are) the ones that hold the company credit card or are the gatekeepers of organisation power.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- deugtniet 8y agoMaybe to explain the decision to a non-dev colleague?
- DC-3 8y agoWhy should they have to do this? Is a carpenter required to explain to an interior designer why they have a preference for a particular type of chisel?
- corobo 8y agoIf they're asking the interior designer to buy it over some other chisel, probably
- personjerry 8y agoYes, of course. This chisel damages my designs on the table, can we use a softer one? No, we can’t because the material the table is made of won’t be malleable to any softer chisel.
- DC-3 8y agoThat's not a problem with the chisel, that's a problem with the carpenter. The chisel should be wholly abstracted away from the designer's perspective.
- matte_black 8y agoThat requires a higher level of trust in the carpenter to simply do the right thing. In the absence of sufficient trust, a definitive explanation is always required for a party to be at ease.
- thecatspaw 8y agoI did have to explain jrebel (java class reloading while running) to a manager lately, so it definitely happens
- emodendroket 8y agoHe does need to justify his choice of materials and his approach -- certainly by the time he is bringing in heavy machinery. This metaphor is too muddled to tell us much.
- pjc50 8y agoThis entire subtree of discussion has convinced me that developers should not be trusted with metaphors, let alone chisels.
- DC-3 8y agoIf it gets me into webshit weekly it'll all have been worth it.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- corobo 8y agoOff the top of my head - different skill levels, different language barriers, different purchasing power, different management layers to sign off on a product
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- KineticLensman 8y agoThe description could include features, advantages and benefits: - Features - what the tool does; - Advantages - how are the features better than the competitors'; - Benefits - why are the advantages useful to my business. Users (devs) are typically interested in features but the people who make usage/purchasing decisions (often non-devs) are more interested in benefits.
- pjc50 8y agoThe dev-specific explanation will often be dull and hyper-specific, narrowing your target market even among developers.
- matte_black 8y agoAnd at the same time, don't make the explanation sound too patronizing or infantile, or litter your landing page and docs with stupid little memes. Strike a professional tone.
- emodendroket 8y agoEven if your audience is a developer they'll probably more easily grasp a plain-language explanation than a technical one as they skim search results.
- DC-3 8y agoThis isn't true though. Here's the description for, to take an example, Rust: > Rust is a systems programming language that runs blazingly fast, prevents segfaults, and guarantees thread safety. Succinct and understandable, and exactly what a developer chancing upon the project wants to see. Were this to be made accessible to non-developers it would need to read something like this: > Rust is a programming language for developing computer systems and applications that runs blazingly fast and prevents errors when programs try to access the wrong memory, or attempt to work with that memory in two different places at once. It would be less readable and less appropriate for the primary audience of the product.
- emodendroket 8y agoWell, to use a hoary old saw, things should be explained as simply as possible, but no simpler.
- DC-3 8y agoIn broad terms, I'd agree with this adage - and to bring us back to my original point, I'd argue that 'as simply as possible' is in some circumstances not understandable to non-developers and that's ok.
- pdonis 8y ago> Were this to be made accessible to non-developers it would need to read something like this: No, it could read: "Rust is a systems programming language that runs blazingly fast and is more reliable and secure."
- DC-3 8y agoWhich is an even worse description because 'reliable' and 'secure' are just adjectives that can mean almost anything you want them to mean and thus tell the intelligent reader almost nothing about the product at all.
- krageon 8y agoAny extra effort I have to expend to understand your thing within the first five minutes of seeing your webpage means I get closer to closing the tab and never looking at it again. I'm capable of following extremely dense developer-oriented information, but I won't do so without an extremely good reason. I'd much rather speedread through a paragraph of information that had some effort put into making it legible.