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When I was developing internal software at a big company, I went to observe some actual users at the company. (I thought what we were building didn't make sens
by ken 8y ago
When I was developing internal software at a big company, I went to observe some actual users at the company. (I thought what we were building didn't make sense, so I wanted to see if they actually used it that way.) I got a tongue lashing from management for that one! "You're a developer. You're not supposed to talk to users."
The entire project, of course, was eventually cancelled.
- maxxxxx 8y agoI see that a lot too. There are a lot of well-paid managers whose only role is to be middlemen between engineers, customers and other departments and they protect that role jealously. I agree that some developer probably shouldn't be talking to customers but overall they should. I have had many occasions where we received a spec and after discussion with users quickly saw how we could meet their needs in a much simpler way than the middlemen had come up with.
- gaius 8y agoThe entire project, of course, was eventually cancelled Been there, done that. Once spent months working on a project but when I finally got to talk to the users they told me it didn’t do what they wanted and even if it did they wouldn’t change their working practices (union rules maybe?) At the end of the year the manager who had assigned me this project dinged me on my appraisal for not having delivered it.