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In contrast, look at AutoCad or Photoshop, and ArcGis. Mega complex ui's, what they do is more like programming than office productivity. So user workflow is go

In contrast, look at AutoCad or Photoshop, and ArcGis. Mega complex ui's, what they do is more like programming than office productivity. So user workflow is going to be more difficult. I've worked on in a large bank doing sales with slow IT systems, (The Mainframe was awesome quick though, shout out to black screens!). The bank coached staff to use there tools in an order and structure their conversations so they'd have buffer for information and systems to be there when needed. Warehouse work is very repeatable compared to most work with a computer.

specialist 5y ago
I used to joke "AutoCAD is an 800lb angry gorilla sitting between you and your work." Then I met a UI researcher, hired by Army Corps of Engr to explain the missing productivity, who went way past time & motion to strategies. The interplay between tools and techniques, influencing how people organize their tasks. Matrices to highlight weird noun (line, circle, text) and verb (copy, move, delete) interactions. In other words, he showed how strategies from manually drafting did not translate to CAD and proposed new strategies (metaphors) and training appropriate for the new medium. Then validated his ideas with usability testing. Brilliant stuff. Like facepalm obvious once you see it. Crickets. Both Autodesk and Bentley Systems were hostile to user centric design based on real world data and lived experiences. The geeks and sales pukes who had never designed or drafted knew what designers and drafters needed, so piss off. Besides, they're printing money, validating their efforts. And you aren't. So piss off. Lather, rinse, repeat.
- bsder 5y ago
  > Both Autodesk and Bentley Systems were hostile to user centric design based on real world data and lived experiences. That's because customer support is the number #1 variable cost on that kind of software. If you change anything, you start absorbing customer support calls from your enterprise customers. This is how I knew that Microsoft doesn't carry support costs for Office and Windows--they rearrange GUIs willingly.
  - specialist 5y ago
    Belated reply, because I like your posts, and I don't want to be argumentative with you. :) My mentor at that time was an AutoCAD dealer. He (eventually) explained the value added reseller racket to me. Very similar to franchising. Autodesk and others sloughed off most marketing, sales, inventory, shipping, and tech support onto their dealers. Their reasoning, IIRC, was that while dev cost 7% of revenue, those other activities cost 30%. Why not get rubes to cover that overhead? Further, turnover in the dealer channel was about 1/3 per year. A typical dealer would refinance their house (or whatever) for a few $100k. Burn thru it trying to get established. And there'd be 2 more wannabe dealers waiting to replace them. It was very hard to not sell AutoCAD for a loss. There were a few tricks to surviving and profiting. Consulting, training, and hardware, of course. The most capable productized their AutoCAD addons. The most successful of those then matured out of dealerships and formed their own VAR rackets. My mentor created Rhino 3D. Most of the tech and code started as AutoCAD addons. Until they had bootstrapped a standalone MVP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_3D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_3D -- This was the 1990s. Autodesk is now the Computer Associates of abandonware graphics programs. Some of those legacy apps probably have enterprisey support contracts, so you're probably right about that. At a guess, it's probably part of the subscription models (everyone trying to copy Adobe's success).
    - bsder 5y ago
      > Belated reply, because I like your posts, and I don't want to be argumentative with you. :) Quite alright. I don't mind having to defend my positions--downvoters with no comments, however, piss me off. :) > The most successful of those then matured out of dealerships and formed their own VAR rackets. Yeowch. :( I didn't know that Autodesk sloughed off the tech support. I'm not surprised.

specialist 5y ago

I used to joke "AutoCAD is an 800lb angry gorilla sitting between you and your work." Then I met a UI researcher, hired by Army Corps of Engr to explain the missing productivity, who went way past time & motion to strategies. The interplay between tools and techniques, influencing how people organize their tasks. Matrices to highlight weird noun (line, circle, text) and verb (copy, move, delete) interactions. In other words, he showed how strategies from manually drafting did not translate to CAD and proposed new strategies (metaphors) and training appropriate for the new medium. Then validated his ideas with usability testing. Brilliant stuff. Like facepalm obvious once you see it. Crickets. Both Autodesk and Bentley Systems were hostile to user centric design based on real world data and lived experiences. The geeks and sales pukes who had never designed or drafted knew what designers and drafters needed, so piss off. Besides, they're printing money, validating their efforts. And you aren't. So piss off. Lather, rinse, repeat.

bsder 5y ago
> Both Autodesk and Bentley Systems were hostile to user centric design based on real world data and lived experiences. That's because customer support is the number #1 variable cost on that kind of software. If you change anything, you start absorbing customer support calls from your enterprise customers. This is how I knew that Microsoft doesn't carry support costs for Office and Windows--they rearrange GUIs willingly.
- specialist 5y ago
  Belated reply, because I like your posts, and I don't want to be argumentative with you. :) My mentor at that time was an AutoCAD dealer. He (eventually) explained the value added reseller racket to me. Very similar to franchising. Autodesk and others sloughed off most marketing, sales, inventory, shipping, and tech support onto their dealers. Their reasoning, IIRC, was that while dev cost 7% of revenue, those other activities cost 30%. Why not get rubes to cover that overhead? Further, turnover in the dealer channel was about 1/3 per year. A typical dealer would refinance their house (or whatever) for a few $100k. Burn thru it trying to get established. And there'd be 2 more wannabe dealers waiting to replace them. It was very hard to not sell AutoCAD for a loss. There were a few tricks to surviving and profiting. Consulting, training, and hardware, of course. The most capable productized their AutoCAD addons. The most successful of those then matured out of dealerships and formed their own VAR rackets. My mentor created Rhino 3D. Most of the tech and code started as AutoCAD addons. Until they had bootstrapped a standalone MVP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_3D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_3D -- This was the 1990s. Autodesk is now the Computer Associates of abandonware graphics programs. Some of those legacy apps probably have enterprisey support contracts, so you're probably right about that. At a guess, it's probably part of the subscription models (everyone trying to copy Adobe's success).
  - bsder 5y ago
    > Belated reply, because I like your posts, and I don't want to be argumentative with you. :) Quite alright. I don't mind having to defend my positions--downvoters with no comments, however, piss me off. :) > The most successful of those then matured out of dealerships and formed their own VAR rackets. Yeowch. :( I didn't know that Autodesk sloughed off the tech support. I'm not surprised.