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Post author here. I agree; so often constructive feedback loops from end users to builders are woefully absent from the equation. I feel the greater the distan
by adityaathalye 3y ago
Post author here. I agree; so often constructive feedback loops from end users to builders are woefully absent from the equation.
I feel the greater the distance between the purchase decision maker and the end user, the weaker the feedback gets. Riffing off the six degrees of separation idea and exponential drop off of signals though lossy media, it's like by the time someone gets to a third degree of separation, any feedback signal barely registers. Only mass action has any chance of being heard, much less heeded.
- AnimalMuppet 3y agoAh. So that's (part of) why enterprise software is so universally bad. The users are further from the purchasers than they are in, say, developer tools.
- adityaathalye 3y agoI believe so. I'll pick on Government websites and the systems that back them as an all-too-familiar, internationally reviled category of software, as an example. These tend to be incredibly painful to use. Some tendering process somewhere awards a contract to the lowest bidder who then has the unenviable job of wrangling the delightful intricacies of government machinery to put something out that maybe does what it was supposed to do for the common citizen. In such a world, I feel gov.uk stands out as a remarkable counter-example, worthy of emulation. e.g. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-design-principles https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-design-principles