3 ms·

Not a user of this site but a lesson for all techies about changing something which is heavily in use. Don't expect people to take to it immediately and provide

Not a user of this site but a lesson for all techies about changing something which is heavily in use. Don't expect people to take to it immediately and provide some way to allow people to gradually transition. The site itself looks clean and loads fast but people are complaining that they can't easily find information they used to be able to. Also, the price tag is eye watering!

aeonfox 11mo ago
I think the lesson here is to get feedback early and often. Do an open beta from the start, or at least focus groups where regular members of the public can give opinions on the product as it evolves.
- sam-cop-vimes 11mo ago
  Indeed - this should've been easily possible by having a beta subdomain pointing to the new implementation and let people comment on it to get early feedback.
  - OuterVale 11mo ago
    There were beta versions available for years, but most feedback was ignored.
    - aeonfox 11mo ago
      First I've heard of it. Might have helped to not just listen, but to actively advertise the beta via a link on the main website. Pretty standard practice.
      - sam-cop-vimes 11mo ago
        Yeah - but how does a site which was initially projected to cost $4M AUD get to $96M! A 16x increase! The mind boggles.
        aeonfox 11mo ago
        It's pretty nuts. I want to know where that money went. Something like this needs a full post-mortem, or a Royal Commission as they call it
  - dzhiurgis 11mo ago
    Also how to blow 500M instead of 100M /s
themk 11mo ago
The old website was much faster. And you could fit all the information you needed on a single screen. No scrolling. It was great.
NewLogic 11mo ago
They do still have the old site live at https://reg.bom.gov.au/ https://reg.bom.gov.au/
- sam-cop-vimes 11mo ago
  Oh - that is interesting! Neither the article nor the new website help page [1] mentions that the old site still exists. [1] https://www.bom.gov.au/website-help https://www.bom.gov.au/website-help

aeonfox 11mo ago

I think the lesson here is to get feedback early and often. Do an open beta from the start, or at least focus groups where regular members of the public can give opinions on the product as it evolves.

sam-cop-vimes 11mo ago
Indeed - this should've been easily possible by having a beta subdomain pointing to the new implementation and let people comment on it to get early feedback.
- OuterVale 11mo ago
  There were beta versions available for years, but most feedback was ignored.
  - aeonfox 11mo ago
    First I've heard of it. Might have helped to not just listen, but to actively advertise the beta via a link on the main website. Pretty standard practice.
    - sam-cop-vimes 11mo ago
      Yeah - but how does a site which was initially projected to cost $4M AUD get to $96M! A 16x increase! The mind boggles.
      - aeonfox 11mo ago
        It's pretty nuts. I want to know where that money went. Something like this needs a full post-mortem, or a Royal Commission as they call it
- dzhiurgis 11mo ago
  Also how to blow 500M instead of 100M /s

themk 11mo ago

The old website was much faster. And you could fit all the information you needed on a single screen. No scrolling. It was great.

NewLogic 11mo ago

They do still have the old site live at https://reg.bom.gov.au/ https://reg.bom.gov.au/

sam-cop-vimes 11mo ago
Oh - that is interesting! Neither the article nor the new website help page [1] mentions that the old site still exists. [1] https://www.bom.gov.au/website-help https://www.bom.gov.au/website-help