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You're not alone, but you're part of a minority. I don't know if others don't care or are really that oblivious of how the world is different outside of the com
by paulojreis 11y ago
You're not alone, but you're part of a minority. I don't know if others don't care or are really that oblivious of how the world is different outside of the computer screen. What I can see is that most software people are happy with the status quo; they get paid to do what they think it's cool, instead of doing what the user truly needs. "Refactor to new framework XYZ? Great, no problem. User-research? No need, we obviously know what they want".
Anyway, a few days ago there was a post here on HN about an anthropologist at Adobe, studying how designers use Photoshop. It's an exception (although in academia there are quite a few notable anthropologists studying human usage of IT), but at least it's a glimpse of hope...
- TeMPOraL 11y agoReally? My impressions are exactly opposite. It's always "business first", "yes this tech is cool and all, but not what the users need", getting things out of the door sooner than possible because sales need to have something to sell, etc. Even if companies fail at "doing what the user truly needs", they also fail at letting developers "do what they think is cool".
- staticelf 11y agoTotally agree with your point and I think it is also the reason why we today don't have planes that are so fast as the engineers back in the days dreamt of. Maybe we don't understand the need for it right now, but if we had kept on improving and "wasting money" on improving the speed and finding new materials we might already would have solved space travel. As the author points out, spending money on bombs were more important and I don't understand how this is a good thing.