Few days back i got a chance to talk to a web developer with around 4 years of experiance, in an interview. He had many ecommerce applications and reservation systems adding value to his profile. The technical discussion was good and i bet for him. He is a good coder.
For my query about the targeted users for the apps, that he develop, the answer was quick and confident. The one who pays money to develop it, the client.
When i asked him what he does normally to ensure usability of his application he stared at me for couple of seconds and shot back. What do you exactly mean by usability? After 5 minutes and a basic summary from my side on what i meant with a simple example he seems relaxed and replied. Well,we use ajax to avoid page loads for usability. Might be my mistake with the summary.
But this happens if you talk to a lot of developers, atleast from the subcontinent. They are good in coding, problem solving and slogging. They are able to solve most of the challenges technically and cost effectively but many a times never bothers about the business side of the application. They hardly cares about who uses the application, what they intend to do with it, what is the end users socio economic background and how much desire and need they have in using the app.
They solves the problem, gets the requirement done, and most probably will create a secure scalable system in the process.
But the hard truth is, if the system is not giving due consideration to the end user, his purpose and his persona, there is a high chance that it will end up as a failure.
But the hard truth is, if the system is not giving due consideration to the end user, his purpose and his persona, there is a high chance that it will end up as a failure.
USABILITY is the golden key that opens the magic door of user acceptance for your system. If the system is voted as usable by majority of its users, it passes the first and major hurdle and rest of the problems can be addressed with time planning and resource.
Developers are normally used with the complex user interfaces of control panels and IDE that they use everyday. So when he designs an interface the natural tendency is to create another cockpit flooded with hooks buttons and gears. They love it. I love it. It gives many options which is what we want always while we build something.
But this is not OK for a non technical person. He needs something less confusing. A system that guides him well and throws less surprises in his path to get the job done with no mistakes.
But this is not OK for a non technical person. He needs something less confusing. A system that guides him well and throws less surprises in his path to get the job done with no mistakes.
So if you are a techy with a profile fitting to the one mentioned above, next time when you plan to learn something new, put usability in the top of the list.
It is all about understanding the end user (his persona), his need, and his way of getting the job done and develop your system based on it. It is as important as your expertize in java or python and this is a skill that you will not loose over time even if you don't practise.
It is all about understanding the end user (his persona), his need, and his way of getting the job done and develop your system based on it. It is as important as your expertize in java or python and this is a skill that you will not loose over time even if you don't practise.
