by Scott on June 19, 2007
Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay.
Money, its a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream, Think I’ll buy me a football team.
Everyone, sing it with me:
New box, database, VP daydream, Think I’ll buy me an IT team.
Money
In Making of a Web App I said that new software projects should simplify scope for increased likelyhood of success, greater end-user satisfaction, and key stakeholders who get what they need instead of a version diluted by dozens of others’ desires.
Yet, on large projects with dozens of stakeholders – such as is common on corporate IT efforts – it’s impossible to effectively reduce and simplify. There are decades of project management best practices and strategies for helping large, complex projects succeed. This post is a warning to those new to the industry and new to corporate IT efforts: don’t try reduce and simplify at your office. It won’t work. And here’s why.
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by Scott on June 18, 2007
Making of a Web App is Synap Software’s step-by-step look at designing and developing a web app. In this article we get a little bit ahead of ourselves and talk about styleguides.
Early PlaybookIQ Styleguide decisions:
- Use of the International Style
- Tab-based navigation
- Persistent search box
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Posted in Making of a web app, Synap Software: Design Decisions, Make a Web App | 7 trackbacks
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by Scott on June 18, 2007
I love this photo – “Understanding how to use a remote is made easier by a friend” – as an example of the power of reduction to make something easier to understand and give people a better experience. Take away all the stuff people don’t need and suddenly instead of fumbling around feeling stupid, they easily start doing what they want.
Also, the instructions are written directly on the remotes. The friend didn’t write seperate notes on a piece of paper saying “press the up and down arrows on the slim remote to change volume”. Instead, the friend wrote directly on the remote: “Volume”. Similarly, seperate “help” files and manuals for software need to die. There are better alternatives such as inline prompts and making a design so obvious and activity-centered that people do not need help files.
Posted in Simplicity, Web Application Design | 6 trackbacks
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