Comments on: Inertia and Separation Anxiety Drive Design

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:52:33 +0000

I know, right? I think people would be surprised at how much really goes into even the simplest of software.

By: megbear

megbear — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:50:03 +0000

I have to agree — software is hard.

-Meg

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:54:59 +0000

Sure, top-down IT is pretty standard, and it generally makes sense. The problem is with user unrest, which contributes to “workarounds” and unnecessary customizations.

It's just disappointing that IT's point of view and the user's point of view don't seem to overlap in enough cases.

By: Joonas Linkola

Joonas Linkola — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:44:09 +0000

Then again, there are large corporations (do I need to name names?) that will make policy / technology decisions and just force them through. People are expected to adapt to changes in the workplace, technical or otherwise. The temporary loss in efficiency while people pick up the new ways is just a drop in the ocean in many cases, especially if the change can otherwise streamline processes or workflows. (Your mileage may vary.)

But I hear what you mean. While I was working in internal I.T. and we were doing the rollout of Office 2003 (from Office 2k), I couldn't wait to get it over and done with as O2k3 was such a better product from I.T.'s point of view. Still, most of the support cases from users were asking to configure things “back to the way they were”.

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:08:53 +0000

Wave seems to be accommodating to the old ways, via robots. Tough to tell for sure.

I should have mentioned this in the post. Edge-in apps (social stuff, e.g.) helps b/c people recognize what you're trying to do and feel more at home with it, but even so, they want training, etc.

It's not easy by any means.

By: chet

chet — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:07:21 +0000

That's why you are where you are. You've learned to cave…I mean balance.

I get it though. Curious as to how you balance the innovative (Google Wave?) with traditional? That's a sea-change from what I can tell. I guess that's not going on people's desktops (yet)…i.e. they're not forced to use it.

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:01:09 +0000

Sure. I'm with you re. change generally.

I tend to err on the user's side when it comes to work, as long as I can get a real use case, e.g. I won't put chat into every web app I build, but I'll consider bacn emails, assuming time/resource constraints allow.

Change a big problem for innovative stuff though b/c people want work to go smoothly. After all, doing the job outranks how to do it. It's a major balancing act.

By: chet

chet — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:53:02 +0000

I hate inertia.

I spent my whole life adapting to change…it's the world we live in now. While I will usually accede to the demands, it won't be without some coaxing to try something different. But…I have not done it on your scale either. Makes sense (in that regard)…I think.

One story I like to tell are about my cousins who all live in Indiana…they all expect(ed) to go to work for Delco (a GM parts supplier) to make ridiculous sums of money for hardly any work (unions, but that's another rant). Seriously, they would, out of high school, make $30 an hour. WTF? I've busted my ass trying to keep up with the latest and greatest (and complicated) technology and I've only just reached that point.

You should expect change. Chaos is your friend. Change is the new…what's a good word?…not change? nah. You know what I mean.