The thing missing from this thread is that there are many possible reasons why any given design is complex - everyone is right at least some of the time.
To sum up the points made so far here, software is complex because at least one of the following occurs: 1. Some users need complex control and the designers decided those were important users. 2. The makers are lousy designers: they don't know any better. 3. The makers believe they profit from complexity and do it primarily for that reason. 4. Engineering or business constraints make a simpler design more difficult than outsiders assume. 5. Makers had poor designs in early versions that users acclimated to and even though the makers know better now, they're reluctant to force their die-hard users to relearn things. 6. Complexity is gradually added over time and the otherwise competent designers don't realize they've lost their way until its too late. And of course in many cases there are competing forces at work within a single company over the design, and while some designers, marketers or engineers are working to reduce complexity, others are not. It's always easy as outsiders to assume there is one single person to blame at some other company for all that's wrong, or that all the people on a particular project were homogeneous in mind, despite knowing from our own experiences how rare that's the case. As one example, I've seen teams desperately trying to reduce complexity, but sometimes failing, and a seperate group in the same company responsible for training on that product profiting from those failures. So yes, I suppose the training group did in a way hope for more complexity, but the designers and engineers on the actual product were committed to work against it. -Scott Scott Berkun www.scottberkun.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jared M. Spool" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Andrei Herasimchuk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "UI List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 5:04 AM Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] can we make it to easy? > > On May 3, 2008, at 7:49 PM, Andrei Herasimchuk wrote: > > > Sorry Jared, unless you cite people who've told you otherwise, I'm > > not buying it. I've never heard anyone in the software industry ever > > make the claim they makes things complicated on purpose. > > Sorry to break it to you Andrei, but just because *you* haven't seen > it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. :-) > > Before I started UIE, in the mid-80s, I first encountered this > attitude at a company called Autographix, which made presentation > systems (before the days of Harvard Graphics, Aldus Persuasion, and > long before MS Powerpoint). They sold their software/hardware solution > practically at cost and made all of their money on training and > support, particularly on user certification. (Certified users could > get a 20-30% salary increase because the system was so arcane.) > > I was working on a small skunkworks project to produce a pc-based (DOS/ > CGA) what-you-see-is-what-you-get slide editing system. It worked > pretty well too. When we presented it to mgmt, we were told that the > company wasn't set up to sell software that didn't require training. > > After I started UIE, I ran into several clients with this perspective. > In the early '90s I ran into a typesetting company that was in a > similar situation. (The name is escaping me right now, but they were > based out of Wakefield, MA.) They sold to magazines and newsletters > and made a ton of revenue through their training and support. Their > users also benefited from the certification by commanding higher > salaries that non-certified page setters. Certified users produced > pages faster than the best users of other systems, so the customers > (newspaper owners) saw the benefit of the ecosystem too. They did > everything they could to keep certification high. > > At the same time, we did a set of studies for a company in Newton, MA > that made fire alarm systems for large building complexes. Again, they > basically gave their systems away without a profit and made all their > money on support contracts and training. We actually conducted > usability tests on "layman" doing typical tasks. If the layman > (without support certification) could complete the tasks, we had to > *change the design*. > > There were many product managers at WordPerfect, Lotus, and Novell > that had the if-we-make-it-too-easy-we'll-erode-our-market philosophy. > I've also met groups at MS and IBM that had a similar attitude. > > One that stands out in my mind (and which you may be familiar with) > was MetaCreation's Kai's Power Tools and Bryce. While the designer Kai > Krause was a fan of hiding complexity, the tools had a huge learning > curve. There was at least one version that hid functionality from > users until they proved they could master the functions already > provided, then it slowly revealed new functionality, much like video > game. > > By the way, a lot of this comes from people who do a surface analysis > on what makes games popular. In gaming, you can't have it be too easy. > There is a requirement, for a successful game, for select users to > have mastery that most users don't. In my experience, managers who > promote the if-we-make-it-too-easy-we'll-erode-our-market philosophy > often cite the success of video games as a rationale. > > If I thought about it harder, I could probably come up with more folks > I've run into in the last 30 years with this attitude. I've never seen > the strategy work, but that doesn't keep it from emerging from people > who are trying to be a little too clever (and avoiding the hard work > to rethink overly complex designs). > > Jared > > Jared M. Spool > User Interface Engineering > 510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845 > e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] p: +1 978 327 5561 > http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
