Paul B. Gallagher wrote:
JeffM wrote:
Paul B. Gallagher wrote:
Inviting end users who are incapable of coding or testing
is an empty promise.
Describe more fully "incapable of testing".
What I mean is that most end users can demo a program, play around for a
bit, and generally satisfy themselves that "it works" for their favorite
tasks. They might accidentally stumble upon a problem. But they won't
perform rigorous, systematic testing such as navigating to each and
every option on a menu. So if you have a feature that's rarely used, or
if it doesn't elicit interest or curiosity because of its menu location,
name, or description, it won't be tested. In this scenario, you need a
very large cohort of testers with very diverse interests (ways of using
the program).
I test avionics software professionally, even though I don't code any of
it - it helps that I'm a pilot, and share a pilots "user" experience.
That's about all that's required, and what you describe is likely
sufficient because it highlights specifically what is important to the
user; anything that the user doesn't *use* isn't even a consideration as
far as an end-user is concerned.
One doesn't really need to know how to code, but one does need to be
able to draft an informative report, and I think most users can do that.
Getting someone to actually listen, prioritize, and take action however...
I've written SM bug reports, expressed user-oriented opinions here...to
no result. Even when quite a few of the SM coders were behind what I
had to say re: small buttons in the download dialog and human factors
concerns (and I submitted a formal bug when asked to do so), it seemed
like just *one* team member could somehow crush the input of all of the
rest of us even though he was outnumbered. And nothing changed.
Then I got severely burned trying to evaluate a relatively small (but
desired) change in a SM beta on a machine I depend on and had to rebuild
my former install from backup...thus formally ended my inclination to
"contribute".
--
- Rufus
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