False Goals


Most of the software-based products we use every day are created with false goals in mind. Many of these goals ease the task of software creation, which is a programmer's goal, and this is why they get promoted at the expense of the software's user. Other false goals have to do with tasks, features, and tools. They are means to ends, but not ends in themselves, and goals are always ends.

FALSE GOALS

Save memory

Save keystrokes

Run in a browser

Be easy to learn

Safeguard data integrity

Speed up data entry

Increase program-execution efficiency

Use cool technology or features

Increase graphic beauty

Maintain consistency across platforms

A target like "safeguarding data integrity" isn't a goal for a personal mailing-list program the same way it might be for a program that calculates shuttle orbits. A target like "saving memory" isn't very important for personal-computer database-query programs because downloads are small and computers are big. Even a target like "being easy to learn" isn't always a primary goal. For example, a fighter pilot who found it easy to learn to use her weapons systems, but then found them slow and cumbersome to operate, would be at a distinct disadvantage in an aerial dogfight. Her goal is to emerge from combat victorious, not to have an easy time in flight instruction.

Since the invention of the microprocessor, the computer revolution has surfed a wave of new technology. Any company that ignores new technical ideas is doomed. But don't confuse these techniques with goals. It might be a software company's task to use new technology, but it is never a user's goal to do so. As a user, I don't care if I get my job done with hierarchical databases, relational databases, object-oriented databases, flat-file systems, or black magic. All I care about is getting my job done swiftly with a modicum of ease and dignity.

For example, in 1996 the Visioneer Company carved out a big share of the desktop-scanner market from well-entrenched competitors. Visioneer accomplished this remarkable feat with an old-fashioned black-and-white scanner, while its competition could scan either gray-scale or full color. But Visioneer's product included Goal-Directed software that allowed users to easily view and manage their scanned images, while the others' software merely dumped the scans into the complicated file system.



Inmates Are Running the Asylum, The. Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy &How to Restore the Sanity - 2004 publication
ISBN: B0036HJY9M
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 170

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