Title: Despite tension, engineering and design needs must be valued equally: Execs
Context: “Can’t we all just get along?” The answer for designers and developers working on enterprise software the answer is all too often “no”.
Synopsis: Enterprise users demand better software. Product managers hear this and tell their product teams to make better software. Designers hear this and try to design better software. Developers hear this and try to build better software. And in the end, we generally wind up with a piece of crap software. How does this happen? Everyone wants “better software”. Everyone was very clear on this point. Much of the tension within a business context actually lies between the buyer and the user. The buyer generates a list of requirements and specifications that address all of business use cases he or she is being asked to solve. The user just wants to use something that isn’t going to make his or her head explode out of frustration. The former is an engineering mindset, the latter a design one. The power of the purse string lies with the former, the ability to make everyone’s life hell with endless complaints: the latter. Is it possible that the real problem is not with the people making the software but rather with the people buying and using it? Of course not *rolls eyes*. But until everyone is truly on the same “better software” page, continue to be expect mostly frustrating experiences at your place of work.
Best Bit: “You don’t want an engineering-based organization overseeing design. There’s a conflict of interest there.”
via zdnet.com
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