[Sigia-l] "Study: Content Management Tools Fail"

[Listera]

"christina wodtke" wrote:

> The act of design creates a deeper understanding of behavior...

Absolutely. This is one of the reasons I keep repeating here like a broken
record to get to the prototype as soon as possible/practical, not just for
the client's benefit, but your own as well.
 
> But will you know what you need over time? Will you understand the learning
> issues? Will you understand what tiny things that are annoying at first turn
> out to be no big problem and which start causing huge mistakes?

This is where it pays to hire someone (or have one in place) who has been
there a few times. Because...
 
> Surprises are almost assured no matter what you do. All you can do is minimize
> risk.

...as you say, you can't foresee all the problems that might happen. But,
with experience, you learn to anticipate, recognize and do what's necessary
to minimize risks. 

There are a category of problems/risks common to all projects, regardless of
their domain/subject matter. For example, overly complex systems require,
money and manpower to maintain; if you don't have the requisite resources to
accomplish that, don't create complex systems. Overly automated systems are
brittle. Systems that are overly dependent on third party resources are hard
to maintain. Companies that outsource their core competencies to third
parties are asking for trouble. Etc. One develops a nose for these.

Ziya
Nullius in Verba