[Sigia-l] Computer scientists and engineers thinking about user acceptance and social adoption?

[Emily Leahy-Thieler]

>> Getting the developers  to understand the "whys" of the product design lead to
>> a better  software design.

>How?

Well, for one, I've found that wen developers understand the "whys" they are much less resistant to  making  application changes that make it more usable. Second (and I think this kind of the crux of this debate), sometimes developers have good ideas about ways to make the product more usable. Maybe there is a new technology that allows for a particular interaction I'm not aware of. Maybe they've seen a feature in another piece of software that solves a problem like I'm trying to solve that I don't know about. They can't be helpful if they don't know why we're doing what we're doing. 

That said, I do get my feathers ruffled when a developer is trying to tell me that something I want isn't good usability when it's clear they are just trying to get out of making the change or have no particular data to back up their claim. But, I've also worked on some very good teams where everyone is thinking about usability, knows the audience we're trying to target, and is motivated to make the best user experience possible. It's rare in my experience, but it's awesome when it happens.



*E