Developers don't know what users need (was Re: [Desktop_architects] Printing dialog and GNOME)

Otto Wyss otto.wyss at orpatec.ch
Wed Dec 14 10:08:43 PST 2005


Linus Torvalds wrote:

>The fact is, developers don't know what their users are going to need. 
>That's a very fundamental issue in any software engineering. The other, 
>almost as fundamental issue, is that asking users is usually not very 
>productive either, because (a) different users will give you different 
>answers and (b) users often don't even know.
>
>So when you ask "which flexibilities do you consider important", you're 
>pretty much BY DEFINITION asking for something senseless. It's akin to 
>asking how many angels dance on the head of a pin.
>
>But the fact that users and developers don't know does NOT mean that 
>customization is bad. Quite the reverse. It means that defaults make 
>sense, but since you don't know what they'll be doing, you should always 
>strive to have ways to let _them_ make the choice when they have some 
>reason the default doesn't agree with them.
>
>Those users may not know before-hand (which is why asking them is 
>pointless), but people actually _like_ twiddling around, changing fonts 
>and personalizing their machine. It may not be "productive", but it sure 
>as hell is user-friendly.
>  
>
Sorry if I interrupt here but IMO this is a very fundamental concept 
developers usually just don't give enough thinking. It is important to 
recognize that others may think completely different. Unfortunately I 
also don't know an simple solution how this can be done better. Maybe a 
developer should first assume he has done something wrong if a user asks 
a question.

I also like the simple configuration which just does everything right 
but I also get annoyed if I can't do what I want. So more or less 
important is almost impossible to decide since anybody defines it 
different. If you have to decide between more important or less, still 
allow everything but hide the "less" important through an additional 
level of indirection. So the one who wants control of everything can 
while the other doesn't see it.

O. Wyss

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