Training Toolkit

Pigeons can push random buttons

Rupert Goodwins ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 10 Oct 2003 10:50 BST

It's a shame that trade guilds are so out of fashion. Sure, they encourage monopolistic abuse, the forming of cartels and Shaw's famous conspiracy against the laity, but they also give us working stiffs a chance. In particular, there should be a Worshipful Company Of Web Site Operatives. We nearly started one in a meeting in the pub the other night: a rather gruesome collection of old hands gathered from across London to swap war stories.

"They gave us a new system the other day", said one. "Took me half an hour to work out that when the button said "Edit Record" it meant "Save Page". "That's nothing." said another. "Ours has twenty fields to fill in before you get close to editing any text, and then if you're not in the right one of five identical screens you can't change its status." "Can't you set up a template to automate that? Any error messages? Hints?" asked a third. The first two just laughed hollowly, and made the third buy them some more beer. Cheers, chaps.

I know from similar sessions with people from all industries that we are not alone. Business automation, ERP, CRM companies and the ungodly hoards of consultants who darken the skies above the unwary are skilled in many esoteric arts. Powerpoint, project management, writing software, understanding the business model; all these things are proudly trumpeted. You need them all, of course. Data flows one way, money flows the other, and not a penny nor a byte goes uncharted. Who'd have it any other way?

But the systems so produced, whether in-house or out-house (such a good name for consultant-led projects I wonder why it hasn't been more widely adopted), are often as not missing one vital aspect at the edges: a well-designed user interface. Who's entering data when, and why? How long does it take them? How easy can the task be made? It's not that the concept of good interfaces per se is alien: anywhere that people laden with money may alight is polished to the nth degree. It's Hollywood software: the facade is fantastic, but behind the scenes the whole lot's held up with unvarnished planks and six-inch nails.

It continues to amaze me that twenty years after Apple showed the world what well-designed software looked like, most IT departments think the word "Usability" is shorthand for user stopping, activity blighting, information losing, irksome travesty. But then, why would they feel any differently? Companies who spend untold thousands on training and "staff advancement" schemes so inane they pop arteries on a statue would no more hire a usability consultant to actually ask what's needed than get David Blaine in to advise on the staff canteen. It's the same attitude that provides air conditioning for the server room and leaves the grunts at the terminals to wilt in the heat.