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Alan Cooper
This book is essentially about the meaning of programmers and managers and their role in the design phase. Alan Cooper starts of by stating that anything combined with a computer is, in essence, a computer. Thus, the people who make the programs that run on those computers have the very important task of ensuring that the computers will be completely functional, but on the side, they also have to design the user interface. Unfortunately, the programmers are not the people that should be the ones designing the user interface. Programmers are really good at one thing, and one thing only.
The problem is that the design process is delegated to those who do not know how to design. The solution is to have a team of people dedicated to only the design process. By outsourcing the design process, programmers and management are free to do what they do best and the finished product is then more consumer friendly.
I feel this idea is SOMEWHAT true. Programmers and managers certainly are not good interface designers, but they know what is possible and what can be done. There should be a separate team that does the designing, but it has to at least consist of a programmer and manager. It would be more beneficial to have programmers and managers that are no associated with the actual product. If they are working on the product as well, they we are back to square one and that's what we are trying to get away from.
Overall, I felt this is a very good book about the truth in the design process. This is a MUST read for all programmers and managers or anyone working in a similarly related field.
I agree that there should be a programmer and manager in the loop. Then again, if there are always those two people in the design process putting limitations on the design because "they know what can be done," it could limit the greatness of the design. I think the right manager and programmer need to be selected for the job for that to work.
ReplyDeleteI agree. While designers might know whats best when it comes to designs, the programmers themselves can definitely contribute towards the overall design.
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