Seems limiting though..."computer" when software powers a number of systems that have computer components but are not known by that label, cellular phones for example. Switch device for computer and I'm sold.
marianne [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jared Spool Sent: Saturday, July 04, 2009 6:43 PM To: Russell Wilson Cc: list IXDA Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] In 10 words or less,what is software design to you? On Jul 4, 2009, at 4:23 PM, Russell Wilson wrote: > I currently lead the design of network performance mgt software > applications at my company. I have also designed countless > applications in the past that have nothing to do with network perf > mgt. And I have designed several websites for small businesses. > > But what does that have to do with anything??? This has nothing to do > with the company I work for. And why are you so hung up on the word > "software"? Do you think what you do is exactly the same as what an > automotive designer does? Do you think there are any distinctions? > > I don't need an elevator pitch nor a cocktail party one-liner > (although I do like your scenario). I'm really interested in how > people in our field of design characterize what they do. I guess I'm hung up on the prototype you proposed in your initial post: > At the end of a recent interview, the candidate asked me "What is > software design to you?" I can probably come up with a thousand > different answers but the one that popped into my mind immediately > that day was "*software design is making the ordinary extraordinary*." > > Okay, so maybe it won't get me a mention in Businessweek, but what I > was trying to capture and communicate was that software design in > particular is largely about taking unglamorous tools and making them > functionally robust and efficient, rewarding to use, and aesthetically > pleasing. "...making the ordinary extraordinary" seems very generic to me, whereas "software design" seems fairly specific. (I hang out, because of my son's profession, with a lot of magicians and special effects artists these days. Those guys think they've cornered the market on 'making the ordinary extraordinary'. And I find it hard to believe that Ferrari's designers don't think they are 'making the ordinary extraordinary.' Likewise, there ain't nothing ordinary about this $2.1m Bugatti: http://is.gd/1nB3s ) I guess part of my fixation on "software" is that that seems more and more irrelevant these days. If you were getting the exact same behaviors from hardware or service, would it matter that it's software design? Is software where you want to pigeonhole your design skills? If there is a useful answer to this question (and, like so many of the "what are we?" questions that regularly appear on this list, I'm once again doubtful there is), I think it has to match the specificity of the question. Therefore, Marc's answer of "arranging code to perform a function on a computer" is the best answer I've seen so far, but my sense is that it wasn't what you were looking for. Jared ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
