I felt we didn't disagree but wanted open that line of conversation because it sounds heathy :D
I agree the tests for our tool aren't going to be the same as for many web sites/apps. One thing is to try to create a great experience for woman buying shoes in the web and another is computer science students/enthusiasts hacking something useful in a few hours. After all, smalltalk is all about bringing usability to software-making. All about the creative spirit easily telling machines how to behave In our ideal, easily = creative flow On Jan 3, 2014, at 10:07 AM, Tudor Girba <tu...@tudorgirba.com> wrote: > Hi Sebastian, > > I think you read my mail too literally :). > > We do not disagree. My comment about "Don't make me think" is that what > applies for the web is not quite the same as for a programming environment. > For example, on the web, it is more profitable to assume that everyone is a > newcomer, while in a tool where you spend a lot of time this is not > necessarily the case. > > That said, of course, doing usability experiments is indeed useful (and hard > to grasp :)). I did not argue against that. It would be great to start any > effort in this direction. > > Cheers, > Doru > > > > > On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 12:49 PM, Sebastian Sastre > <sebast...@flowingconcept.com> wrote: > Our engineering bias make us think too literally some times. > > Let's stay scientific but use the designer hat instead of the mathematician > hat. > > I know is for the web, but don't you have the feeling that you can design an > experiment in a way that will converge to the same usability principles? > > There are things in Krug's way to document the experiment that could have the > same degree of validity even for hardware devices! > > Don't make me think, as usability principle, is the most generous thing you > can do for the user. When you do that, what you are also doing is saving the > user's neocortex energy to solve other problems (their social, environmental > or personal problems). Is how you help them to change their worlds. That's > the closest thing to your mission accomplished. > > Cheap idea for us: > > 1. Design a simple experiment. And yes, simple for them is not the same as > simple for you! > 2. One morning per month (maybe that's too much, one every 3 months would be > a huge leap forward) > 3. Take 3 or 4 computer science students unfamiliar to Pharo, I'll say that's > the adequate audience > 4. Bribe them to participate with a cappuccino with croissants or something > 5. During the experiment, ask them what are you thinking now every time their > flow is interrupted > 6. Discover their assumptions. Don't explain. Listen! (and document). Take > notes like crazy* > 7. Don't panic by overwhelming issues. Discuss with colleagues or publish in > a private wiki for the team or something > 8. Decide what are the 3 most blocking entry barriers and show that to the > team. We need to discuss the discovered issues do, together, something about > them > > > *Your mission here is not educate the guys, only to document which are their > assumptions. You might feel frustrated by the state of education today or the > poor preparation they had or the bad influence of industry vices or how > anxious and distracted young people are these days. Nothing about that should > change your mission of discovering their assumptions, so the best is to ask > them, listen, document and share with maintainers. > > > > > On Jan 3, 2014, at 7:48 AM, Tudor Girba <tu...@tudorgirba.com> wrote: > >> Thanks for bringing this up. >> >> Yes, we should care about usability. >> >> And I agree that usability is attainable as long as you approach it with >> consistent discipline. It's similar to designing code: you start asking >> questions, figure out what the right questions are, and then stick to it. >> >> I like Steve Krug's Don't make me think book. However, please keep in mind >> that the lessons in the book apply specifically to the web. An environment >> like Pharo should not obey exactly the same things. >> >> But, as Esteban says, let's focus on the future, and keep usability high in >> our list of concerns. Even if we might not know how to do it now, simply >> sticking with it will make us better in the long run. >> >> Cheers, >> Doru >> >> >> >> >> On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 10:38 AM, Esteban Lorenzano <esteba...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> Hi Sebastian, >> >> I feel your pain :) >> >> we are aiming to focus Pharo 4 in “modularisation and tools”, to enhance >> what we have currently. >> Now… one of the biggest problems we have is that people is so used to the >> old tools that they don’t even realise that we can do a lot better. And most >> possible some people will react violently to any change… but well, we will >> do it anyway, with your help. >> Let’s all together build a better IDE for the future :) >> >> Esteban >> >> On 03 Jan 2014, at 01:13, Sebastian Sastre <sebast...@flowingconcept.com> >> wrote: >> >>> Guys is no mystery that we have some issues with UI. >>> >>> It's not so bad either, we have many things that are light years ahead of >>> other but we consistently miss some really basic stuff from the >>> Human-Computer-Interactcion point of view. >>> >>> The community is biased towards engineering and unbalanced regarding to >>> design so this is no surprise (why this happens is another interesting >>> conversation). >>> >>> UI is not that hard when you know what to pay attention to but we need >>> first to decide if we care about usability and the developer experience at >>> all. >>> >>> This fantastic talk from Steve Krug exposes what's the least you can do for >>> the usability of any software. >>> >>> http://blip.tv/business-of-software/steve-krug-on-the-least-you-can-do-about-usability-1566021 >>> >>> sebastian >>> >>> o/ >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> www.tudorgirba.com >> >> "Every thing has its own flow" > > > > > -- > www.tudorgirba.com > > "Every thing has its own flow"
