They revolted against the "Software" in the Matrix.
Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?
171–180 of 194 posts
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
A trigger on a timer that notifies the fuck-it-provider (email, calendar entry, text message, whatever) that they need to go back and enter a value.
Honestly this sort of deferred validation exists as a standard feature of certain modes of data intake that are often criticized for same, for example paper forms (the "required" fields can be left blank), or creating support tickets via email (required fields stay null until an agent updates the ticket via web UI). At some point additional round trips may occur to pay back this debt, but debt is a powerful tool for…
Paper forms can be filled in by different people with different roles at different times. Customers can fill in their personal data and possibly leave blank something they don't understand. A clerk can review the form, ask the right question and fill in the missing field plus the remaining ones.
"Fill in what you know and leave the rest to us" is a simple and cheap to implement GUI compared to a full fledged workflow. It could bootstrap a process quickly at the cost of some extra labor in the customer facing department. Maybe they have that extra bandwidth and the sw developers don't.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pretty much same argument could be said against checklists ('paper controlling humans is a violation of basic human dignity'), but it is a thing that consistently improves outcomes in medicine. In general, it is restricting autonomy in order to improve consistency and quality.
Only if you're extremely dishonest in comparisions. Checklists at its core is just a list of common/required actions grouped in a list to don't forget during routine tasks. There is nothing limiting here, it is just a tool to aid repetitive/rare/complex tasks.
Exactly. The checklist has no endogenous enforcement capacity. The software defined world is wholly different.
“In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left with whom one could argue, to whom one could present grievances, on whom the pressures of power could be exerted. Bureaucracy is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act; for the rule by Nobody is not no-rule, and where all are equally powerless we have a tyranny without a tyrant.”
Hannah Arendt
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?
#174I've not seen anything as extreme as people in the streets, but regularly have seen employee pushback about erp system implementations, e.g. SAP. These enterprise systems are are all on the back of employees, by which I mean they are forced to take the extra time to use them while they are extremely unfriendly to the user - because they are bought by execs, and their value is not at all apparent to those who use then…
> imagine you told employees they now had to log their time and account for each 15 minutes You don't need to imagine, this is becoming (if it is not already) the norm for salaried employees. Maybe not to the 15 minutes, but hourly accounting is very widespread. That said, the joke is on the c-suite in this case - almost everyone makes it up, or at least guestimates heavily.
It seems very funny until you get investigated and fired for reporting made-up hours. I've seen it used as universal "we need to fire you ASAP" tool, since as you say everybody does it.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?
#175Secondary to the question, but I live right by the Epic campus and use the Epic MyChart platform to communicate with the University of Wisconsin health system. It is phenomenal as a patient; I can handle all billing, message any doctor I've seen, view test results as soon as they're uploaded, etc. Recently I saw the results of some bloodwork in the ER before the nurses had time to come and tell me about it. (The UI/U…
Disclaimer: My Epic experience is around a decade old. I never saw a riot, but I definitely saw providers who hated Epic when it was installed. As in people literally screaming at the top of their lungs at IT nerds. I saw a few contributing factors: 1. Epic supports making all the technically-mandatory-but-not-mandatory-if-you're-in-a-hurry data actually mandatory, so providers have more typing and less ability to ju…
> The customizability of the Epic UI and workflows for each type of visit was completely insane
Ah, Lotus Notes Syndrome.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?
#176I didn't follow the news on this but there used to be regular protests against Google
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
>technically-mandatory-but-not-mandatory-if-you're-in-a-hurry :/
In my experience, the software development profession could spend a long, long time doing some self-reflection about this one. It's eloquently stated, and something a lot of developers could learn. Too many times, I've seen overly restrictive inputs cause users to hate and distrust the software. Ironically, overly restrictive inputs cause users to think that the software doesn't properly understand the domain, which…
> Ironically, overly restrictive inputs cause users to think that the software doesn't properly understand the domain, which is the root of mistrust.
Well, they're quite likely right! I freely admit that as a developer, I don't understand the domain remotely as well as the people working in it (construction workers in my case). The reason there's still a decent market for custom software and that the likes of Epic haven't gobbled up everything, is that every so often a construction worker, dentist, nurse or whatever picks up enough programming to actually make something that suits them, and they manage to bypass the administrators addicted to sales dazzle.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?
#178I demonstrate (alone) against QR code only menus in restaurants. It excludes a large chunk of people.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
That reminds of that Star Trek episode “Critical Care” where people only get the resources allowed by an AI overseer. How does this even pass an early review?
The problem with substance abuse, and stealing to sell, was then and remains now a widespread problem in Canada's hospitals.
I feel this is more a society problem than a hospital problem, but not that familiar with Canada.
Wouldn’t a digital key in a storeroom and camera on the drugs would be far more efficient? The nurses and doctors can still go in and check out what they take when they need it.
Re: Ask HN: Have you ever heard of users demonstrating against software?
#180I sometimes wonder if these types of administrative systems, which are really important for the well being of people and the development of society as a whole, are made to have a horrible user experience on purpose.