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Kill the settings, build opinionated software

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Re: Kill the settings, build opinionated software

#21

Post by RobertL »

mindcrime wrote: post #2

Some people argue software should be agnostic. They say it's arrogant for developers to limit features or ignore feature requests. They say software should always be as flexible as possible. We think that's bullshit. The best software has a vision. The best software takes sides. When someone uses software, they're not just looking for features, they're looking for an approach. They're looking for a vision. Decide wha…

Good points mindcrime but, IMHO, if an application is unnatural for a given user then there should be another application for that user to go to. There is no "magic application" that will serve everyone. The final solution will be lots and lots and lots of apps. Each one tailored to a specific task. The conflict here revolves around the reality that this is still too expensive to do. Gotta ratchet down development and deployment costs a few more notches before we are going to be able to get where we want to be. Should mean lots of work for developers though.

Re: Kill the settings, build opinionated software

#22

Post by krakensden »

martythemaniak wrote: post #15

This article is little more than a generic rehash of popular memes. Let's break it down: - 37Signals is great, they do simple! - anecdote - Apple is great, they do simple! I hope whatever software this guy does has less opinion and more substance.

Indeed, check out his dig at multitasking on Android and praise of iOS multitasking, even though Apple's implementation seems to be essentially identical.

Re: Kill the settings, build opinionated software

#23

Post by fghjkoi8uygt »

stevenp wrote: post #5
mindcrime wrote: post #2

Some people argue software should be agnostic. They say it's arrogant for developers to limit features or ignore feature requests. They say software should always be as flexible as possible. We think that's bullshit. The best software has a vision. The best software takes sides. When someone uses software, they're not just looking for features, they're looking for an approach. They're looking for a vision. Decide wha…

Every piece of code or bit of functionality you write has a cost of ownership to your business. Every preference requires more testing to make sure that other things don't break as a result of a user changing an obscure setting. If you don't mind having to write test cases for thousands of permutations of possible settings, go ahead and let your customer change everything. A simple product, however, is far easier to…

You do mind but if the customer insists you have no choice.

My customers use metres, feet and statute feet, they work in degrees, deg/min/sec and grads. They work in X,Y,Z or N,E,Z (don't get me started on South Africa)

Then you have day/month/year and month/day/year, then you have Canadians that work in both.

It's easy for a web 2.0 site with no actual customers.

Re: Kill the settings, build opinionated software

#25

Post by abstractbill »

stevenp wrote: post #5
mindcrime wrote: post #2

Some people argue software should be agnostic. They say it's arrogant for developers to limit features or ignore feature requests. They say software should always be as flexible as possible. We think that's bullshit. The best software has a vision. The best software takes sides. When someone uses software, they're not just looking for features, they're looking for an approach. They're looking for a vision. Decide wha…

Every piece of code or bit of functionality you write has a cost of ownership to your business. Every preference requires more testing to make sure that other things don't break as a result of a user changing an obscure setting. If you don't mind having to write test cases for thousands of permutations of possible settings, go ahead and let your customer change everything. A simple product, however, is far easier to…

To take a concrete example, we don't exactly enjoy maintaining justin.tv in many different languages. As a matter of fact the whole translations system adds a lot of complexity to the codebase. But we'd be bloody idiots to have the website exist only in English. Many other settings are similarly important.

Re: Kill the settings, build opinionated software

#26

Post by derefr »

To put that in a less confrontational way: instead of designing features, and then providing options to maximize your audience, first pick an audience, then make software that will work perfectly for them without the need for options. Result: a smaller, more dedicated audience, versus an audience of "everyone" and a product that is as well-suited to an individual task as Microsoft Office.

Re: Kill the settings, build opinionated software

#27

Post by cherring »

dandelany wrote: post #8
jafl5272 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Users work in an infinite number of different ways, and they way they worked before they use your app is probably forced by whatever crap they are currently using. No matter what you do, you end up forcing a lot of people to learn to work the way the app wants them to. The best you can hope for is to build an app where, once it's explained, most users first go "Oh, ok, that makes sense." and then actually remember it…

This assumes a one-to-one relationship between pieces of software and workflows, which is absolutely incorrect. Just because you design a piece of software to be used in a certain workflow does not mean that that workflow will work for everyone; software which allows users to configure it to fit their individualized problems and processes is infinitely more valuable than software that tells the user "it's my way or t…

Of course opinionated software of this nature will not have a workflow that suits everyone. Wasn't that kind of the point? Some people will love, others will not, and they will use something else. Some people just aren't your customers and that's ok, there is someone else that has an app for them.

Re: Kill the settings, build opinionated software

#28

Post by SoftwareMaven »

I always cringe when I hear "don't listen to your customers." That is absolutely the wrong behavior. If you don't listen to the people who are going to buy your product, you won't build a product that solves a real problem.

I listen to my stakeholders (potential users, potential buyers, current users, etc), but I don't necessarily do what they say. Most people try to give you a solution to their problem, you need to dig through their "solution" to find their actual "problem", then design the best solution (and like all design, it is best not when nothing else can be added to it, but rather when nothing else can be taken away).

Oh, and I completely agree that software should be opinionated. People are paying you to solve their problem, don't get lazy and push responsibility back on them!

Re: Kill the settings, build opinionated software

#29

Post by jamesbritt »

Qz wrote: post #17

What if my opinion is that software should have more settings? I am very opinionated about that.

Indeed, all software is opinionated. You can't write anything remotely non-trivial without making decisions about what to do, where things go, what to add, what to leave out.

The key, though, is to do it willfully and deliberately. Realize that the end result will come with a point of view, and craft it on purpose.

Re: Kill the settings, build opinionated software

#30

Post by Tichy »

Minor annoyance, but what's the bullshit sideshot against Android multitasking? Are we to believe now that only Apple get's multitasking right? "Apple invented multitasking"? It works fine on my N1. I think Steve didn't even say what makes multitasking on the iPhone so special.

That's how Apple marketing works, and frankly, it makes me dislike them despite of the neat design of their products. If their products are so great, why do they even need to work that kind of marketing?

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