Interface ergonomics: automation isn't just about time saved • Hacker News Board

Re: Interface ergonomics: automation isn't just about time saved

#21

Post by solarmist » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 7:24 PM UTC

jonjlee wrote: post #19

>This is an example of an unethical interface. One week of programmer time would have easily saved multiple weeks of designer time... >When developing things which have a human interacting with it, you should consider how much you value your life time, and have empathy for your users' life time. Well articulated. Outside of software and technology, people have to use software tools that they have little control over…

Hmmm, not sure I agree. They might just think this is how it is (in “their” industry). Like the elementary school teacher who thinks math is hard.

Often those devs have subpar development environments too and don't know to look for better or does not have the skills/time to up level themselves.

Re: Interface ergonomics: automation isn't just about time saved

#22

Post by hinkley » Thu, Oct 14, 2021, 10:41 PM UTC

Jensson wrote: post #3

As you make something cheaper demand for it goes up. Easy to forget about it when you try to calculate the value of automation. I'd say in most cases automation pays off if you do it properly, not to do the intended task but to do all the unintended tasks, reusing the automation code for later, reducing errors from manual work and opens up doors for new product design paths in the future. This assumes that you actual…

We had a build process that took half an hour, so people only ran it a couple times a day. I cut it to fifteen minutes, saving half an hour a day per person.

Then I cut it to 7 minutes, saving an additional 30+ minutes, because everyone was now running the build 4-5 times a day.

What I really saved was wasting each other’s time and goodwill by reducing the frequency and severity of people checking in broken code that blocked everyone else. Because they were expected to test more often, and they made smaller commits because it wasn’t so painful.

Re: Interface ergonomics: automation isn't just about time saved

#23

Post by kwhitefoot » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 3:57 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #18

kwhitefoot wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying that all stoves in all kitchens are bad? At least that's what it looks like you are saying.

Almost without exception. There is no way of knowing without careful study which burner will turn on when you turn a knob. (generally you know the side, but not front/back) Every time I move I need to figure out a different stove, and so I'm often turning on the wrong burner because I have the wrong habit. Most people think "opps, I'm stupid again" when that happens, but I have enough UX background to know that the r…

How often do you use a different hob? As long as it is not awkward surely once you have used it a couple of times you have it in muscle memory. Over the last 30 years I have only had two hobs so it hasn't been a big burden to learn a the correspondence between the five burners and the knobs on a new one.