I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about enterprise software and how it fits into the current river of super-simple, super-focused web-based apps in the market. When I was designing enterprise products I spent a 60%-40% split in time focusing on desktop versus web application design. Most of the web projects end up being an afterthought or was viewed as a analog or mirror of the rich functionality. I believe that’s changing and business is evolving to a point where the focus can justifiably be on the web. That said the same problem plagued overall direction of both platforms.
The Knife
I remembering having a conversation with a manger in the past about what the biggest frustration with the products I was designing was. My response was this: “We design a swiss army knife, which is great. Lots of features that fill various needs, always available. But the problem is our interface forces the user to have every blade and gadget open at the same time, by default. So you have a tool that’s infinitely useful but on the verge of useless. If all the blades are open all of the time you’re not just going to cut yourself, but you’ll never find the toothpick.” I think the analogy struck a chord, and I think it’s still the biggest hurdle in enterprise and high-end commercial products. Products are driven by market and internal pressures to enhance functionality, and no matter how good your interface is, if it’s release out-of-the-box with everything turned on you’re going to confuse and mystify your users.
That Damn Box
Solving this issue goes well beyond interface design conventions, snazzy interactive widgets or progressive disclosure of elements. You have to look at how the product is delivered, implemented and ultimately rolled-out to users. There is a tendency for interface professionals (developers, designers, UX folks, etc.) to ignore the final piece in the product puzzle. Often rolling out large enterprise applications takes months to years, and on-site developers work to enhance and extend the core application to meet specific client needs, integrations, etc. If you’ve never met with these folks or seen what your product looks like at the end of this cycle you’d be shocked. Many times a large portion of this effort is in TURNING OFF functionality that’s exposed out-of-the-box. Why? Well we have contractually obliged ourselves to having a boatload of new and great features in the product, that’s how we’ve gotten customers to pay for the latest and greatest. So there’s a perceived need to show all of that off - every-time - something new is rolled out. Out-of-the-box tends to mean the newest stuff in the box, which makes sense for marketing but makes no sense to a user. If it’s a new feature or considerable enhancement to existing functionality chances are slim to none I need that up and running by default.
The Fixes
There are a few potential remedies to this issue that may surprise development and marketing teams.
Turn it off - When a feature is introduced turn it off by default. This requires a robust feature management capability that’s exposed to the end user - not just admins. Give users the power to manage what they see and how they use it.
Tell ‘em about it - Taking a cue from successful single/limited focus web apps, make sure you have a message center or place within the product to announce changes and tell your users about the new features. Rather than confound and frustrate them by adding new things, simply tell them there are new things. Empower them to add what they need and make it as simple as a click from your messaging center.
Let them test drive - Even though your developers spent 200 man months on this great new enhancement, there’s a chance a user may not like it after they’ve activated it and had a chance to play around. They may prefer an old way or simply not find a need for your great new widget. No worries, just give them the ability to turn off functionality as easily as they can turn it on. Check your ego at the door, if they don’t like it’s not a big deal - they will be happier with your product if it concedes gracefully than if it’s a jerk about going away.
Put it in the manual - Documentation is softwares oft-forgotten ally. Put it in the docs, make sure users can search for new features the day the product ships. If we make documentation a key component in delivering the message of new functionality it we be elevate its usefulness and necessity.
If you’re involved in enterprise or larger commercial software endeavors I hope this helps. If you’re already doing this drop me a line, I’d enjoy hearing about your stories.
I love my Macs as much as anyone, and applaud their design and innovation. However there are others out there doing good work as well, case-in-point Dell’s new Crystal Display unveiled at CES. Really nice overall design, I haven’t dug into specs or any other info, but on the surface I like the anti-brushed aluminum approach. Curious to see how it’s received.
We all have skills and expertise. Seth Godin is a master at what he knows, what he does. I’m not sure he fits into a tidy box, but his skills lie in the marketing world, not every world. I value his opinions on marketing, building community around markets, know people and products - I do not value his opinions on design and design strategy. It’s fair enough I guess, I can value what he says in one space but not another. Take for instance my listening to Al Gore when it comes to lockboxes, but not the environment.
There’s so much about Mr. Godin’s post that’s behind the curve, misleading and lacking in technical and design insight that I struggled to believe he actually wrote it. He muddies the water of development, visual and interaction design to the point that I was coming up for air midway through. I highly recommend Mr. Godin stick to what he knows and leave design and design strategy to the professionals, let he lose credibility and mislead organizations into making terrible design choices.
Thanks to everyone who made it to my session at BlogOrlando. In case you missed the links are located at: http://ma.gnolia.com/people/jharr/tags/blogorlando - this list will continue to grow so keep an eye on it.
Also, as a little bonus, I have a set of icons for everyone who made it out to the event, or if you’re reading this post. They are free and provided with no restrictions. If you design something cool with them just leave a comment so I can check it out. these will eventaully make it to the downloads section, but for now, grab them here.
These are small, micro-icons that work well as blog category indicators or to simply pep-up your blog sidebar. I have included 4 colors (grey, green, navy and orange) totalling 120 icons. Enjoy.
It looks like the NBC is pulling shows from iTunes. Apparently they are willing to lose both the revenue and the controls that Apple provided. People have now gotten a taste of The Office and Heros on their iPods, their only option will be torrents, where NBC gets no revenue and loses any and all content controls. Smart move guys, stellar. I had perviously given NBC a lot of credit for making the move to the iTunes Store, but this retreat shows that not only do record labels not get-it, all content providers are out-of-touch.
Podserve is up for sale, not just sale but up for auction with no reserve. Check out the listing and see for yourself, might be one hell of an investment, considering a very similar application recently sold for a cool million dollars.
Well, looks like the great Scoble blog-reprieve of 2007 lasted about 5 days or so. Robby is back at it and good golly is he adding value. I’m a big fan of his latest post, the “Facebook Hotel”, and by big fan I mean…well the opposite of a big fan. The real meat in potatoes comes at the end, like most of his posts:
Oh, one thing? In my Facebook Hotel anyone who just attacks me would be deleted. So, if that’s your idea of fun, hang out somewhere else cause I’m starting to delete comments from people who don’t add any value here. Get your own blog if all you want to do is attack me.
emphasis mine
Naked conversation indeed. I know this is certainly open to some discussion regarding what is an attack and what ‘adds value’ (obviously a phrase Mr. S. has latched onto), but regardless, this is the epiphany he reached while gone on the journey for 5 days? The best he comes back with is ‘get your own blog’? Well fine then, here it is. Ahhh, one-way is truly the way to go.
The real Jim Louderback final column:
Hey gang, I’ve finally decided to do everyone a favor and get out of your way. I know, it’s been a sweet ride with me at the helm, sooo many great things have happened in PC-land. But alas, I see the writing on the wall, and the wall says narcissistic, middle-aged, white guys living in the past should probably step aside. So with a heavy heart I bid farewell.
Oh and one more thing (eat that Steve jobs), on my way out…I’m a whore. Well not just me, more like we’re whores. The olde guard hack tech journalists. Here’s a secret, we make money from advertisers and find it’s best not to upset the apple-cart and call a spade a spade. So as the door hits me on the way out I just want to say what I should have said from day one, Vista sucks. It really, really sucks. It’s like taking the worst of windows and running through a glossy-floor, drop shadowing crap-ifier. There, I said it. Now that it has much less impact on my financial well-being. I’m a hero to journalists everywhere, those who were too scared to speak the truth, I’ll take the leap and do my job.
Well I’m off to some wacky, hip startup, I sure hope their business model isn’t ad-based or I’m gonna be…well I guess I’ll just keep my mouth shut and be just fine. Once a whore…
Later dudes,
Subtitle: The Anti-Apple Design Approach
Vista & Office 2007, the tragic tale of shitty design from top to bottom, they even managed to screw up the box. I just installed iWork ‘08 and am looking to uninstall Mac Office once and for-all, needless to say I haven’t personally seen this packaging. Maybe Microsoft would benefit from some outside help, the design group seems so extraordinarily talented, yet the only successes of late seem to be input devices.
