Media: Scott Berkun challenges us to make Better Software

"Why software sucks (And what to do about it)" is another insightful essay from Scott Berkun, who looks beyond the failure of software to what response it triggers and how to avoid making it bad in the first place. He looks first at how people respond to what they use:

'One way to think about how people respond to things is this spectrum:
* What is this for?
* I have that but haven’t tried it
* I’m annoyed by this, but I don’t need it often
* This Sucks
* This is acceptable
* This is cool / I love it
* This works so well I don’t even think about it

This is one representation of how people respond to things (there are others). The point of this representation is that "this sucks" is right in the middle. In order for people to say "this sucks" they have to care enough about the thing you’ve made to spend time with it and recognize how bad it is. For things that are equally bad, but are unimportant to someone, you won’t hear the same complaint. We're frustrated most in life by things that come close to our deepest needs, but don't deliver. It's the things that tease us, making us think they'll satisfy us but then failing, than hurt the most.'

It's a long essay with considerable advice. Here is one more fragment that expresses useful thinking in an elegant fashion:

'To understand good, or even great things, we have to turn our consumer instincts off, and think like creators. Whenever I see something that's good, or even something that's bad in an interesting way, after I've used it and looked at it, I ask the following questions:
* How did they do this?
* How much time did it take them? What techniques did they use? How many people were involved?
* How did they engineer it to achieve the effects it has?
* What training did they have?
* How much of the engineering is even visible when I use it?
* What makes it so good? Why can't I stop looking at it, using it, sleeping with it, or rubbing it all over my body?
* How did it work so well that it did so much for me without me even thinking about it?
* What were they trying to do? Were they happy with the result? How do they see it?
* How would I have made something like this?
* What other creators do I know and how do they respond to this thing?
* How does the rest of the world respond to this thing? Why is their response different than mine?

'It takes enormous craft, discipline and experience to make something good. The masters in any field tend to be the ones who work both harder and smarter than others, and are more willing to try out new ideas and consider other peoples opinions. In examining how other good things are made, I'm sure you'll return to your own work with a broader perspective.'

Associated Link: ScottBerkun.com: Why software sucks

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