I put in my dollar bill, my quarter, my nickel, and my dime (notice that decreasing size dominates decreasing value). I pressed the "Mr. Pibb" button. And what happened?
Out came a Cherry Coke.
Strangely enough, I didn't really mind. I may not especially like Cherry Coke, but it suited me just fine: it had sugar and caffeine and that oh-so-great bitter-sweet cola taste.
My confusing experience at the vending machine is analogous to what users may feel while experiencing our applications. In my case, the supplier incorrectly loaded that particular slot; or, perhaps, loaded it correctly but didn't bother to change the label. Both cases pretty much sum up what we as coders are prone to do -- either not detect or not care about interface discrepancies.
Users can find these "mystery boxes" to be annoying, especially if they eclipse major functionality of the program. For instance, when no soda comes out at all after I've inserted my money and pressed a button -- well, I guess that's what Customer Service numbers are for...
What's bizarre to me is that I have heard of cases where a QA Engineer has discovered and fixed a "bug", only to cause Customer Service to become inundated with complaints regarding the missing "feature".
It shouldn't be so much of a stretch to imagine someone who uses who is used to pressing Mr. Pibb in order to get a Cherry Coke. But they've learned: either through their own mistakes or through someone else's -- that kind of knowledge is acquired, not explicit. Either way, money has been spent without total satisfaction.
Do you think that person would be annoyed if, unexpectedly and unannounced, a Mr. Pibb started coming out when they pressed Mr. Pibb?
Embrace your mistakes. Bugs *can* be features. If you still feel that serving up ice-cold Mr. Pibb is worth your while, make sure that it is clearly labeled, fully stocked, and that those who came for Cherry Coke can still get Cherry Coke.
From this time, unchained
We're all looking at a different picture
Thru this new frame of mind
A thousand flowers could bloom
Move over, and give us some room
-- Portishead, Glory Box
No comments:
Post a Comment