Slavik and GMT + 3 or benefits for people

    This Slavik - the usual PCP-programmer. Not a junior or a gentleman, but a guy from those who used to be called "webmasters." Slavik can also scratch the DMS, write his own template, create a template, and add server.

    This year, Slavik tied up with all this and decided to get a stable job. Friends threw a good option - the transport company "N-lines" need a developer to support the finished booking system.

    Slavik was delighted. Payment is not bad, stable, there is always something to do. And most importantly, there will finally be a clear benefit for people . Slavik always wanted to understand how his work will benefit someone. So he got there and settled.

    One morning, Slavik saw a new task in Jirr:



    Slavik is a good programmer, especially since he now has more zeal, because it is useful for people . Therefore, he responsibly approached the task: he found a good SMS gate, tested it on phone numbers from several countries. Everything worked fine.

    The bosses approved. And here, among other things, a similar line of code falls into production:

    sendmsg(ticket->loc->from . ': ' . date('d M Y', ticket->date) . '; Bus Nr.' . ticket->bus_number . '; Ticket:' . ticket->id . '; You’re welcome aboard! NLINES team');

    Slavik closes the laptop with a sense of accomplishment, folds his bag, throws his jacket over and walks toward a large letter Mat the underpass.

    ***


    A thousand and a half kilometers from Slavik, student Volodya decided to visit his father - from Polish Wroclaw to Russian Moscow.

    Volodya, as always, bought tickets on the Internet, on the N-lines website, because it’s convenient. True, the flight turned out to be with a transfer in Riga. On the day of departure, Volodya noticed that there was a departure time on the ticket - April 28, 01:00, but there is not a word about the time zone:



    Volodya got tensed. The fact that he bought a ticket from Ukraine, but through the version of the site for Russia. And the route went through three more countries and three time zones. Also transplant. And I heard a story from my friends about how you can be late for a bus because of a non-local time zone.

    Volodya decided that it was necessary to make sure that it was local time that was indicated. Clicked the whole site - no. I stuck in a chat with a live consultant - so he had already turned into the form of sending an email. At 00:03 local time (01:03 Moscow time) Volodya, already on nerves, receives SMS:



    He calls the fastest taxi service, arrives at the station in fifteen minutes and ... He sits and waits an hour and a half for the bus, because that he nevertheless had to arrive at one in the morning local time, and even was late.

    ***


    Dear programmers, designers, and all IT workers!

    All of us are Slaviki. All of us are looking for in our work not only earnings, but also benefits for people, at least a small one. And somewhere in the world, each of us has Volodya, who, because of our carelessness, was late for the bus or spent an extra hour at the train station. This is not fatal, of course, but some Volodya could not call an ambulance, or could not control the machine and died.

    I am glad that the industry is increasingly looking in the direction of "user ixpiriens". But in order to really make the world a little bit better, each of us must think about the end user, his problems and needs.

    If instead of the date and “Welcome aboard”, Slavik wrote the time zone, time and “The bus leaves at that time”, then he would not spend more time. But one Volodya in the world would have more nerves.

    Think of people. Is always. When you write an error message in try / catch or name a variable. When choosing a color for a button or menu layout. When you make the text of the contract or respond to the vacancy. Is always. It is unlikely that you will be given more money for this. But there is something more valuable.

    PS Slavik is an abstraction. And SMS from a post - real, from a real carrier. And the situation with a taxi and train station - too. It does not matter if it was Slavik, or his timlid, if there was one. It is important that no one from the development chain put itself in the client's place and in production issued such a message. Therefore, I address this post to all - both programmers, and timlids, and UX, and designers. If in your work you see something that can be done better for people, try it.
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