August 25, 2015 at 09:47Ballad of Ignorance
In the years of distant youth, I, like all of you, adored all these jokes about the stupid customer from the series: "... play with fonts, make the color more beautiful ...". Well, you know, all this standard set of jokes for smoothies for entertainment in any successful web studio. I confess, I am sinful, I giggled at this too.
But then one day a wise person (and I’m really lucky for really smart people in life) explained everything to me and instantly opened his eyes to this world: “The thing is that almost any design customer (who has already paid an advance payment), having seen the presented final the result - sincerely, she can’t understand how it’s all this ugliness will increase its sales, improve the status of the company or arouse interest among customers (and envy of competitors). Simply put, all he sees in front of him is that this picture will not add anything to him at all. But innate modesty and well-mannered by no means allow all customers to gain courage and kick kicks from the office of unlucky designers and planners and to claim their money back through the court. Therefore, the poor customer, by virtue of his small knowledge and skills in the field of glamorous visuals, is trying to help, adjust the work, find a slightly less nightmare solution. It’s not his fault that he cannot think of anything other than playing with fonts and color — he didn’t finish the British and read Tufty. But he, from the top of his personal experience, is clearly aware that the current version will not help him at all, in any way, never. Let him help you, let me tell you that a frankly inactive surface solution has been created that is not worth a tenth of the amount requested for the work and does not take into account millions of professional trifles. Get off the top of your designer Olympus and let him help you work out your prepayment. ” The end of the quote. from the top of his personal experience, he is clearly aware that the current version will not help him at all, in any way, never. Let him help you, let me tell you that a frankly inactive surface solution has been created that is not worth a tenth of the amount requested for the work and does not take into account millions of professional trifles. Get off the top of your designer Olympus and let him help you work out your prepayment. ” The end of the quote. from the top of his personal experience, he is clearly aware that the current version will not help him at all, in any way, never. Let him help you, let me tell you that a frankly inactive surface solution has been created that is not worth a tenth of the amount requested for the work and does not take into account millions of professional trifles. Get off the top of your designer Olympus and let him help you work out your prepayment. ” The end of the quote.
Let's take a look at how this experienced businessman-client looks like all of our absurd efforts of design engineers who do not have ten years of experience within the customer’s industry and do not know all the many subtleties and nuances, but try to create a high-quality product. To visualize my narrative, I will give as an example the feature film “Atlas Shrugged” based on the best-selling American writer Ayn Rand.
I opted for this work, as it is a blatant example of illiteracy, militant dilettantism and the most unprofessional approach of both the author herself to the topic being described and her projection - the main character of the work. I, as an engineer of railway transport, was deeply outraged by all those attempts to describe the railway structure and principles of work of a large transport company from a female author, who had only a pedagogical education, in the work. As befits all humanities, the author does not know even a thousandth of all the existing principles, requirements and technologies for organizing the transportation process, but he boldly and sweepingly undertakes to describe them on a thousand pages of his work. In my opinion, this is as similar as possible to what is happening now in the world of web development.
So, America in 2016, some pseudo-socialists came to power, who immediately brought an economic crisis to the superpower. Almost all of the country's production was destroyed, the fuel crisis destroyed the entire transport system in the country, and only the railways remained the last sign of civilization and connected all the US states together. What do trains run on, according to educator Ain Reid? Apparently on hydrogen fuel, since a priori it is clear that there is no diesel fuel for conventional diesel locomotives in the country at all. But for electric locomotives, after all, it is necessary to get electricity from somewhere on an industrial scale, and in the country there is a “scoop” and destruction. Here is such an anti-utopian picture that unfolds before us the author’s mind inflamed with total ignorance:
Situation 1: descent of the train with tanks due to broken tracks.
Reality : dozens of pieces of equipment and personnel are put forward to the facility during the day to ensure instant replacement of the railway grate, over 9,000 km of which are stored in each nearby ICP. To ensure traffic continuity, trains from the nearest station are alternately launched along the neighboring route, since almost all railway lines, even in the most impoverished and socialist country of the USSR, were double track. One-track lines are connected only by the most deserted villages, but not regions and regions.
To the cinema:in this very America, destroyed by damned socialism, it turns out that there was only one single-track railway line and any damage on it blocked all communication between the eastern and western states for a couple of months. For in the book and in the amateur’s brain there are no other options for delivering a shipment of oil from state to state - the pipelines in the USA in 2016 apparently have not yet been invented, for cars there is not enough gasoline, for oil tankers (through the Panama Canal) there are not enough rowers in galleys, and all US aviation is only busy transporting the main character from city to city for regular intercourse with her lover.
Here is such a “deep” understanding of the state-regulated economy of a woman writer is brought to our attention. All this was very similar to the real situation in my life when in 2007 a third-party company of girls-programmers tried to outsource the creation of the most complicated program “Workstation for car repair wagons”, in which it was necessary to record all spare parts, schedules of all work processes , a list of all necessary operations with all types of wagons, etc. etc. It turned out (of course) that they have less than nothing, as it is today and with all the other third-party developers, who are trying in a couple of days to comprehend the entire depth of unfamiliar technologies without specialized education and experience of real work within the studied area.
Situation 2 Consider regular repair and maintenance of tracks.
Reality: in the disgusting impoverished scoop against which the author is so struggling, maintenance and scheduled repairs of all tracks are carried out annually - the condition of sleepers and crutches is checked, experienced engineers measure the correctness of the slope of the track and general wear and tear. People with such trolleys, with incompetent Yakunin, walk year after year (what, right on foot? Yes, and nothing else) go through all the railway lines, collecting all the information about each crevice or deformation of each rail.
Movie:But in the former capitalist USA, which the author loves so much, it turns out that the roads have not been repaired since the time of the grandfather of the current president of the company, that is, long before the damned socialists took power. The whole mega-cool transport company does not have one kilometer of rail in stock, since the last order for the supply of canvas, as the main characters find out, was made 13 months ago.
So deeply the writer comprehended the essence of my beloved industry and the whole truth of life. What decision do these cardboard characters make no sense in rail transport? Of course, the decision comes to order new rails from an unverified company, the quality of steel of which is criticized by all research institutes. This action, according to the writer, supposedly should become a symbolic slogan: "who does not risk, he does not drink champagne." Friends, once again imagine all the madness described: to refuse a trusted supplier and order rail smelting on a strategically important route from scratch from an unknown company, the quality of which has not been confirmed by any research and contradicts all GOSTs. Just because innovation is the same.
It was precisely for such risks that Comrade Stalin shot the “creatiff” in 1937. And he did absolutely right, because it is better to hang one with "design thinking" now, than tomorrow thousands of passengers will die through his fault. The state in this novel, I must say, does not sit still, but through the efforts of "venal ghouls-senators" is trying to somehow resist this madness from the amateur heroine. But their blocking laws and socialist prohibitions are too soft, liberal, and allow the author of the novel to find loopholes over and over in order to continue their dirty business.
Why does she believe in her success so much? Why does she not trust the opinion of experts and specialists? Why does the owner of the company, without reading, throw out any regulatory documents and letters from experts? She probably has her own research laboratory, which provided her with the results of six-month tests of the material? - the voice of reason sounds in my head.
Of course, the heroine does not have anything close to this, because neither the author nor the heroine studied the sopromat at the university, none of the devoted fans of the work, which is why here, in this fictional world, everyone believes in everything. For citizens without structural engineering thinking, the logic works something like this: “My aunt in beautiful shoes said that it was good steel - cheers, so it is, because wearing expensive shoes are not mistaken. Aunty in a beautiful hairstyle on camera promised the business that “everyone is in the ointment” - and they threw a shaft to place orders for transportation, without checking the existence of all maintenance infrastructure or at least standards for repair and control. An aunt in a diamond necklace had sex with her lover - the same machinists and lineman, locksmiths and masters of vocational training,
“So, this one, how can you not get out, because the aunt with the neckline said she could fire”, - so the real professionals whisper in this crazy movie and joyfully get involved in an adventure. “Probably, he will still pick up amateurs from the street instead of us, then thousands of people will surely die,” is their sacrificial attitude.
Of course, no one will die in a woman-made film, and the new alloy magically turns out to be the strongest, lightest and coolest in the world, although all institutes and laboratories obscenely denied this whole film, thus inserting sticks into the wheels of progress. However, the main character, apparently subconsciously feeling that it’s not long to play music, and without the normal organization of all the maintenance, control and repair work, even the new super-cool way will not play music for long and very soon it will slide back to the funeral march. That is why, instead of setting up normal processes of controlling and controlling traffic along the new highway (as in the damned Scoop), the heroine quickly changes her profile, saying that she is no longer interested in railways and now she has a new project - vacuum engines.
A quick loss of interest in your work and an instant jump from one to another is the first sign of professional illiteracy. A true expert, as a thinking and observant person, his main work will never be bored, as ever new subtleties, elusive process details constantly appear in the field of view, new technologies appear - and you can improve and improve your favorite business ad infinitum. But no, the author practically calls for everything in the world to be done as it is now happening in the development of sites and mobile applications:
1. I don’t know anything, but let's just like that! Firstly, it’s beautiful ...
2. Uh, it seems to work out - we run up!
3. Uh guys, and who will serve? - Sorry, but we already have a new project.
4. Damn, nothing works the way technology needs. - Ok, so order us a redesign from scratch for Sixtillion rubles. Rebranding and brand book - as a gift, as a regular customer.
5. Eternal profit!
What simple thought am I trying to convey with the help of this article and all the verbose allegories? I just claim that the existing technologies and processes in any business today have become so complex that it has become impossible to comprehend in a couple of hours of meeting people who are infinitely far from this business, whoever they call themselves: business analysts, project managers, designers or art directors. The world is a million times more complicated than it seems if you look at it through the bottom of the smoothie glass.
I urge that all the initial design and writing of a complete technical specification for any information system, as well as the creation of all content and drawing sketches, prototypes, sketches, mockups (whatever), should be created entirely on the customer’s side, only by its full-time specialists with decades of industry experience . And only in this case the information structure and the logic of the processes will be built correctly and correctly. Only growing UX experts in your team of the most experienced and respected specialists, your Axure and Balsamic are not that complicated to master.
Well, as an alternative, you can also consider hiring a studio designer for your own staff for six months, with the passage of the entire working cycle from the girl operator at the station to the head of the logistics department. Only such an immersion can give hope that the result will be a truly “smart system”, and not a dribble craft that no game with fonts can save.
I can guarantee little in my life with the same gigantic degree of certainty as the assertion that if your art director is placed on the “last mile” workplace for a month, be it a locksmith, sales assistant, operator, courier, loader - with a standard salary of 15-20 thousand rubles ($ 200 per month), there are so many illusions about how it will be easy, convenient and pleasant for all these people to work in a new beautiful interface, how they will gladly fill it all data and read all reports and alerts systems What a pleasure to navigate through information products - scatter like smoke. Yes, just let them let a month pass it all through themselves, feel the pleasure with which most ordinary people will evaluate their work - and all the ridicule of requests to “play with fonts” will end by themselves. And moral adulthood will begin. And in a couple of months, the long-awaited understanding will come that it is here that you can automate and algorithmize. That's right then, and for the first time it’s worth starting a graphical editor and making initial sketches.
In general, in my opinion, it’s very easy to train or find a good designer - you just need to see how much time he spends on his macbook. If your potential designer disappears for days (months) in the “field conditions” - at the customer’s company facilities, constantly makes appointments with the pros in the research area, constantly takes up a meeting room and is armed with piles of papers with the headings “Technological process ...”, “Organization chart ...”, “ Company structure ... ”brainstorms with a development team with controversy and a fight - it's the best designer. At least he is trying to understand what he should do and how it will all work. Well, if a person just sits on a chair evenly and intently draws buttons - all, wait for the imminent disaster of the entire project in the very near future and try, while there is time, relieve yourself of maximum responsibility for what is happening. And yes, it’s mandatory to insist on a large prepayment, because according to the results of work, when the customer finally sees your illustrations and understands everything, he probably will not be able to get the remaining money.
As you know, the requirements for modern information systems have grown significantly. Now she is obliged to automate the process, process data, algorithmically sort information flows and even draw some independent conclusions about everything that happens. And for this you need to delve deeply into the topic, you need to comply with the "10 thousand hours" rule, spent not on drawing buttons on the screen, but on comprehending the intricacies and hidden logic of all processes in the customer’s company. If this is not done, then the final situations will turn out exactly like in the above comedy film, with the only difference being that real life does not at all resemble the erotic fantasies of a lonely middle-aged female teacher or an illustrator-typewriter who dropped out of a technical university.
But then one day a wise person (and I’m really lucky for really smart people in life) explained everything to me and instantly opened his eyes to this world: “The thing is that almost any design customer (who has already paid an advance payment), having seen the presented final the result - sincerely, she can’t understand how it’s all this ugliness will increase its sales, improve the status of the company or arouse interest among customers (and envy of competitors). Simply put, all he sees in front of him is that this picture will not add anything to him at all. But innate modesty and well-mannered by no means allow all customers to gain courage and kick kicks from the office of unlucky designers and planners and to claim their money back through the court. Therefore, the poor customer, by virtue of his small knowledge and skills in the field of glamorous visuals, is trying to help, adjust the work, find a slightly less nightmare solution. It’s not his fault that he cannot think of anything other than playing with fonts and color — he didn’t finish the British and read Tufty. But he, from the top of his personal experience, is clearly aware that the current version will not help him at all, in any way, never. Let him help you, let me tell you that a frankly inactive surface solution has been created that is not worth a tenth of the amount requested for the work and does not take into account millions of professional trifles. Get off the top of your designer Olympus and let him help you work out your prepayment. ” The end of the quote. from the top of his personal experience, he is clearly aware that the current version will not help him at all, in any way, never. Let him help you, let me tell you that a frankly inactive surface solution has been created that is not worth a tenth of the amount requested for the work and does not take into account millions of professional trifles. Get off the top of your designer Olympus and let him help you work out your prepayment. ” The end of the quote. from the top of his personal experience, he is clearly aware that the current version will not help him at all, in any way, never. Let him help you, let me tell you that a frankly inactive surface solution has been created that is not worth a tenth of the amount requested for the work and does not take into account millions of professional trifles. Get off the top of your designer Olympus and let him help you work out your prepayment. ” The end of the quote.
Let's take a look at how this experienced businessman-client looks like all of our absurd efforts of design engineers who do not have ten years of experience within the customer’s industry and do not know all the many subtleties and nuances, but try to create a high-quality product. To visualize my narrative, I will give as an example the feature film “Atlas Shrugged” based on the best-selling American writer Ayn Rand.
I opted for this work, as it is a blatant example of illiteracy, militant dilettantism and the most unprofessional approach of both the author herself to the topic being described and her projection - the main character of the work. I, as an engineer of railway transport, was deeply outraged by all those attempts to describe the railway structure and principles of work of a large transport company from a female author, who had only a pedagogical education, in the work. As befits all humanities, the author does not know even a thousandth of all the existing principles, requirements and technologies for organizing the transportation process, but he boldly and sweepingly undertakes to describe them on a thousand pages of his work. In my opinion, this is as similar as possible to what is happening now in the world of web development.
So, America in 2016, some pseudo-socialists came to power, who immediately brought an economic crisis to the superpower. Almost all of the country's production was destroyed, the fuel crisis destroyed the entire transport system in the country, and only the railways remained the last sign of civilization and connected all the US states together. What do trains run on, according to educator Ain Reid? Apparently on hydrogen fuel, since a priori it is clear that there is no diesel fuel for conventional diesel locomotives in the country at all. But for electric locomotives, after all, it is necessary to get electricity from somewhere on an industrial scale, and in the country there is a “scoop” and destruction. Here is such an anti-utopian picture that unfolds before us the author’s mind inflamed with total ignorance:
Situation 1: descent of the train with tanks due to broken tracks.
Reality : dozens of pieces of equipment and personnel are put forward to the facility during the day to ensure instant replacement of the railway grate, over 9,000 km of which are stored in each nearby ICP. To ensure traffic continuity, trains from the nearest station are alternately launched along the neighboring route, since almost all railway lines, even in the most impoverished and socialist country of the USSR, were double track. One-track lines are connected only by the most deserted villages, but not regions and regions.
To the cinema:in this very America, destroyed by damned socialism, it turns out that there was only one single-track railway line and any damage on it blocked all communication between the eastern and western states for a couple of months. For in the book and in the amateur’s brain there are no other options for delivering a shipment of oil from state to state - the pipelines in the USA in 2016 apparently have not yet been invented, for cars there is not enough gasoline, for oil tankers (through the Panama Canal) there are not enough rowers in galleys, and all US aviation is only busy transporting the main character from city to city for regular intercourse with her lover.
Here is such a “deep” understanding of the state-regulated economy of a woman writer is brought to our attention. All this was very similar to the real situation in my life when in 2007 a third-party company of girls-programmers tried to outsource the creation of the most complicated program “Workstation for car repair wagons”, in which it was necessary to record all spare parts, schedules of all work processes , a list of all necessary operations with all types of wagons, etc. etc. It turned out (of course) that they have less than nothing, as it is today and with all the other third-party developers, who are trying in a couple of days to comprehend the entire depth of unfamiliar technologies without specialized education and experience of real work within the studied area.
Situation 2 Consider regular repair and maintenance of tracks.
Reality: in the disgusting impoverished scoop against which the author is so struggling, maintenance and scheduled repairs of all tracks are carried out annually - the condition of sleepers and crutches is checked, experienced engineers measure the correctness of the slope of the track and general wear and tear. People with such trolleys, with incompetent Yakunin, walk year after year (what, right on foot? Yes, and nothing else) go through all the railway lines, collecting all the information about each crevice or deformation of each rail.
Movie:But in the former capitalist USA, which the author loves so much, it turns out that the roads have not been repaired since the time of the grandfather of the current president of the company, that is, long before the damned socialists took power. The whole mega-cool transport company does not have one kilometer of rail in stock, since the last order for the supply of canvas, as the main characters find out, was made 13 months ago.
So deeply the writer comprehended the essence of my beloved industry and the whole truth of life. What decision do these cardboard characters make no sense in rail transport? Of course, the decision comes to order new rails from an unverified company, the quality of steel of which is criticized by all research institutes. This action, according to the writer, supposedly should become a symbolic slogan: "who does not risk, he does not drink champagne." Friends, once again imagine all the madness described: to refuse a trusted supplier and order rail smelting on a strategically important route from scratch from an unknown company, the quality of which has not been confirmed by any research and contradicts all GOSTs. Just because innovation is the same.
It was precisely for such risks that Comrade Stalin shot the “creatiff” in 1937. And he did absolutely right, because it is better to hang one with "design thinking" now, than tomorrow thousands of passengers will die through his fault. The state in this novel, I must say, does not sit still, but through the efforts of "venal ghouls-senators" is trying to somehow resist this madness from the amateur heroine. But their blocking laws and socialist prohibitions are too soft, liberal, and allow the author of the novel to find loopholes over and over in order to continue their dirty business.
Why does she believe in her success so much? Why does she not trust the opinion of experts and specialists? Why does the owner of the company, without reading, throw out any regulatory documents and letters from experts? She probably has her own research laboratory, which provided her with the results of six-month tests of the material? - the voice of reason sounds in my head.
Of course, the heroine does not have anything close to this, because neither the author nor the heroine studied the sopromat at the university, none of the devoted fans of the work, which is why here, in this fictional world, everyone believes in everything. For citizens without structural engineering thinking, the logic works something like this: “My aunt in beautiful shoes said that it was good steel - cheers, so it is, because wearing expensive shoes are not mistaken. Aunty in a beautiful hairstyle on camera promised the business that “everyone is in the ointment” - and they threw a shaft to place orders for transportation, without checking the existence of all maintenance infrastructure or at least standards for repair and control. An aunt in a diamond necklace had sex with her lover - the same machinists and lineman, locksmiths and masters of vocational training,
“So, this one, how can you not get out, because the aunt with the neckline said she could fire”, - so the real professionals whisper in this crazy movie and joyfully get involved in an adventure. “Probably, he will still pick up amateurs from the street instead of us, then thousands of people will surely die,” is their sacrificial attitude.
Of course, no one will die in a woman-made film, and the new alloy magically turns out to be the strongest, lightest and coolest in the world, although all institutes and laboratories obscenely denied this whole film, thus inserting sticks into the wheels of progress. However, the main character, apparently subconsciously feeling that it’s not long to play music, and without the normal organization of all the maintenance, control and repair work, even the new super-cool way will not play music for long and very soon it will slide back to the funeral march. That is why, instead of setting up normal processes of controlling and controlling traffic along the new highway (as in the damned Scoop), the heroine quickly changes her profile, saying that she is no longer interested in railways and now she has a new project - vacuum engines.
A quick loss of interest in your work and an instant jump from one to another is the first sign of professional illiteracy. A true expert, as a thinking and observant person, his main work will never be bored, as ever new subtleties, elusive process details constantly appear in the field of view, new technologies appear - and you can improve and improve your favorite business ad infinitum. But no, the author practically calls for everything in the world to be done as it is now happening in the development of sites and mobile applications:
1. I don’t know anything, but let's just like that! Firstly, it’s beautiful ...
2. Uh, it seems to work out - we run up!
3. Uh guys, and who will serve? - Sorry, but we already have a new project.
4. Damn, nothing works the way technology needs. - Ok, so order us a redesign from scratch for Sixtillion rubles. Rebranding and brand book - as a gift, as a regular customer.
5. Eternal profit!
What simple thought am I trying to convey with the help of this article and all the verbose allegories? I just claim that the existing technologies and processes in any business today have become so complex that it has become impossible to comprehend in a couple of hours of meeting people who are infinitely far from this business, whoever they call themselves: business analysts, project managers, designers or art directors. The world is a million times more complicated than it seems if you look at it through the bottom of the smoothie glass.
I urge that all the initial design and writing of a complete technical specification for any information system, as well as the creation of all content and drawing sketches, prototypes, sketches, mockups (whatever), should be created entirely on the customer’s side, only by its full-time specialists with decades of industry experience . And only in this case the information structure and the logic of the processes will be built correctly and correctly. Only growing UX experts in your team of the most experienced and respected specialists, your Axure and Balsamic are not that complicated to master.
Well, as an alternative, you can also consider hiring a studio designer for your own staff for six months, with the passage of the entire working cycle from the girl operator at the station to the head of the logistics department. Only such an immersion can give hope that the result will be a truly “smart system”, and not a dribble craft that no game with fonts can save.
I can guarantee little in my life with the same gigantic degree of certainty as the assertion that if your art director is placed on the “last mile” workplace for a month, be it a locksmith, sales assistant, operator, courier, loader - with a standard salary of 15-20 thousand rubles ($ 200 per month), there are so many illusions about how it will be easy, convenient and pleasant for all these people to work in a new beautiful interface, how they will gladly fill it all data and read all reports and alerts systems What a pleasure to navigate through information products - scatter like smoke. Yes, just let them let a month pass it all through themselves, feel the pleasure with which most ordinary people will evaluate their work - and all the ridicule of requests to “play with fonts” will end by themselves. And moral adulthood will begin. And in a couple of months, the long-awaited understanding will come that it is here that you can automate and algorithmize. That's right then, and for the first time it’s worth starting a graphical editor and making initial sketches.
In general, in my opinion, it’s very easy to train or find a good designer - you just need to see how much time he spends on his macbook. If your potential designer disappears for days (months) in the “field conditions” - at the customer’s company facilities, constantly makes appointments with the pros in the research area, constantly takes up a meeting room and is armed with piles of papers with the headings “Technological process ...”, “Organization chart ...”, “ Company structure ... ”brainstorms with a development team with controversy and a fight - it's the best designer. At least he is trying to understand what he should do and how it will all work. Well, if a person just sits on a chair evenly and intently draws buttons - all, wait for the imminent disaster of the entire project in the very near future and try, while there is time, relieve yourself of maximum responsibility for what is happening. And yes, it’s mandatory to insist on a large prepayment, because according to the results of work, when the customer finally sees your illustrations and understands everything, he probably will not be able to get the remaining money.
As you know, the requirements for modern information systems have grown significantly. Now she is obliged to automate the process, process data, algorithmically sort information flows and even draw some independent conclusions about everything that happens. And for this you need to delve deeply into the topic, you need to comply with the "10 thousand hours" rule, spent not on drawing buttons on the screen, but on comprehending the intricacies and hidden logic of all processes in the customer’s company. If this is not done, then the final situations will turn out exactly like in the above comedy film, with the only difference being that real life does not at all resemble the erotic fantasies of a lonely middle-aged female teacher or an illustrator-typewriter who dropped out of a technical university.