unity-design team mailing list archive

[Scott Kitterman <ubuntu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wednesday, March 16, 2011 09:01:59 am Thorsten Wilms wrote:
> On 03/16/2011 01:35 PM, Marc Lajoie wrote:
> > A better analogy would be engineers designing a professional baking oven.
> > The engineer insists, "No, you know nothing about heat flow, etc. This
> > is how the oven should be designed."
> > The baker answers, "But that doesn't correspond to the way I cook!"
> > A conversation is needed between both to make the ideal oven, because
> > each lacks information needed for the optimal design. The bakers lack
> > the science, the engineers knowledge of how it will actually be used.
> 
> If you are not under too tight constraints, the question shouldn't be
> how something is being done, not even how users would like to do it, but
> rather: how should they do it?
> 
> Especially given the huge role habituation and familiarity play in early
> evaluation of concepts and implementations by users.
> 
> It's a small step from workflow to ritual.
> 
> Sometimes the problem may be certain users stubbornness rather than
> anything else, especially if you design for the long term. So the answer
> may have to be wrapped up in a strategy to "sell" it.

It depends on how important your current user base is to you.  Particularly 
when there are alternatives available, such radical restructuring is more 
likely to result in existing users leaving than them immediately jumping to 
the new paradigm (see KDE 4.0 for example).  It may be that you'll get them 
back in the long run, but many will be gone for good.

Scott K