Re: Ugly application and ugly tempers

[Suzette Seveny <sseveny -at- PETVALU -dot- COM>]

First, I'd like to apologize for not including a subject line on my last email.
 I thought I would add it after I typed the message (figuring the "right" one
would jump out at me), then I pressed Send too quickly.

Let me clarify my options:


Watler Hanig wrote:
>
Good for you!

I  believe the application should launch with a blank new "document, " whatever
a "document" is in the application's context.

Even just a message that says "you are here" would make me happy.

View commands should affect only the user's, uh, view of the document space.
View menu-based commands should not change that space. I think a Tools menu
would be far better and much more obvious to a user. A menu (Help) with no
commands (Contents, About) is inexcusable.

OK, enough sympathy. What would I do?

* Recruit training and tech support as your allies. They'll gladly tell the
engineer how the design will make their life rougher.

I have no idea what the training plans are (and I'm not going to ask in case
they nominate me).  We do not have a training department, per se.  Tech support
is our help desk, more knowledgeable about store operations than systems.

* Bring your boss into the loop to talk to the engineer's boss.

Same boss.  I am part of development.  I have spoken to him and I believe he
will avoid this entire project because it would be politically wise to do so.

* Recruit the marketing and sales staff. They have a vested interest in
user-friendly.

Internal application - no marketing or sales applicable.

* Identify competitive or comparably complex products and show the engineer how
they handle the issues you've identified. Remind him/her that the users will
also have looked at those or similar applications and will have similar
expectations.

I'll have to give this some thought.

Thanks for the support though, I don't handle getting angry well (good that I
don't get angry often), and I always end up thinking I might be in the wrong.

Suzette Seveny
Markham, Ontario, Canada
sseveny -at- petvalu -dot- com or suzette -at- yesic -dot- com

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