[IxDA Discuss] Alan Cooper on Software Design: Code=Design?

[Jon Baker]

I find this very interesting as (hold my hands up) I am a developer,
no let me rewrite that, I develop. I come from a computer science
background but it has never sat well with me, I am a people person, I
always found my wife's social anthropology course work far more
interesting. I don't fit Alan's Homo Logicus (see The inmates are
running the asylum) and having read Inmates and now Faces 3. I have
had a new awakening to Software everything I have read makes a lot of
sense and it is true having over 10 years experience in software
development that software is often developed from "designs" such as
UML or flow diagrams which do not relate to IxD. 

Building software is logically very complex and these tools help
clarify an understanding of how to build the software.

These tools focus on how to build rather than the bigger picture of
what to build, but in the lack of anything else, they are used by
software developers to decide what to build based on their own
experience self-referential design. Software Architects (again not
IxD) focus on how best to build large complex systems like banking
systems, these architects are the people that try to overcome
implementation barriers by defining software "design patterns" such
as the Model View Controller architecture, or more specific OO idioms
such as Singletons to help overcome barriers and organise code. These
still do not result in a better product for the user but you would be
amazed how much software is developed without even the support of
these implementation designs and I think (if I have understood Alan
correctly) it makes it difficult for software developers to implement
good interaction design from an IxD, if they are not even using good
implementation designs to inform their code decisions.

I also want to add my 10 pence worth on Agile Software development I
recently read an article on how it can be combined with UCD:
http://derivadow.com/2007/10/30/making-agile-user-centered/
I personally feel this misses the point. Agile development is a
reactive methodology to trying to design more user focussed software
which is a step forward but Interaction design is a Proactive
methodology and surely as they say in medicine %u201CPrevention is
better than cure%u201D.

Unfortunately, there are still many, many developers who have not
even heard of or do not understand the role of IxD and I think
Alan%u2019s quest is far from over. You would be amazed at how many
developers I know who think a Ux professional is simply a User
Interface designer, one quoted to me %u201CThe Ux guys are the guys
that use photoshop to make me a pretty button%u201D. Also as Alan
points out Software Developers are taught to design their code using
code description languages such as pseudo code, UML etc but not how
use Interaction designs as the blueprint for these implementation
designs.



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Posted from the new ixda.org
http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss?post=21921