Put the LART down and step away from the user!

Well done Andy Budd! Andy wrote a post “User Error is Our Problem, Not Theirs!” which couldn’t ring more true to me. As developers our job is about making life easier for users, not training them to jump through our hoops.

In the midst of development we all get a bit involved in the product so sometimes it’s hard to see the dumb stuff you did while making the product. Get someone you trust, who hasn’t seen it before, to look at it for you as a user. Realise you did it strangely might come more easily from them than your real users. But most of all remember people are just trying to get a job done. They aren’t asking for help to upset you.

N.B. A LART is a “Luser Attitude Reallocation Tool”. A fuller description of LARTs is available on Wikipedia.

Technorati Tags:
web development, usability