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Title: The Inmates Are Running the Asylum : Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity (2nd Edition) by Alan Cooper ISBN: 0-672-32614-0 Publisher: Pearson Education Pub. Date: 24 February, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.95 (111 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Worth the time and money
Comment: Cooper has done a good job of pointing out common problems in software design. The book is well written, with interesting examples and anecdotes to illustrate the author's points. While most of the book focuses on "off the shelf" products, I think the author's arguments are even more relevant to custom software development. If you already believe that software is poorly designed, this book is unlikely to be a revalation to you. It will, however, give you some ammunition to use in discussions with "apologists".
I agree with the earlier reviewer, who said that the people most needing to read it probably won't. This would seem to be a great book for development managers and purchasers of software, but I think the only people likely to read the whole thing are professional developers.
I have two criticisms of the book (for which I give it 4 out of 5 stars): too often it comes across as an advertisement for the author's company; and I would have appreciated more "how-to" information. To this latter point, the author himself says in his preface that he had intended to write a "how-to" book, but was talked into writing a "business case" book instead. I hope that he will soon follow up this effort with the planned "how-to" book.
A final question -- what is with these 1 star reviews? I've read a few of them now, for different books, and I have to question whether the reviewer has even read the book. If so, they seem to have completely missed the point. At the very least, if giving a 1 star review, please provide some detailed criticisms so I can decide whether I am likely to share your opinion.
Rating: 3
Summary: Insightful, educational, but sometimes ridiculous.
Comment: The manner in which Alan Cooper points out problems with many high tech products is thoughtful and insightful. The book contains many descriptive examples and entertaining anectodes to illustrate the problem of "dancing bearware". His case for the necessity of "interaction design" is convincing. Overally the book is thought provoking and educational. So why only three stars?
His accusation of engineers being the root cause of the problem is badly misguided, with a silly generalization of programmers as a whole. I develop software professionally for a living, and I certainly do not consider myself or my peers "techno-jocks". I do not look down upon end users any more than I would expect an M.D. to look down upon me for lack of knowlege about medicine. In the organizations I have worked in, I have seen that developers have the task of interaction design UNWILLINGLY thrust upon them due to miserable product specifications coming from sales and management. I have also seen useless gadget features come from sales and management more often than from engineers. From my experience, these things alongside unreasonable project plans and "we can fix it later" attitude on the part of managers have resulted in awkward products many customers dislike.
Also, the book was too self-referential. In some portions, it appeared that the author was advertising his own company.
It's a shame the "inmates running the asylum" theme and self-advertisements were over-emphasized. Aside from these things, this is a good read for both high-tech managers and engineers.
Rating: 4
Summary: Say You Want a Revolution...
Comment: I found myself really getting into Cooper's book as I read it. He's an easy writer to read. He keeps things interesting with all sorts of anecdotes and experiences, and he describes them with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
That's not to say that he isn't serious about what he has to say... clearly, he is very serious. In describing the difference between a Designer and a Developer, and even in more detail when contrasting a Visual Designer and an Interaction Designer, he makes clear just how important this subject is, and how the differences he is talking about can determine the process by which a piece of software or application comes together, and the success of the final product. His obvious frustrations with the roadblocks to effective user-focused design should be understood by anyone involved in the design process.
The pinnacle of the book, for me, came in the middle. At the end of Part 3 ("Eating Soup with a Fork" -- great title), he discusses the relationship between humans and technology. He says something so simple that it should have been obvious, but it's really a fairly major shift in perception from what many people think. He talks about the assumption that technology is dehumanizing here:
"It doesn't require sophisticated tools to dehumanize your fellow humans -- a glance or a kick does it as well. It is not technology that is dehumanizing. It is the technologists, or the processes that technologists use, that create dehumanizing products."
This is important to what Cooper is trying to say in "Inmates" in so many ways. The theme of the book throughout seemed to be that interaction design is only as friendly, or as UN-friendly, as people make it. Technology only does what we tell it to, as we design and implement its specific functions.
The real revolution that this implies is the possibility that technology can be made to interact successfully with humans, and that it doesn't have to frustrate or debase the people who try to use it. In fact, as a human creation, technology is as human as we want to make it. As Cooper said in chapter 6, "For users to be happy and effective with software, it must be written in harmony with the demands of human nature."
But like anything, to make software effectively intereact with humans (i.e. more helpful, more usable, etc.) takes more work... one of the roadblocks. Cooper talks, also, about the established culture of programmers. He defines them as almost a seperate breed of humans, at least as far as their thought process and rationale... "Homo Logicus" as opposed to "Homo Sapiens." He talks about the rift that often appears between them, largely because of the cultural perception (mostly an obsolete view) that software is a solitary occupation, that programmers work in a vacuum and are the sole authors of their work.
The book makes it clear that the software design process can no longer be one which belongs to a solitary person. The creation of software works better as a collaborative effort than it does as a single-author process. Product planners, interaction designers, usability experts, testers, and yes, programmers all have their part to play, and when it comes together, it can yield great results.
Cooper's conclusion seems to be that the most fundamental changes to the software industry need to be made to the process. The people who make the software are, by and large, talented at what they do, and willing to change for the better if they can. It is when they are asked to do more than they should be that problems arise. A change to the process will ensure that better, more usable products can be made.
It seems that most of the people who do the work of making the software in question are willing to change the way they do things, but only need permission to do so. Cooper's take on it, which I agree with, is that it has become not only advisable to move on from the obsolete programming culture we have relied on in the past. If we want to make a change towards more usable products that end-users feel comfortable interacting with, then a change to the process of software creation to a more collaborative effort of interaction design and development becomes an imperative, at the very least.
Recommended to anyone involved in the software design process. Record it on tape and play it for project managers while they sleep.
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Title: About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design by Alan Cooper, Robert M. Reimann ISBN: 0764526413 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 17 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman ISBN: 0465067107 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 17 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Design and Refine User Interfaces ISBN: 1558608702 Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Pub. Date: 02 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman ISBN: 0465051359 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 23 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug ISBN: 0789723107 Publisher: New Riders Pub. Date: 13 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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