Why the best programmers do not always make the best software managers?

Answer 1

Programmers tend to think like programmers rather than users. So while they may be capable of producing highly complex software, they may not be able to present the software in a user-friendly manner. Thus we have user interface specialists who spend a huge amount of time and vast amounts of money testing user interfaces upon users of varying degrees of ability. They can then present programmers with their findings and modify their software to provide more intuitive interfaces. Even then, they can still get it completely wrong because someone has to program the interfaces for the test subjects, thus the chosen interfaces are simply the best of what could be bad selection of interfaces. The best of the bad is still bad. So interface specialists spend even more time and money improving the test interfaces. Eventually, one hopes, they get it right and the programmer can finally create software that is intuitive.

With graphical user interfaces (GUIs) like Windows, designing interfaces becomes easier because the interface already exists, the programmer simply has to ensure his interface is consistent with those of other programs, thus making it more intuitive because users already familiar with one application's interface can use the same skills to navigate any similar interface. However, this relies on the fact the GUI is well-designed to begin with and anyone who's used Windows knows just how frustrating an interface it can be. Worse, each new version of Windows changes the interface in various ways, removing familiar features or adding new features. hopefully for the better, but not always. The removal of the start button from Windows 8 was particularly frustrating because the GUI was targeted towards touch-screen users -- which is fine unless you don't happen to have a touch-screen. so although the majority of Microsoft programmers are highly-skilled individuals, even they can get it hopelessly wrong. The software itself is of an extremely high quality, but it's not much use if users are constantly frustrated by the inadequacies of the interface. However it would unfair to blame the programmers for a poor interface -- the user-interface specialists are the ones giving the least value for money. But it is money that has to be spent if an interface is to improve.

Answer 2

Testing