Warmest Greetings,

:: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 ::

Using people

When I was learning about dating and boys, and then dating and men, the one practice my girlfriends and I wept over was "He's just using me." It got to be so that we could spot a "user" a mile or two away, and it was surprisingly easier to zero in and finger a "User" when you weren't the one being "used". Breakups were because someone was a "user" and someone didn't like being "used". Heck, the cruelest thing a person could say to another is "You're just a USER!!!"

So, now I build and review Web sites, and as Quality Assurance Engineer for online software applications with web front ends, my job is to be a "stupid user". I'm an advocate for users. I play the role of users with Netscape 3.0 who refuse to upgrade, or the online shopper who just wants to buy something in less than 25 clicks.

I constantly remind programmers that people have to use this thing they're developing, and I point out how users will or can break it, get lost in it, or will simply leave it because it doesn't do what marketers promised it would do. I know that companies sell software before the ink is dry on the business and functional requirements documentation, and I know that those requirements have to be met during testing and if not, it either goes back to the programmers and testers or rolls out to customers who will use it, test it, break it and write angry letters to Usenet groups, or forums about "that stupid company that made another stupid product that doesn't work".

With the Internet, everyone's a "user".

What do couples fight over and break up for now?

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 8/28/2002 08:39:49 AM

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