Untropy

When you are writing things that no one will see (backend stuff, daemons, etc.), the focus goes to providing the proper functionality and safeguards. Care is also given to reporting status and error messages. These do not require much interaction with users, so the focus should understandably go to other areas of operation. And, more importantly, its behavior is well-defined.

When working on a project that many users will see, there is a different focus. People make mistakes, so the application should work in a sensible way for the users, and handle informing them of its operation as it progresses. Also, it has to be palatable to the users. While the actual functionality is able to be defined fairly clearly, the interface is mostly subjective.

Both portions of work are needed for all projects. And, each requires a different set of skills and background. So, it's important to realize this, organize teams to fit the needs, and conduct all development in the right order.

It might seem obvious, but a problem that can occur is with the last item mentioned. A GUI app takes time to design, because one good thing for User A may suck for User #2. Or, some page or screen may be a complete mystery to all users. But, if a team is structured, with no one to work on the GUI or interested in interface design, such details may be seen as an unnecessary detail to worry about after major, non-UI developments.

In a mixed team, this is usually never a problem. But, many software development teams are dominated by systems and library developers. Many times, one person is kindly asked to work on the UI parts, and they might reluctantly agree. They might feel that they are capable of doing the work, without any formal or informal training in UX and UI design. But, most often, they are just average at UI design, or worse. Lotus Notes comes to mind (sorry, I keep harping on Notes, but I got nothing else right now). Also, hilariously, this sweet application called The File Matrix.

The point is that you cannot let engineers design your interfaces. I will go into more detail about this, to elaborate on why , and hopefully what we can do to educate the engineers to be better .