For your grandmother

For your grandmother


I had an interesting conversation with a developer colleague about how to design a work flow for customers.

We were working on a system which received data from customers via email: the customer would attach a pre-approved file to an email, and send it to our system, which would then automagically extract the data from the attached file. This was seen as a necessary method for getting data from hundreds of small business customers who had neither the resources nor IT knowledge to set up file transfer protocols. 

The developer in question (a lovely chap, but a tad over-enthusiastic at times) suggested that we should authenticate the incoming data. This would prevent hypothetical nasty folks from trying to wreck our system by sending us bad data. I baulked at this, as I didn’t think we’d get our barely computer-literate customers to start entering authentication details as well as the basic data.

He then tried to convince me of his point of view (all friendly!). Here is his key argument (it was by email, so this is copied and pasted, word for word):

* * * * *

At an emotional level, I always pick on a skilled friend or ex-colleague, & imagine explaining a design decision to him.

“So, then we receive the email and ...”
“Wait, just like that?  What authentication do you use?”
“None.”
“WTF?  Seriously dude.” 

* * * * *


And, herein lies a trap. While it’s nice to build a system with all the bells and whistles, it’s not going to be used by experienced computer programmers. It’s going to be used by all sorts of people, from experienced developer to novice user. Furthermore, we had been reliably informed that some of our customers barely had the IT knowledge required to send an email.

If people can’t use a system, they won’t. And, there’s no point building the best system in the world if the customers don’t understand it.

So, my reply was:

* * * * *

Whereas I imagine the least computer-literate and most difficult person I know, and imagine explaining the use case to him/her...

“So, you open an email, attach a file -”
“How do I do that?”

... 15 minutes later...

“Now, you type in your username and password.”
“Where are they?”
“We sent them to you last year...”
“Oh. I can't find that email. Could you send them again?”

* * * * *

Remember – you’re not designing the system for a developer. You’re designing it for your grandmother.