The JJW Blog

Technology != Workflow

People need software that goes beyond merely putting in their hands the latest technology and fads like multi-touch.   Technologies and features that aren’t integrated into solid scaleable workflows don’t deliver what people want and need from software.

In General People Want Software To Offer:

1. - A simplified but expert perspective on the software domain, just like e.g. a good bike shop simplifies but is an expert on all things related to your bike.
2. - A simple pathway to get things done quickly.
3. - Clear status on their goals while using the software.
4. - Little explanation needed on what they want.
5. - Motivation as they perform tasks either through text, animation, or just a beautiful UI.

In General People Don’t Want Their Software To:

1. - Present answers to unimportant questions.
2. - Offer cool features or technologies that don’t intuitively fit into a workflow with others.
3. - Ask them for info they already gave it.
4. - Offer multiple, rarely used, or redudant paths to getting things done.
5. - Be uninspiring and ugly.

E.g, adding multi-touch, GPS, and acceleramoter support to a phone does not make it a good competitior to the IPhone unless you bring these technologies together in a unified way that offers simple workflows and a beautiful UI.

On another front, blogging software, Tumblr is a great example of blogging software that delivers all the features I personally want out of blogging software with a solid workflow.  New features that Tumblr has recently added, like queues and notes, are integrated intuitively into existing features.  I aspire to learn how to build software like Tumblr.