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The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity QUOTES

The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity QUOTES

1 " To err is human; to really screw up, you need a computer "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

2 " In all other construction disciplines, engineers plan a construction strategy that craftmen execute. Engineers don't build bridges; ironworkers do. Only in software is the engineer tasked with actually building the product. Only in software is the "ironworker" tasked with determining how the product will be constructed. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

3 " Sort of like the pilot saying, "We're gonna make Chicago on time, but only if we jettison all our baggage!" I've seen product managers sacrifice not only design, but testing, function, features, integration, documentation, and reality. Most product managers that I have worked with would rather ship a failure on time than risk going late. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

4 " High cognitive friction polarizes people into two groups. It either makes them feel frustrated and stupid for failing, or giddy with power at overcoming the extreme difficulty. These powerful emotions force people into being either an "apologist" or a "survivor." They either adopt cognitive friction as a lifestyle, or they go underground and accept it as a necessary evil. The polarization is growing acute. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

5 " Eric Raymond says, "Good programmers know what to write. Great ones know what to reuse. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

6 " The real interaction designer's decisions are based on what the user is trying to achieve. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

7 " Like putting an Armani suit on Attila the Hun, interface design only tells how to dress up an existing behavior. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

8 " To deliver both power and pleasure to users, interaction designers think first conceptually, then in terms of behavior, and last in terms of interface. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

9 " You can predict which features in any new technology will be used and which won't. The use of a feature is inversely proportional to the amount of interaction needed to control "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

10 " Most software is used in a business context, so most victims of bad interaction are paid for their suffering. Their job forces them to use software, so they cannot choose not to use it—they can only tolerate it as well as they can. They are forced to submerge their frustration and to ignore the embarrassment they feel when the software makes them feel stupid. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

11 " You can blame the "stupid user" all you want, but you still have to staff those phones with expensive tech-support people if you want to sell or distribute within your company software that hasn't been designed. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

12 " The Only Thing More Expensive Than Writing Software Is Writing Bad Software "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

13 " Product successes and failures have shown repeatedly that users don't care that much about features. Users only care about achieving their goals. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

14 " When programmers speak of "computer literacy," they are drawing red lines around ethnic groups, too, yet few have pointed this out. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

15 " Writing software is not a variable cost, but it's not really a fixed cost either. Writing software is an ongoing, revenue-generating operation of the company, and it is not the same as constructing a factory. The expensive craftsmen who build the factory leave and go to work on some other job after the building is erected. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

16 " Homo logicus are driven by an irresistible desire to understand how things work. By contrast, Homo sapiens have a strong desire for success. Programmers also want to succeed, but they will frequently accept failure as the price to pay for understanding. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

17 " All modern manufacturing disciplines have roots in preindustry except software, whose unique medium appeared well after industrialization was a fait accompli. Only programming comes directly from academia, where there are no time limits on research, student power is dirt cheap, profit is against the rules, and a failing program can be considered a very successful experiment. It's not a coincidence that Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and other leading software companies reside in "campuses." Universities never have to make money, hit deadlines, or build desirable, useful products. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

18 " The fact that these measures are objective is reassuring to everyone. Objective and quantitative measure is highly respected by both programmers and businesspeople. The fact that these measures are usually ineffective in producing successful products tends to get lost in the shuffle. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

19 " Generally, programmers aren't thrilled about the iterative method because it means extra work for them. Typically, it's managers new to technology who like the iterative process because it relieves them of having to perform rigorous planning, thinking, and product due diligence "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity

20 " For example, many software dynasties have been established on the backs of very young, very inexperienced programmers. They were likely given a free hand with programming issues, and the pairing of immense responsibility with immense authority can often be a crucible for creating greatness. The same forces apply in interaction design. If someone is given the responsibility for product quality, and she is given authority equal to it, she will often rise to the challenge regardless of her experience. If you take a suitable person and give her full control over the quality and behavior of a product, you will have a much, much better product than if you don't. "

― Alan Cooper , The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity