RE: Accepting "Crappy" Software (Was: Slow Down Development, NO; Speed up Minds, YES)

["Locke, David" <dlocke -at- bindview -dot- com>]

Chuck, 

>"I don't entirely understand it but it is true: Highly skilled carpenters
>don't get insulted when told they are not architects, but highly skilled
>programmers do get insulted when they are told they are not UI >designers."
     - anonymous programmer quoted in "GUI Bloopers"
       by Jeff Johnson

I love the quote. I've been there.

Market mechanics is what creates market leaders. Market leaders can ignore
customers. But, becoming a market leader isn't about being first, it is
about getting most of the influencers behind you. Influencers are,
unfortunately, technical enthusiasts who for the most part do not read
manuals. By the time the mass market buys the software the mass market
annoints the market leader. These people do read the manuals, but by that
time the quality of the manuals don't matter. 

But there are markets where there the market leader doesn't recieve market
power. Complementors never get market power. These companies cannot afford
to lose a single customer. They focus on providing the best tehnical support
that they can. Training and documentation still don't get management
attention. 

That leaves a third class of companies, institutionalized vendors, that can
do excellent documentation. Microsoft, Novell, and Sun would fall into this
category. This documentation is really being done as a market barrier. They
can invest where the ordinary vendor cannot. If you don't work for them,
don't expect to duplicate the scope and technology in their documentation.
Go to work for these companies or dream of the day that the others get
religion. That day isn't going to happen.

David W. Locke