Terminology
Okay, here's some terminology for you. Some of it is tongue-in-cheek, but it's useful (I think) when discussing design issues.
- Yoda Notation: the reversal of order, in particular with respect to operands of an equality operation in C and C++, as in
if ("blue" == theSky) ...
in order to prevent a bug caused by accidental misuse of the assignment operators. Stems from Yoda's curious word ordering in the Star Wars movies: "Backwards it is, yes!"
It is an example of a workaround of the decision of C and C++ language using = as the assignment operator, and == as the equality operator, illustrating Sins of our Forefathers. - Mental Speedbump: an incongruity in design that interrupts one's concentration, and the natural work flow of the task at hand. UI Designers often consider MessageBoxes, like "Are you sure you want to continue?" as mental speedbumps. Sometimes also incorrectly named procedural potholes, but potholes generally aren't designed into existence, speedbumps are.
- Pearl Effect: The workarounds and procedural accretions that are meant to insulate users from a defect that wasn't discovered in time to be fixed. Unlike the pearls of nature, these are not pretty to look at. cf Sins of our Forefathers.
- Sins of our Forefathers: The legacy of bad designs that seemed logical or appropriate at the time (even if only marginally so) but in retrospect seem really boneheaded. They differ from Pearls in that these are consciously added, though both often result in workarounds.
- Katrina Syndrome: the rather irritating requirement of having to start all over again. This is typically applied to reconfiguration of an application after an upgrade, since the upgrading software has removed or not carried forward user settings and customizations. It also applies, to a lesser extent, to some Windows applications that force you to restart Windows after installing or uninstalling that application, forcing you to close other applications and save other work that may have been in progress.
- Workaround: Actions the user must take to circumvent a failure in the development process, often a failure in design.
Replies: 6
Mon Aug 21, 2006 Link to this messageGorilla in an Evening Gown- Thomas M. TuerkeThis colorful turn of phrase is meant to suggest something out of place decorated to look like it is meant to belong. In terms of design, it's usually an awkward feature cosmetically improved—or even just surrounded with vague rationalizations—to appear better.
(And before the animal rights activists everywhere complain: I'm sure everybody—especially any gorilla involved—would agree that gorillas are not meant to be in evening gowns. ;-)
Fri Mar 2, 2007 Link to this messageKatrina Syndrome, from the Customer's Perspective- Thomas M. TuerkePeople hate this situation...
From: [omitted] Date: Aug/11/06 - 08:19 (GMT) Re: Share your thoughts and wishes with the [Product] team! I was disappointed that, when I upgraded from 04 to 07, my toolbar arrangement was not transferred. I have to start again to re-set this after years of continuous use. It's really just designer (or management) laziness.
Thu May 24, 2007 Link to this messageRearranging the Blacksmith's Shop- Thomas M. TuerkeA well-intentioned but perhaps ill-advised change in procedure or design because of a negative impact to existing users. Despite being perceived as an improvement by the implementer, it causes users (often familiar or set in their ways) to become less productive, at least in the short-term. You might consider it a case of not listening to the old saw, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
The name stems from the scene in Jabberwocky where Michael Palin's character decides to improve the efficiency of the blacksmith's shop by rearranging it, with catastrophic results.
Sat Jun 30, 2007 Link to this messageInventing a Faster Horse- Thomas M. TuerkeThis term stems from Henry Ford's quote: "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have asked for a faster horse." The meaning, therefore, is to just moderately improve the status-quo without really innovating or looking at the problem in a new light—with all the attendant opportunities (and, yes, risks.)
The idea here is that it's important to listen to what your customers are asking for, but it is equally as important to understand the need behind the request. In a way, you shouldn't take your customers' requests too literally, but search them for the need that's motivating them.
Innovation is, by its nature, somewhat unanticipated.
Fri Sep 14, 2007 Link to this messageMissing O-Ring- Thomas M. TuerkeMetaphorically, a "Missing O-Ring" is a seemingly inconsequential but actually significant piece of a much larger thing. This expression comes from failure of such an O-Ring in the Challenger Shuttle Disaster, where a failure of a small ring weighing a few ounces resulted in the destruction of the shuttle.
This metaphor speaks to an injudicious application of "lossy" conversion algorithms, the omission of a small but crucial detail in a process or description, or an inattentiveness in design or implementation that results in crucial information being lost.
Thu Sep 27, 2007 Link to this messageComplexificate- Thomas M. TuerkeThis little jewel, meaning the process of making a reasonably simple thing extraordinarily complex or unnecessarily complicated, (typically by committee) was created quite tongue-in-cheek, yet so wonderfully illustrates a concept, it was a shame not to add it to the canon.
Imagine a meeting not unlike many others, where a topic is being discussed and suggestions are being made. What started out as a fairly straight-forward concept has been bent and twisted into this mutilated, ungainly thing that bears little resemblance to the original concept.
Mocking frustration, one contributor suggested that the original idea had been made "far too complex", to which somebody else retorted, "you mean, it's been complexified?" Another, immitating an earlier contribution, (by somebody who hadn't warmed up to the original concept, but probably would have after mulling it over) chimed in: "That's new. I don't get it. I'm not comfortable with that." The riff then briefly digressed to coin a term that means "to needlessly complicate or make too complex," from which "to complexificate something" was adopted (the irony of it being even more complex than complexify not being lost on the contributors.)
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