Take off the training wheels
Some great examples of solutions getting in the way of problems ...
"Like dull knives in the kitchen and training wheels on bicycles, many so-called safety features just lead to trouble. The cranky user suggests an alternative approach.
A friend once needed to run a process where, for reasons unknown, the program required him to confirm each task in a series of hundreds. He balanced a pocket knife on the Return key and went to lunch. In his particular case there were no horrific surprises; it was just a huge waste of time and he worked around it. For many users faced with this type of "safety" feature, however, the workaround isn't so simple.
Confirming, clarifying, and checking every operation, as most applications these days do, is intended to protect users from accidents. The result is similar to what many people find after putting training wheels on a child's bicycle: the vehicle is more cumbersome and the child never learns to ride it properly. This month I'll count the ways excessive protections make computers harder to use and more accident prone." continued ... (Via IBM, The cranky user)
"Like dull knives in the kitchen and training wheels on bicycles, many so-called safety features just lead to trouble. The cranky user suggests an alternative approach.
A friend once needed to run a process where, for reasons unknown, the program required him to confirm each task in a series of hundreds. He balanced a pocket knife on the Return key and went to lunch. In his particular case there were no horrific surprises; it was just a huge waste of time and he worked around it. For many users faced with this type of "safety" feature, however, the workaround isn't so simple.
Confirming, clarifying, and checking every operation, as most applications these days do, is intended to protect users from accidents. The result is similar to what many people find after putting training wheels on a child's bicycle: the vehicle is more cumbersome and the child never learns to ride it properly. This month I'll count the ways excessive protections make computers harder to use and more accident prone." continued ... (Via IBM, The cranky user)
Training Wheels.
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