Get In The Groove

I promise I'm not a cynic, however, I think we're blindly turning into a short sighted inconsiderate selfish society. Let me explain.

When you stop the flow of traffic so that you can merge into an adjacent lane in an effort to save yourself the trouble of flowing with your present lane, you're being selfish and inconsiderate. Suck it up; move with traffic and correct your lack of planning some place less congested. Stop irritating everyone else to save yourself... save yourself what exactly? Time? Will someone clue me in? Plan your route or plan your time or, better still, do both! Quit throwing off everyone else's tempo. Ya heard?

Enough of you do enough of these 'little' things so as to completely throw someone off of their rhythm. That is goddamn annoying.

Give Them What They Want

Is it so difficult for developers to understand that when their vision conflicts with customer demands it's time to don a pair of marketing glasses? How many of you regularly poll your customers for their needs? Yeah. Customers; the people whose business you're after.

I work as an applications engineer in the semiconductor equipment industry, uniquely positioned as the interface between the factory and my customers. It's a rare day for me to not get complaints about the quality of the software we vendors provide. And, the complaints are not about one thing; they are about everything - from the lack of needed functions to the lousy and often complicated GUIs (graphical user interface).

Doesn't it make sense to address these identified gaps which would translate to improved customer productivity (i.e. greater tool utilization) that could in turn generate repeat sales? That's right. Repeat sales; the grail that contributes to our bottom line. And yet, it seems, this low hanging fruit is repeatedly passed up in favor of bells and whistles that users don't need, can't understand or won't use. What gives?