One thing that all software development has in common is users. Software without users is meaningless. We do our best to develop high-quality software solutions to our users’ problems, then release them into the wild to help people achieve the things they need to do.
Then, within days, weeks or months we receive support queries and reports of issues. It is surprising just how many of these queries and issues turn out to be simply questions about how to achieve something within the application we have produced.
However, if we look at this a little deeper, it should not be *that* surprising that our users find something difficult that we, as IT professionals, might consider easy.
In truth, anyone working in tech is a veritable uber-geek in comparison to the general population. A survey of developed countries found that much of the population is unable to complete medium-complexity tasks, and that only a small percentage has high-level computer-related skills. This is something that we all need to consider when building software solutions.
This session will summarise the results of the survey and include context and key points to help the audience visualise and understand the ability levels of the average user. It can’t be all that bad, can it?
//About the speaker
Paul Graham is a lead developer at Scott Logic with over 20 years of experience working in the North East software development community. He spends his days developing high-quality software that meets the requirements of the client and the needs of their users. He also is passionate about best practices in both UX and agile methodologies and is a co-organiser of the Agile North East meetup. Away from his keyboard he enjoys riding his bicycle up hills.
