Some of you may recognize this quote. It's from a farmer named Joel Salatin. He's featured prominently in the film, "Food, Inc.", which I had a chance to take in recently. While a high impact film unto itself, this quote really popped out and grabbed me. I realized that he wasn't just talking about industrialized food, but society as a whole. Being the developer I am, I internalized this and applied it to our field. We've been so consumed the last few years with the next great technology, essentially the "how", that we've really lost touch with, or just fail to ask, the "Why?" question.
We, as developers, get caught up in the race between the players in the RIA platform space. The truth is that the technology doesn't really matter. In most cases, a Flash Platform based application can tell the story just as well as a Silverlight based solution, or maybe even an AJAX solution. It doesn't matter. The technology is simply a tool that let's us answer the "How?" question. Without answering the "Why?" question though, the technology becomes irrelevant.
As developers, it's our livelihood to be able to quickly and easily answer the "How?" question. However, it's also our responsibility to also help answer the "Why?" question. If you can answer the "Why?" question, you can say that you truly understand your users and what they are trying to accomplish. If we don't listen to our users and their needs, then answering the "How?" question to the best of our abilities is a waste.
The design process is the phase where we ask the "Why?" question of our users. Developers are starting to pull their heads out of the sand and start getting involved in the design process. Developers are starting to gain access to the real motivations and needs of the users. When we start being able to answer the "Why?" questions, we add value to the answers we create for the "How?" questions.
Applying the answers to the "Why?" questions to every line of code you write is what will differentiate you from every other developer who is just as clever as you. Being able to empathize and connect with the user base is a skill that not all developers can cultivate. Cultivate it by engaging in the design process, ask your users why they want certain functionality and interactions. You may not always like the answers you get, but you will at least be engaged in the design process. An engaged developer is much more valuable to the process than someone who just churns code.
Ask "Why?", and bring those answers to your code. You'll have happier, more satisfied, users because they were engaged and their needs incorporated into design and development. Engaged users are users that come back, time and again, and validate the effort and value you bring to the process.
Stormtrooper
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment