Interlude: Knowing Your Intended Users 1

For me, the “software developer” and the “programmer” are two different roles. The software developer, for me, is someone who is in to the details of the problem you are solving, which is not limited to just software but also the “users”. Yes, users, are also sometimes if not most, part of OR ARE the problem. [As a note, SystemOne is developed by a committee composed of the OUR, the College Secretaries, and some faculty and staff from ICS and all previous offices involved.] I will tell you here one of my brushes with two supposed users.

Here’s what I assumed of SystemOne’s users especially the students: intelligent, adaptive, insightful and to balance things out, apathetic, uncooperative, and will complain a lot.

The Internet/WWW is a two bladed thing, while you can use it to whack somebody, the same can be said to you. SO one day I was interested if someone has blogged on SystemOne and see what they think of it. Google, the ever handy tool, gave a few. One that piqued my interest is a public-can-comment entry for the purposes of false security I will assign the name MaleStude and FemaleStude as a subsitute to their userids in a popular Fr**ndst*r-like-but-they-say-is-better service:

I came to the site with these entries:

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MaleStude says: “systemone is stupidity…”

FemaleStude replys with: “as in buset talaga”

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My good intentions and I of course are naturally curious as to what caused this “outcry”. Wanting some answers I created an account in this popular Fr**ndst*r-like-but-they-say-is-better service just to ask a question:

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I say: “Can you guys be more specific on what part of systemone is ’stupidity’? Or what you did not like? Critics are always welcome (the constructive ones).”

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It wasn’t long after I got a reply, just about an hour or so the page refreshed with a reply:

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FemaleStude says: sino ka ba? kami kasi ni <real-name-of-MaleStude>, mag-brods kami niyan, nagkakaintindihan na kami sa simpleng sagot nya, hindi vague samin yun.

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I smirked, WTH?. Ok these guys know something that I don’t know, I mean WE developers don’t know. But what? Wanting closure, I again replied and gave hints on who I am, I mean they are so smart I assumed they knew who I was after. The reply was so much like an apology stating that if there were someone who will apologize for whatever discomfort done to them by the system, I would be the first one. I am after all the most “visible” person on this project everything will be blamed to me in the long run. I somewhat begged one more time to tell me what their problem is.

I waited….and waited….refreshed….refreshed…and then the page said it was no longer available [or something, it went private]. Ohhhhkeyyyy number one. I ended up with “Oh well, if that makes you happy”. I sent a private message, this time with a hint of sarcasm. Never got a reply back. I forgot, oh wow (starry eyes) they’re so intelligent.

I forgot about the whole thing and then one day in April or May (I forgot) in comes to my office a girl whose name on the ID closely matched FemaleStude’s userid AND oh yes, the pictures. No doubt it was her.

Funny thing was, she came into the office to request being added to the active list of students for the next semester, being on LOA or something the previous sem.

A little pause…Ohhhhhkeyyyyy number two. My innerselves said: “WT*! Here you are agreeing to someone about our system being stupid AND YOU! You’re not even one of the “official” intended users! The nerve.” Right then and there I wanted to show her the site and ask what is stupid but I had invisible straightjacket. I just waited for her to leave and conclude it was a case of you’ll-always-agree-to-what-your-buddy-says-even-if-you-haven’t-tried-it-yourself.

Her site is up once again and I laughed and choked at what I saw:

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MaleStude says: systemone is stupidity…

FemaleStude replies: as in buset talaga

The space where my first reply should have been: Reply deleted at the request of the thread owner.

FemaileStude replies: sino ka ba? kami kasi ni <real-name-of-MaleStude>, mag-brods kami niyan, nagkakaintindihan na kami sa simpleng sagot nya, hindi vague samin yun.

The space where my second pseudo-apology reply have been: Reply deleted at the request of the thread owner.

FemaleStude says: brod, ang daming epal sa mundo. share ko lang

 

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Ohhhkeyyyyyyyy number 3. Well, good thing about the web, they can post their opinions, I can post mine. If you think I’m feeling combative now, yes I am, as I am fulfilling a promise to those who helped make the programs (my former students): they will at least feel the feeling of that what they made are being used by others they dedicated the work to and not just shelf items. So to see it being blasphemed for apparently no reason wonders me a lot.

I laughed so hard my AngelMe just laughed and DevilMe somehow dared me how fast can I type “DELETE FROM <database-table-of-allowed-users> WHERE USERNAME=<username of target>”. Haha. Dare me. Epal pala ha. You can start searching your subjects June 13. Hahahaha. Joke. Seriously. Joke. [Is there such a thing as Serious Joke?] >:)