<- Usability Must Die Life Up At The Castle

The Users

These are the people at the bottom of the pile. They are rarely described as people and are usually presented as a group of sheep who can be manipulated quite easily if you know what questions to ask, and how to present their views.

The Programmers

These are the people who do the actual construction work. The professionals and the managers think that they are a necessary evil. Whilst the users think that they are a peculiar group with some very odd habits. Programmers use their arcane knowledge to secure their position in the castle's hierarchy, and can spent a lot of time scheming in an attempt to undermine the professionals. Sometimes they even put their efforts into doing something for the poor old users, but this is usually by accident rather than by design.

The Professionals

The camp followers that drift from battle to battle hawking their wares. They are the Total Quality Merchants, the Visual Design Squires, the User Experience Whores, and of course the Usability Jugglers. They will change their act from week to week, depending on what form the King latest whim takes. Many of them would like help the programmers do a good job for the users, but they know that their first loyalty is always to the King.

The Managers

They are the keepers of the bureaucracy, who keep the processes moving and the forms flowing. They oversee the battle from their gilded chairs and play one group off against another to ensure that no-one goes too far in the quest for a successful project. After all we couldn't have the peasants getting too big for their boots. If it comes to a choice between a professional and a programmer then the manager will almost always back the programmer. They can easily replace a professional, but it's always harder to replace a good programmer, necessary evil that they are.

email: Chris McEvoy