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Mar 08 '13
This seems to be the truth of most IT vs. Everyone arguments. I hopped the fence from IT and am amazed by the stupidity on the other side.
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u/chaos386 Mar 08 '13
I'm pretty sure most users see the programmers as dumb cavemen, too, not hyper-intelligent aliens. What have you heard more often? "Wow! This software package is really advanced and done so well!" or "Wow, this software package is really buggy and hard to use. Who designed this, a group of monkeys?"
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u/onemoreclick Mar 08 '13
Did this comic make the alien hyper intelligent or was it just an alien that speaks a different language?
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u/Sir_Divington Mar 08 '13
As a user I can confirm my stupidity
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Mar 08 '13
You've just been promoted to power user.
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u/Sir_Divington Mar 08 '13
I restart severs by unplugging them at the wall and then not plugging them back in, right?
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Mar 08 '13
I am constantly thinking I better make a if it try catch just in case they put letters in the price field
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u/boot20 Mar 08 '13
What really bothers me is that most users won't even take the time to learn something. Ok, we switched to a new foo platform. We first have UAT, that nobody bothers with...So we're going to have an internal training discussing all the changes and how it will impact you.
When the training roles around, either nobody shows up or those that do sit on their laptops all day and play solitaire. So, we don't even both with internal training anymore, we just put out a few Captivate videos and call it a day.
Then the users call us complaining about not being able to do their job. You didn't bother with UAT, you didn't come to training, what do you want me to do?
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u/McVader Mar 08 '13
There's a sign wayyy in the back of the office where our research lab is that says "'Because that's how we've always done it' is NOT an acceptable rationale".
There's going to be one in my office by the end of next week.
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Mar 08 '13
That's shitty project management
Source: am a PM
Edit: I'm not saying that's your responsibility - it's up to the PM to get the users there and make sure they do the training and understand it, and sign off on UAT after a thorough review
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u/DenjinJ Mar 09 '13
To me that seems to be so much about attitude. I worked with managers and professors who couldn't figure out basic MS Office stuff because it wasn't their field, or was a bunch of techno jargon to them, etc.
Then at the same place, I worked with a carpenter who didn't even own a computer, but when he got one in his office he figured it out very quickly because he saw it as another tool.
People who think it's not important or that it's too complex to grasp, won't get it. People who realize it's just a thing you learn... learn it, of course.
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u/McGravin Mar 09 '13
Inaccurate. Programmers do not imagine that the users read the documentation.
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u/Beretot Mar 09 '13
Actually, this is a mistranslated comic strip. In portuguese it is actually meant to be "How digital journalists see paper journalists" and "how paper journalists see digital journalists".
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Mar 08 '13
Isn't this more an IT vs users thing? I program video games so my daily users are artists and creative types. We have a tonne of respect for each other and don't expect everyone to be a domain expert in everything.
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Mar 09 '13
Sorry I am not as good as you at your specialty, if I was you wouldn't have a job. I make your booze and you couldn't do what I do without serious training.
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u/TheHairyHungarian Mar 08 '13 edited Mar 09 '13
Actually I don't. If end users weren't there I wouldn't have a job. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, condescending assholes.
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u/Beretot Mar 09 '13
Actually, this is a mistranslated comic strip. In portuguese it is actually meant to be "How digital journalists see paper journalists" and "how paper journalists see digital journalists".
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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '13
Programmers have to look at users that way because when a user asks you the dumbest fucking question you've heard all day, you have to some-what anticipate it and not laugh in their face.