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Customer and Partner

mighetto 13th Feb 2008

The Washington Software Association recently changed its name to Washington Technology Industry Association and this I think reflects a change that is related to design of a system that everyone hates.

In the recent past, software designers created partnerships with the end users. There was prototyping and rapid application design and the designer typically accepted whatever the end users thought looked good. I know I was disappointed in almost all user designed screen presentations with the worst of these coming from professionals (doctors, legals, teachers, military) but the end result was beloved by the end users. These "custom" apps are not likely to be abandoned.

The process was not unlike designing a boat or house where the architect knew a better way, but not a substantially better way and let the party paying have more say than in the "Technology Industry" of today.

Today partnering with end users is becoming a lost art. Instead the end users are simply customers which are managed that way. That means attention is paid to those who are likely to generate more return and the needy are weened by lack of attention or even encouraged to leave the organization because they are unhappy.