Wisdom in SpaceIf a system has to be explained to people, that's a clue that its design is driven by what you "know" rather than by what people immediately recognize as useful.
-- Peter Coffee (eWeek (May 2005))
Allowance for idiocy: i) Systems can't be designed to be idiot-proof, at least not at any reasonable cost, because society continually develops better idiots. ii) Systems shouldn't be designed to be idiot-proof, because people do better work when they stay engaged in the process and because overly complex systems just get in the way. iii) Systems will never be idiot-proof as long as people are willing to spend time and money on writing and debugging business logic but can't be bothered to develop business process models or put instrumentation into the business environment.
-- Peter Coffee (eWeek (Jan 2005))
When you come right down to it, there are really only four reasons for making IT investments at all: to decide what to do, to document what you did, to persuade someone else to do something, or to create content interesting enough that someone will pay to have access to it. Everything else is mere variation in how we apply emerging technologies toward combinations of these goals.
-- Peter Coffee (eWeek (Feb 2005))
Efficient-market theorists will tell you that in a fully connected, real-time information environment, the only way to add value is to respond more quickly than anyone else to unpredictable events -- not to enshrine what you knew yesterday in code that you hope to keep running for months or years.
-- Peter Coffee
⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #PeterCoffee #Computers
⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Pictographs #RockArt #DefianceHouse #LakePowell #Utah
Allowance for idiocy: i) Systems can't be designed to be idiot-proof, at least not at any reasonable cost, because society continually develops better idiots. ii) Systems shouldn't be designed to be idiot-proof, because people do better work when they stay engaged in the process and because overly complex systems just get in the way. iii) Systems will never be idiot-proof as long as people are willing to spend time and money on writing and debugging business logic but can't be bothered to develop business process models or put instrumentation into the business environment.
-- Peter Coffee (eWeek (Jan 2005))
⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #PeterCoffee #Computers #Technology
⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Sunrise #SacandagaLake #Adirondacks #NewYork
Allowance for idiocy: i) Systems can't be designed to be idiot-proof, at least not at any reasonable cost, because society continually develops better idiots. ii) Systems shouldn't be designed to be idiot-proof, because people do better work when they stay engaged in the process and because overly complex systems just get in the way. iii) Systems will never be idiot-proof as long as people are willing to spend time and money on writing and debugging business logic but can't be bothered to develop business process models or put instrumentation into the business environment.
-- Peter Coffee (eWeek (Jan 2005))
If a system has to be explained to people, that's a clue that its design is driven by what you "know" rather than by what people immediately recognize as useful.
-- Peter Coffee (eWeek (May 2005))
⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #PeterCoffee #Computers #Design
⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Sunset #Kayaks #Everglades #Florida
Amateurs do what's interesting; professionals do what's crucial.
-- Peter Coffee (eWeek (Sept 2003))
Allowance for idiocy: i) Systems can't be designed to be idiot-proof, at least not at any reasonable cost, because society continually develops better idiots. ii) Systems shouldn't be designed to be idiot-proof, because people do better work when they stay engaged in the process and because overly complex systems just get in the way. iii) Systems will never be idiot-proof as long as people are willing to spend time and money on writing and debugging business logic but can't be bothered to develop business process models or put instrumentation into the business environment.
-- Peter Coffee (eWeek (Jan 2005))
Efficient-market theorists will tell you that in a fully connected, real-time information environment, the only way to add value is to respond more quickly than anyone else to unpredictable events -- not to enshrine what you knew yesterday in code that you hope to keep running for months or years.
-- Peter Coffee
⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #PeterCoffee #Computers
⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Pictographs #RockArt #DefianceHouse #LakePowell #Utah