Post by @scottjenson@social.coop

RE: https://social.coop/@scottjenson/116913589001924603

I've been in UX for 40+ years (I started at Apple). Recently, I've been working on bringing UX to FOSS projects, and I see this attitude far too often (but not always!).

It's terribly exciting to see this thread get so much support and love. There is hope yet.
https://bsky.app/profile/lookitup.baby/post/3mqkllnokgk2d

if your response to “users aren’t dumb, they have their own motivations and incentives and it’s good to try to understand those when you make software you want people to use” is “well actually, users are dumb” I’m sorry, but you are part of the problem

Bluesky Social

Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫 (@lookitup.baby)

if your response to “users aren’t dumb, they have their own motivations and incentives and it’s good to try to understand those when you make software you want people to use” is “well actually, users are dumb” I’m sorry, but you are part of the problem

Scott Jenson

@scottjenson@social.coop 17 hours ago

I like this post from Ian Coldwater. Slagging off users isn't a growth strategy. Now, you may not want growth, perfectly fine, but this is specifically calling out apps that want mainstream consumers

eclexic

@theeclecticdyslexic@mstdn.social 3 hours ago

@scottjenson
It's my opinion that people don't change settings and will use LLMs for mundane tasks easily covered by existing tools, because most interfaces are inscrutable to most users. They don't even know what they don't know, because discoverability is basically not a thing in most interfaces.

They aren't stupid, the interfaces are wrong. I don't know how to fix them, but they are wrong. It should not take the number of hours I have spent to learn to use a computer effortlessly.

Scott Jenson

@scottjenson@social.coop 3 hours ago

@theeclecticdyslexic But what you're describing is EXACTLY the core of UX:
1. Understand what the tech is capable of doing (and what it needs)
2. Understand the user's model and situation (and what they need)
3. Find an easy path through for 80% of use cases
4. Find a possible path through for the rest.

It's not easy work, but we've proven over and over that it's effective. LLMs clearly change the game, but not these basics.

eclexic

@theeclecticdyslexic@mstdn.social 1 hour ago

@scottjenson I know!

I am saying there is an incredibly big gap still! Not because the UX designers or users are dumb... but because this problem is _so_ hard.

I don't think LLMs fix this, really at all, I am merely saying I think people use them for this because the chasm of discoverability is so incredibly wide.

Ultimately, the problem is that people have finite time and attention, and they choose how to allocate theirs knowing this.

Basically, I agree with you.