A Curmudgeon in Redmond

Using and abusing software since 1966

Scott Hanselman on the Difference Between Developers and Designers

I just became acquainted with Scott Hanselman's ComputerZen blog. Lots of good stuff there.

His Developer != Designer article is short and sweet, and captured my attention. Money quote:

The difference between a Designer and Developer, when it comes to design skills, is the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing it.

In case you're wondering, I'm in awe of the design skills of Kynan and Bryce, the designers on the Windows Home Server team.

Posted: Aug 15 2008, 04:30 PM by jim | with 3 comment(s)
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Comments

Chris Gray said:

...yeah, Kynan and Bryce rule.  they did a great job creating the WHS UX

# August 15, 2008 4:58 PM

Curious said:

Good article, although, it seems to be more specific to graphics design. Does the same analysis compare for systems designers and developers?

No disrespect intended (I use and like WHS), but where does the WHS data corruption problem with Drive Extender fall, with developers? or designers? As I understand, this WHS problem was so bad the entire WHS DE needed to be rewritten to correct the data corruption, which is why it took 6+ months to get the fix out in PP1.

WHS: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
WHS: All Better, Only It's 7 Months Later

# August 16, 2008 12:03 PM

jim said:

Curious,

As originally written, I meant graphics design, possibly because I'm so bad at it. (My 15-year-old does a much better job than I do.) But I think the same sentiment applies to system design, too.

With respect to the DE bug, I think there's plenty of blame to go around. My goals at the moment include:

  1. Make WHS the best product I can.
  2. Maintain good working relationships with colleagues and management.
  3. Write interesting stuff on this blog.

I need to think carefully about what I say, lest my activities in (3) impact (2), which could impair my ability to do (1). Perhaps some day I'll figure out how to thread that needle.

-- jimbo

# August 16, 2008 1:51 PM