At a former employer of mine, a colleague and I co-developed a piece of software for a client to replace a very successful DOS application (also developed by my ex employer, but not me). From his point of view, the old application, being DOS based was classified as legacy although it did everything he wanted and he was happy with it and knew his way around.
The specification from him for the new software was very loosely defined, basically being "Build a Windows version of the DOS software" and nothing else. Running the old application in a DOS box was not acceptable from his point of view even though he had done that for years and was comfortable with doing it.
Since initial test versions were provided for him to provide feedback about 3 months after we started development work, we had serious problems. They weren't software bugs, but were caused by his incompetence when it came to computers and IT. From our testing, We knew it worked in the office, and at his premises when I went to install it and provide initial training because colleagues of his were able to get it working and use it quite comfortably.
His computer illiteracy is not confined to this piece of software though. I have dealt with a number of IT support calls from him relating to simple use of Windows applications. For example:
* He doesn't know the difference between a right and left mouse button click.
* He is unable to comprehend the fact that minimised windows can be accessed from the Window menu and don't need to be opened again, or those opened afterwards don't mean those opened earlier have closed.
* He doesn't seem willing to accept that an Access hosted database application will look different to a DOS text mode application developed in Clipper.
* He doesn't understand that antivirus software with two year old signatures is able to protect him from current viruses (I have fixed many by editing the registry on his PC, rebooting and deleting the files later. He won't fork out for a new package or even accept a free one as an alternative).
* He has asked me how to edit his signature in Eudora several times.
* If something didn't work with his system, he would go into control panel and fiddle using options he didn't understand so as not to bother me, then phone up on the end of his tether and I would end up fixing something more serious than it was to start with.
I could go on, but I'm sure you get the gist of my argument. Basically, from my and my colleague's point of view, he was the nightmare user on both development and support calls. Shortly after some of the beta versions, my colleague and I (and sometimes the managing director as well) started getting emails from him using very strong language, written in full caps, on a daily basis criticising the software, claiming we hadn't looked at the old DOS system in implementing its Windows equivalent and we were incompetent.
The upshot is that three years after development commenced, and about 18 months after we were completely happy with the application from my ex employer's point of view, he is still not happy with it and insists on running the two in parallel wanting to see identical results from the reports in each system, but only entering the data into one of them and can't see that this will produce different results in the same reports.
By the way, the client still uses the old DOS system to run his business.
Has anybody else had to deal with serious acceptance problems caused by user error or luddite tendencies? How have you got around it? Any suggestions would be most grateful. Unfortunately, telling him to get lost and ceasing contact is not an option.
John
The specification from him for the new software was very loosely defined, basically being "Build a Windows version of the DOS software" and nothing else. Running the old application in a DOS box was not acceptable from his point of view even though he had done that for years and was comfortable with doing it.
Since initial test versions were provided for him to provide feedback about 3 months after we started development work, we had serious problems. They weren't software bugs, but were caused by his incompetence when it came to computers and IT. From our testing, We knew it worked in the office, and at his premises when I went to install it and provide initial training because colleagues of his were able to get it working and use it quite comfortably.
His computer illiteracy is not confined to this piece of software though. I have dealt with a number of IT support calls from him relating to simple use of Windows applications. For example:
* He doesn't know the difference between a right and left mouse button click.
* He is unable to comprehend the fact that minimised windows can be accessed from the Window menu and don't need to be opened again, or those opened afterwards don't mean those opened earlier have closed.
* He doesn't seem willing to accept that an Access hosted database application will look different to a DOS text mode application developed in Clipper.
* He doesn't understand that antivirus software with two year old signatures is able to protect him from current viruses (I have fixed many by editing the registry on his PC, rebooting and deleting the files later. He won't fork out for a new package or even accept a free one as an alternative).
* He has asked me how to edit his signature in Eudora several times.
* If something didn't work with his system, he would go into control panel and fiddle using options he didn't understand so as not to bother me, then phone up on the end of his tether and I would end up fixing something more serious than it was to start with.
I could go on, but I'm sure you get the gist of my argument. Basically, from my and my colleague's point of view, he was the nightmare user on both development and support calls. Shortly after some of the beta versions, my colleague and I (and sometimes the managing director as well) started getting emails from him using very strong language, written in full caps, on a daily basis criticising the software, claiming we hadn't looked at the old DOS system in implementing its Windows equivalent and we were incompetent.
The upshot is that three years after development commenced, and about 18 months after we were completely happy with the application from my ex employer's point of view, he is still not happy with it and insists on running the two in parallel wanting to see identical results from the reports in each system, but only entering the data into one of them and can't see that this will produce different results in the same reports.
By the way, the client still uses the old DOS system to run his business.
Has anybody else had to deal with serious acceptance problems caused by user error or luddite tendencies? How have you got around it? Any suggestions would be most grateful. Unfortunately, telling him to get lost and ceasing contact is not an option.
John