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Summary: Lot's of folks in high-tech need to take this book to heart.
Review: After reading this book, my eyes have been opened to a different perspective.This book is an excellent Business Case for why design is important with high-tech products. Too often, the importance of design is ignored. Despite what some seem to think, this industry is not a playground for boys with toys. Unless you work in research, your purpose is not to play with the latest cool technology. Your purpose is to facilitate the operation of the business. Period! This is a business. Our goal in business is to make money, and hopefully improve some part of our lives in the process. We do this by shipping good products. Mr. Cooper's ideas benefit anyone with these goals. Anyone who does not see this has their head in the sand. You are the apologists that he speaks of in his book. The truth hurts. Sorry... My advice: Read this book with an open mind. Take the ideas that are good and apply them to your own career. Our industry will be better for it.
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Summary: Insider view
Review: This book is very accurate on the personalities and processes that happen in software construction. As a fustrated programmer many issues and the exact meaning of examples "Inmates" are very clear. A must read for anyone in the industry. However it contains complex ideas that people not in the knowledge area may miss. Example is the interpretation that the book blames and challenges programmers for the software woes. This is incorrect. It states programmers need assistance of this nature desperately, and managers of today are not providing it.
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Summary: An eye-opener on how to develop usable software
Review: While he may be a bit redundant at times (actually, people retain information when it's repeated to them so it may not be all that bad) and it may appear to "blame" the programmers, I think this book is an eye-opener and should be required reading for everybody involved in the software development process. I just wish that there were more interaction designers available. I'm the CTO of a small software company, and we're going to use interaction design principles in the next versions of products that we develop - because we do want to deliver not only power but pleasure to our customers!
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Summary: Good thought work and methodology - An important read
Review: Alan Cooper, as seen in previous books, is able to get to the crux of the problem. If you can get past his self promotion, the book offers some helpful insights into process that I know I will be able to use in future designs. The biggest problem I see is that he doesn't offer any statistical evidence to back up anything he has done. His case studies represent interesting situations that look like there has been a drastic improvement in usability and usefulness. But how much of a change was it really? I'd like to know that compared to the original design, 45% of the users were able to complete the job faster, etc.
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Summary: One of the most important software books ever written
Review: There are tons of books that discuss how to build software and very few good books on how to build software that improves the quality of life of the people that use software. If you want to produce software that makes peoples lives better and isn't just an end in itself then read this book. I believe that in the long run following Cooper's approach to building software will be very rewarding from both a personal and a business perspective.
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Summary: The best overview of software design this decade
Review: Finally someone is talking common sense. The only other book that I enjoyed so much about the business of software was the Mythical Man Month. If you feel threatened by the book, it's likely that you are an emperor with very few clothes. And you can't argue with the logic - if you do you're part of the problem not part of the solution.
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Summary: This should be required reading for every CIO
Review: This Bombshell, by Alan Cooper, is the best outline of logic I have read in the ever confusing IT - WWW world> We believe this message is so important we are getting copies for all our customers> Its worth its weight in Gold for every CIO > forget every planning web / e-commerce lecture class you have ever been to - This book has it all ( its a page turner easy read just like Tom Clancy > I started to put Post-it stickies on all the important pages marked for immediate action until I realized I was marking every second page. -- Forget Voodoo Science and Vacuum Pocket Consultants with chicken bones -- If your planning or using the WWW for any business, THIS IS THE MASTER GUIDE !!!!.
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Summary: Better treatments exist elsewhere
Review: Cooper's book is old news. Check out Don Norman's Psychology of Everday Things for a more general, and more original treatment. The topic of user-centered design has been floating around in the area of human factors psychology for years, with many successful applications. Simply put, there isn't much new in this book. And the assertion that engineers lie at the root of the problem is naive. The true problem in devising usable systems that are also commercially viable and are delivered on time and within budget lies in a team approach, with users, developers, engineers, marketers, - ALL STAKEHOLDERS - involved in the process.
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Summary: Let dinner burn on the stove and read this.
Review: I've have been involved with the software industry for 15 years as an applications engineer for process control and also as a software developer, SCM engineer, systems engineer, tester, and consumer(PTA/soccer mom). I read this book in one sitting while dinner did indeed burn on the stove. I was amazed that Alan managed to capture so much of the frustration that I've seen over the past few years at many levels of user/machine interaction. I'm currently managing a test group and we are interested in engaging the user modeling to evaluate the impact of software bugs on our customers. The reviews themselves indicate a high level of resistance from development communities which accurately reflects my own experiences. Alan has touched a hot button for many. The design teams that I work with have embraced the ideas of this book with enthusiasm and have multiple copies on the shelves. I believe that the book should be assigned reading for anyone involved with human-machine interactions.
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Summary: Thought provoking! An epiphany for THIS developer...
Review: I read The Inmates are Running the Asylum while serving as dev lead for a large project with lots of user interface issues. I wish I had read it sooner. Alan Cooper has stuck at the heart of the user interaction issue with an easily-read, concise work, one that has given me an entirely new outlook on my trade. Now, I see so much complexity that I add to my products, so much unneccessary baggage that merely obscures the user's goals, so many features that are merely gimmicks... Just because I can handle the complexity, there is no reason to expect the user of my products to do so. No more programmer jocks here! Thanks for the enlightenment!
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