Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Engineers create wonderful things now and then. Oblivious users turn the creations upside down and use them backwards. Such oblivious use teaches great lessons that smart organizations use before going to production.

Engineers have their babies. Not the human kind of baby, though some engineers have those, too, but the system-that-they-create kind of baby. It is their newly finished computer program or piece of hardware or even a design that is still on paper. It is the thing they created; their pride and joy.

Engineers use their babies with great tenderness and care. The engineers know just how to use the baby; they know just what it is for. They use the baby for only the right reason and only in the right circumstance.

Their baby works just as desired in just the right situations. There are no flaws in their baby; there are no surprises, and no hidden uses.

Engineers convince the managers and marketers of the world of the great worth of their babies. They hold the baby just right and show these others how their baby works. Often, the marketers and managers of the world approve of the baby, fund it, produce it, and send copies of the baby out into the world.

Let’s review this procedure:

1. Engineer creates the baby
2. Engineer shows the baby to managers and marketers
3. The baby is approved
4. Copies of the baby are sent out into the world into the hands of oblivious users

Maybe we should alter and rearrange the steps in this procedure:

1. Engineer creates the baby
2. Engineer shows the baby to managers and marketers
3. The baby is approved to a lesser degree
4. Limited copies of the baby are put into the hands of oblivious users
5. Everyone reconsiders

Oblivious users do strange things to the engineer’s baby, things like:

• hold it upside down
• try to use it backwards
• toss it into the back of a pickup truck
• spill coffee on it
• rest their elbow on it
• drop it
• kick it
• drop it and kick it at the same time

The engineer never intended for anyone to do any of these things to their baby. These people obviously don’t know anything about the baby and what to do with it. There is a reason why I call these people oblivious users.

Oblivious users are the genius of ingenious managers and marketers. The oblivious users don’t love the baby they way the creator engineer does. They just know the thing is there and they try to use it. They have lots of other things on their minds. They are just like the millions of people out their in the world who will try to use just about any old product that comes on the market.

Naive organizations use the first procedure given above. Smart organizations use the second procedure from above. Smart organizations take the baby away from the engineer as soon as they can so they can all learn something about the baby. They learn things that the creator engineer would never know because he is too busy caring for his baby.