

Don't make the Demo look Done - nreece
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/12/dont_make_the_d.html

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pg
It may be true within big companies that you should keep expectations low by
making your prototypes look bad, but that's just further evidence big
companies are broken.

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zaidf
In our UI class we were taught that if it is a prototype, that it should look
like a prototype.

The concern was that if you over-do the UI to make it seem in between a
prototype and a finished product, then you are confusing yourself and others
judging the design whether to take this as a finished product or a prototype.

That makes sense. If I want a critique of my application's layout, then giving
colors to buttons isn't a good idea since I just want feedback on the layout.
The colors are just a distraction.

~~~
euccastro
It's not about looking 'bad' vs 'good', but finished vs unfinished.

You're mixing two related but different things: managing expectations in order
to prevent disappointment, and accurately conveying the maturity of a project
in order to get suitable feedback. Unfortunately, the article starts as if it
was just about the first aspect.

In zaidf's example, the button colors not only are a distraction; they
actively inhibit criticism to the layout. Unconsciously, the 'cost' of
criticising the fundamental design features (layout) has raised, since
changing these implies having to rethink many of the details designed on top
of them (color of the buttons, or whether you'll be using buttons at all).

Someone with design experience will be less shy about asking you to do big
reworks. Design professors are all too happy about this. But most people will
block criticism in a direct correspondence of the rework it would involve. In
big companies, that may be a conscious political decision. In startups, it may
be an unconscious bias due to social factors.

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vlad
I want to take a stab on solving the parallax between what the blog author
writes (which I love) and pg's comment above (which I also love.)

Most YCombinator founders (and YNews readers) are young, and venture
capitalists or techcrunch readers know this. Every ounce in any skill set that
shows we are competent helps sell us. Anything, be it as little as a great
visual prototype, helps.

On the other hand, this article discusses how the non-silicon valley
customers, managers, and investors (even Microsoft) will confuse images with
reality. An even bigger problem is that the author assumes all programmers
will be using a desktop programming language (with no frameworks) in most
articles I've seen on that web site, not realizing that web frameworks allow
anybody to have something up and running within a week. I think this advice
would be more true pre-Ycombinator and pre-web framework days (in 2004.)

I trust that both observations are genuine; and, on a personal note, I prefer
pg's attitude more, because I like hearing when people denounce or offer
alternatives to "plan for the lowest denominator no matter what" type of
business blog advice.

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jkush
I disagree with this. You'll get so much more respect if you spend time making
everything you do look easy.

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ivankirigin
This has never been my experience. If your managers can't believe you when you
say the gloss is just good design and not a sign of completeness, get a new
manager.

If your manager doesn't understand anything about infrastructure, and reacts
to a poor interface with talk of program cancellation, get a new manager.

