I don't mean to imply that "technical" and "non-technical" is a binary, but we usually box ourselves into these roles regardless. Anyway, I want to hear your stories!
What was your most frustrating experience dealing with "non-technical" people?
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Top comments (44)
"I have an idea for an app!!"
"Would you be interested in 1% of the project in exchange for developing this for me?"
And you get to develop both the App and do their website and keep it updated ... oh sign me up
Same thing recently actually.
I always appreciate when someone tries some basic steps to resolve their own issues with some tool before going to someone else, but it can be a little frustrating when a person develops a pattern of associating totally unrelated actions to a fix. Eg "I closed Notepad and suddenly Completely-Unrelated-Tool-X worked properly again!" - this then spreads as a tip throughout the rest of the team and all of a sudden you have dozens of people closing Notepad to try to resolve totally unrelated issues.
"When I turn my monitor off, spin my chair, then turn it on again, the save button works properly"
Spinning your chair can fix a surprising number of problems...
Wheeeeeeee..... :D
LOOL indeed!
Oh, I have somebody who still does this when programming. Gets one error, sends all the files to me saying "this doesn't work".
Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy a clàssic.
For me, its initiative. What have they(non-tech) done to understand my domain, if I'm expected to understand theirs (sales constraints, support queries, SLAs etc).
So you have a question, that's fine, but what have you done first to try answer it? (If not, do you think your time is more valuable than mine? Rude. Also wrong?)
"Oh yeah, I know you, you're good with computers, right?"
Then they say something like, my TV is broken, you can fix it right?😂😂😂
THIS so many times.
I get quite frustrated with the amount of user-blaming in this industry. Yes, it can be annoying when non-techies ask questions when the interface already makes things very clearly, but I think it's always good to look for the reason why people keep asking those things. What's confusing them? Are we making assumptions about our users' knowledge and experience that aren't true? This goes for products, but also for communication within a company. While it's never acceptable to be rude, not even (or especially not) as a manager, there's probably a reason why they get so angry. Look at the differences between your and their assumptions (it's like UX in real life :)).
One of the Execs I worked with used to have late night emergency service requests often. They were generally caused by multiple The Fonz fist pounding attempts to "speed up things" before contacting IT. So if an email with a large attachment was sending slowly... he would literally repeatedly hit his screen, tower, mouse, or whatever other part he deemed was to blame.
A little bit of psychology and talking in their terms goes a long way. I gently show people how to help themselves and they usually do. Plus this always helps me to improve documentation and UX anyway. That being said, it's funny how my wife expects me to know how every software application/website works. I guess that's better than her thinking I'm an idiot. 😊
I'm most bothered by non-technical types that are convinced they cannot understand technical content. That is, despite visuals, analogies, metaphors, or whatever presenting a programing problem in a non-technical way some people continue to insist they can't understand it because it's too technical. Fortunately I've only ever met a couple such people.
I meet a lot of people that are afraid to try things on a computer. They end up getting blocked because they don't just go in and play around with menus, settings, options, etc. It's perhaps made worse by technical people constantly telling them not to screw up their machine!
Right from the start they think they don't know how to. They start with that belief and they don't want to listen what you're telling them, they think it's technical and therefore complicated right from the start, without even seeing what's it all about first. Even when it comes to accessing a simple smartphone setting in some cases, where a smartphone's UI is created to be as simple and as interactive as possible for normal non-technical humans to use.
"I have this innovative idea for a social network for [insert professional category here]. Yes, users will be paying for access and reading material other users write. We can revenue share on this, 'cause my budget isn't very high, but I expect 10000 users the first month. Of course it should be fast, usable, beautiful, clean and have a mobile app too..."
To me, it's explaining to my family my job. I work remotely, from home, on software. When your family is used to the good old 9 to 5 and going to work every day, well it's a adventure...
In general, it's always a bit frustrating (but necessary) to adapt your speech to non-technical people. I can't talk the same way to a colleague and to my father who knows nothing about software. It's challenging, but it also shows if you really understand your subject