Most of us have been there. You have a business problem to solve and
you go to Google and start searching for software solutions. They are
very easy to find and there are a myriad of different vendors with loads
of different solutions. Some are commercial and some are free. Yes,
they showed up on a search, but for many of the freeware solutions, it
is difficult to determine what they do from their website. They do not
explain what their product does very well. In some cases there is no
explanation at all. Some provide no screenshots or product details to
establish an expectation of what you will be getting if you wanted to
download and try them.
You pick one that has reasonable product details, download it and try to install it. Two things generally happen, either you can’t get it installed or you can install it but can’t get it to work. Time to read the documentation which is oftentimes as difficult to decipher as the product descriptions on their sites. You have an easier experience with the directions that came with a toaster oven you recently bought!
Okay, getting back to our software problem... The instructions are complex, vague and look like they were created by someone who has never sat down, installed and documented the experience of their own product. Installation instructions appear to presume that you are a developer and are full of jargon and acronyms, most of which you don’t understand. You muddle half way through an installation only to find that they left out a key step in their instructions. You can’t go back and perform the key step, so you abandon the installation. OK, maybe it was just a bad apple, there has to be better ones in the barrel, right?
So, you go back to Google and repeat the process a couple of more times with similar results. Frustration starts to set in and it is time to reach out to support as a last result. You revisit the least worst of the products you previously downloaded and go to their support page (if they have one). They make you register to access their support topics. There are a boatload of topics and many of them are dated. Comparison charts, if there are any, reference older versions of their competitor’s solutions. You attempt a few things that you find to address your issues, but nothing works. Frustration mounts, you try to contact support directly. No phone number, just an email. You shoot them an email and there is no response. Who are these people? Why would you put forth the effort to build a software product and then not support it? Why would you not put forth a well-thought effort to explain your product on your website?
Through trial and error, you finally get a product to work. It turns out to be a limited trial version that lacks the functionality of the full enterprise version that was documented on their website, which is what you based your selection on in the first place. The trial version won’t do what you need it to do. Do you risk it and buy the full version? No, not without seeing it first. Back to square one!
After several iterations of this process you give up in total frustration. If you’re lucky, you have some colleagues or friends that you can reach out to who can recommend a product. You go back to all of the products you have attempted to install to uninstall them and there are no uninstall utilities for many of them. You have to delete everything manually and hope you get everything. Hopefully, there were no registry entries. On top of all of this, you start getting SPAM emails from websites you would never visit, undoubtedly the result of registering for the support sites.
Appallingly, this was almost verbatim, the last two application searches I embarked on to find 1) a tool to enhance my Webalizer statistics, and 2) a tool to use for a shopping cart for my website. I seem to have crossed paths with some vendors that did a great job on their search engine marketing, but a very poor job of providing a favorable end-user experience (EUE). A few of the brands I encountered might surprise you but the results were similar – vague product descriptions, clunky to install, difficult documentation (sometimes no documentation without registering and SPAM after registration), and no help if I needed to uninstall.
Unfortunately, we live in the age of “build a website and like magic, you’re a business owner.” A few clicks and $125 later, and you have registered your entity as a corporation. But what’s missing, even for some enterprise software vendors, is the attention to the details of the EUE. We have entered the age of the proliferation of applications, fueled in part by the mobile device and tablet explosion. Fueled in part by an entrepreneurial spirit borne of a troubled tech economy (see recent layoffs by Microsoft and HP and the other 40,000+ tech jobs lost in the first 6 months of 2014[1]).
Unfortunately, for us power users, our EUE isn’t going to get any better anytime soon. If you are a developer or programmer reading this, I encourage you to put yourself in my shoes and try to see your program from my side of the keyboard. And for you end users out there, here are six things to look for that can steer you towards a favorable EUE.
I hope this information has been useful to you and as always, I welcome any comments. Please check out Vallum and our partner the GMI-Foundation.
About the Author:
Lance Edelman is a technology professional with 25+ years of experience in enterprise software, security, document management and network management. He is co-founder and CEO at Vallum Software and currently lives in Atlanta, GA.
You pick one that has reasonable product details, download it and try to install it. Two things generally happen, either you can’t get it installed or you can install it but can’t get it to work. Time to read the documentation which is oftentimes as difficult to decipher as the product descriptions on their sites. You have an easier experience with the directions that came with a toaster oven you recently bought!
Okay, getting back to our software problem... The instructions are complex, vague and look like they were created by someone who has never sat down, installed and documented the experience of their own product. Installation instructions appear to presume that you are a developer and are full of jargon and acronyms, most of which you don’t understand. You muddle half way through an installation only to find that they left out a key step in their instructions. You can’t go back and perform the key step, so you abandon the installation. OK, maybe it was just a bad apple, there has to be better ones in the barrel, right?
So, you go back to Google and repeat the process a couple of more times with similar results. Frustration starts to set in and it is time to reach out to support as a last result. You revisit the least worst of the products you previously downloaded and go to their support page (if they have one). They make you register to access their support topics. There are a boatload of topics and many of them are dated. Comparison charts, if there are any, reference older versions of their competitor’s solutions. You attempt a few things that you find to address your issues, but nothing works. Frustration mounts, you try to contact support directly. No phone number, just an email. You shoot them an email and there is no response. Who are these people? Why would you put forth the effort to build a software product and then not support it? Why would you not put forth a well-thought effort to explain your product on your website?
Through trial and error, you finally get a product to work. It turns out to be a limited trial version that lacks the functionality of the full enterprise version that was documented on their website, which is what you based your selection on in the first place. The trial version won’t do what you need it to do. Do you risk it and buy the full version? No, not without seeing it first. Back to square one!
After several iterations of this process you give up in total frustration. If you’re lucky, you have some colleagues or friends that you can reach out to who can recommend a product. You go back to all of the products you have attempted to install to uninstall them and there are no uninstall utilities for many of them. You have to delete everything manually and hope you get everything. Hopefully, there were no registry entries. On top of all of this, you start getting SPAM emails from websites you would never visit, undoubtedly the result of registering for the support sites.
Appallingly, this was almost verbatim, the last two application searches I embarked on to find 1) a tool to enhance my Webalizer statistics, and 2) a tool to use for a shopping cart for my website. I seem to have crossed paths with some vendors that did a great job on their search engine marketing, but a very poor job of providing a favorable end-user experience (EUE). A few of the brands I encountered might surprise you but the results were similar – vague product descriptions, clunky to install, difficult documentation (sometimes no documentation without registering and SPAM after registration), and no help if I needed to uninstall.
Unfortunately, we live in the age of “build a website and like magic, you’re a business owner.” A few clicks and $125 later, and you have registered your entity as a corporation. But what’s missing, even for some enterprise software vendors, is the attention to the details of the EUE. We have entered the age of the proliferation of applications, fueled in part by the mobile device and tablet explosion. Fueled in part by an entrepreneurial spirit borne of a troubled tech economy (see recent layoffs by Microsoft and HP and the other 40,000+ tech jobs lost in the first 6 months of 2014[1]).
Unfortunately, for us power users, our EUE isn’t going to get any better anytime soon. If you are a developer or programmer reading this, I encourage you to put yourself in my shoes and try to see your program from my side of the keyboard. And for you end users out there, here are six things to look for that can steer you towards a favorable EUE.
- Where there is smoke there is usually fire and … lipstick on the pig. If you can’t immediately determine what a product does from the vendor’s website, you should probably avoid it. Poor website documentation will usually be followed by poor install/uninstall processes and instructions, followed by poor support and a poorly designed product. Usually… be aware that there are those vendors that have a poor product surrounded by layers of professional marketing. It might take a little effort to see the lipstick on the pig.
- Take note of the download sizes. Product downloads can dramatically vary in size. Some can be a few megabytes while others can be a few hundred megabytes. While a small download can sometimes mean the product is limited in functionality, it can also mean one that was exceptionally well written and is very “tight.” On the other hand, a very large download can mean software that is bloated and poorly written. It could be an application that is older and has had many fingers in it with each programmer taking the easy route and simply adding additional libraries to the mix instead of evaluating and rewriting code. In many cases, there is a direct correlation between a large installation file and complex installation and implementation processes.
- Are the requirements in the documentation? How many times have you downloaded a product only to find that it required the installation of additional software and hardware? Look for this and if you don’t already have the requirements in place, find out what is involved to install them and if there are any licensing requirements involved. Be sure to check the release requirements.
- How long has the product been GA? While new products are not always poor, there are those vendors that choose to have their customers QA their products. If this is the case, you can generally find feedback regarding the product and the vendor on the internet, preferably on the vendor’s support page.
- Search for up-to-date ratings and objectionable reviews. Search for up-to-date independent ratings of the products. Beware of those done by the vendors, which include their own products as the ratings will not be objective. Also beware of user product reviews where vendors have submitted their own positive reviews. You can spot these because they will have the same wording or focus as their website communication, and they will be nearly all 5-star positive.
- 6. Scrutinize the vendor’s support page and policies. Check out the vendor support before you devote any significant time to the product. Is there phone or only email support? What do the end-users have to say about the support? With licensed products, does the vendor include the support and if not, what does it cost?
I hope this information has been useful to you and as always, I welcome any comments. Please check out Vallum and our partner the GMI-Foundation.
About the Author:
Lance Edelman is a technology professional with 25+ years of experience in enterprise software, security, document management and network management. He is co-founder and CEO at Vallum Software and currently lives in Atlanta, GA.
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