From both within and outside software development companies it has been a theme of mine for years that we designers and engineers tend to underestimate our users. I have raised this point in both positive and negative contexts. By way of some examples I have argued that we can never underestimate the level of effort that people will embark upon to get around security measures, and I have on occasion cited examples of underestimating the seeming dedication of some users to incorrectly use what my teams had considered simple and straightforward user interfaces. I have equally argued in the positive vein about the astounding diversity and creativity of users. In that regard it is my belief that well written software should encourage a “use it how you wish” behavior, and the code and user interface ought to be extensible enough to let users find new and creative ways to make use of features that we frankly had never considered. It is this last point of underestimating how users will mis-use our software in ways which thrill them that gave rise to this blog.

As I have written about before, I have a daughter. She is seven as I write this, a fact that she would adamantly correct to be seven and three quarters. You can see that from the start my perspective about her as a user and her perspective as an individual were slightly off base, but all will end well I assure you. As I love to do, I occasionally buy things for my “eight” year old, both for her enjoyment and also for my enjoyment of seeing how she will use them. This last Friday one of my friends and mentors, as well as being a fellow dad, took me over to the Microsoft employee store to talk video games. I am still debating and X-Box, but opted this week for a relatively inexpensive sim (simulation) game called Zoo Tycoon 2. As he and I discussed, I was concerned that it might be too complex for my daughter (another underestimation), but since she loves animals it would be good fun (oh, what was I thinking).

Home I rushed, traversing Friday night traffic and calling home to forecast the “present” I had bought for her. A brief few bites of dinner stuffed down, we rushed from the table, loaded up the game, and we started to play. To speed things along I skipped the instructions, set up her zoo in the Savannah and populated it with lions. It was very exciting for the first fifteen minutes until I put too many lions in pen (hint: don’t double click) and one of them killed and ate the other.

Now I’m not sure if any of the Zoo Tycoon engineers (versions 1 or 2) considered that my daughter wouldn’t expect one of her new “pet” lions to be killed and eaten by its brethren, but let’s just say both my daughter and I were equally startled. Her emotion was punctuated by her running from the room screaming and leaving a trail of heartfelt tears. All was better a half hour and several Lion King “circle of life” references later, but it was clear to me that it was time for me to stop superimposing my user perspective upon her and time to see how she would use the game.

Several hours later…

I should here stop and note for you non-Tycoons that you can also drop amusement park characters into your zoo. Specifically of the adults walking around in really bad animal costumes type, who occasionally launch into the spontaneous break-dance. Regrettably, from my perspective, the lions will not eat them. When left to her own devices, at evening’s end my daughter had mastered building pens, placing animals and other objects, and…here it comes…, decided that she would build a pen of amusement park characters, each of whom she named “Bob.” Fifty of them in a small pen of dirt, fighting for room to break-dance. Oh I’m so proud.

So what did I learn and what would I hope to teach from this experience? Certainly never say seven without including and three quarters; And of course never underestimate the software ability of an eight year old raised in a family of techie geeks; What I really want to covey, however, is that the software let her have her fun in her own (albeit somewhat disturbing) way. Did she build the zoo of my estimation? Certainly not. Did she have fun and get value from the purchase? Yes, without a doubt. Therefore was the software then well written? Yes, I think so.

As we design I believe we must expect that users will do the unexpected. We must accept that for sure, but also try to encourage it and embrace it. If a given feature will only let them do it our way and they don’t want to, we have missed the point. If they want to spend hours herding and penning a gaggle of Bobs (hmm, Flock of Bobs?) then so be it. Our goal is not a specific behavior, but customer satisfaction. We don’t have to know better than our users, just enable and empower them to use the products as they deem appropriate. Good for them and good for us.

Note: no amusement park characters were harmed in the making of this blog.