Books

Short works

Books : reviews

Terry Winograd.
Language as a Cognitive Process Volume 1: Syntax.
1983

[Although this is labelled as Volume 1, there are no further volumes in the series]

Terry Winograd, Fernando Flores.
Understanding Computers and Cognition: a new foundation for design.
Addison-Wesley. 1986

rating : 3 : worth reading

Terry Winograd, ed.
Bringing Design to Software.
Addison-Wesley. 1996

rating : 3.5 : worth reading
review : 15 March 1998

This book brings together a collection of chapters by different proponents of design. Many chapters are illustrated by non-software examples of good design, presumably because there are so few good software examples to cite! After each chapter Winograd has added a short Profile (printed for some peculiar reason on rather dark grey paper), attempting to relate the general lessons from the chapter to the specifics of software design.

Design here is nothing about algorithm design, or code structuring. It is hardly even about User Interface design -- that unrealised magic bullet of the 1980s -- except in that the UI is the part of the system the users notice and interact with. 1990s software design is about software that is so 'transparent' the users will hardly even notice it as they go about whatever tasks they are performing. Design is noticed only when something breaks down, when the users can't do what they want to do, when their conceptual models clash badly with reality.

In some ways, I found this a curiously frustrating book. Each chapter felt like the introduction to a book on design, priming me up for the revelations to come in the body of the book -- but then I was in to the next chapter. (There are reading lists, of course, and I may even get around to following some of them up one day.) Also, I would have liked a few more concrete examples of good (and bad!) design, to illustrate the points being made (especially in the chapter on how important concrete examples are, which didn't follow its own advice particularly well). However, it is certainly interesting preliminary reading in the subject. And I found it worth it just for introducing me to the phrase "threshold of indignation".

Contents

Mitchell Kapor. A Software Design Manifesto. 1996
A reprint of Kapor's 1991 plea that software design is a crucial skill that needs to be recognised as important, and taught
David Liddle. Design of the Conceptual Model. 1996
The user will have a conceptual model of how the software works: the design must be driven by support for a good, clear model
Gillian Crampton Smith, Philip Tabor. The Role of the Artist-Designer. 1996
Content and form cannot be separated: a layer of 'design' cannot be bolted on as an afterthought
John Rheinfrank, Shelley Evenson. Design Languages. 1996
If you have a design language, a set of organising principles, across a range of products, it helps your customers move between these products
Paul Saffo. The Consumer Spectrum. 1996
There is a spectrum in the "threshold of indignation" -- how much hassle the consumer will put up with to use the software. Where consumers and companies are in this spectrum, and how they move around it, needs to be understood.
Peter J. Denning, Pamela Dargen. Action-Centered Design. 1996
Design the software to support the (high level) actions the users will perform. Ideas from Alexander's architectural Pattern Languages can be adapted to software design.
John Seely Brown, Paul Duguid. Keeping it Simple. 1996
Use well-known information in the environment, or context, to help keep the content simple
David Kelley, Bradley Hartfield. The Designer's Stance. 1996
Ways to learn to be creative
Donald A. Schon, John L. Bennett. Reflective Conversation with Materials. 1996
Too much specification, and not enough hands-on experience with the consequences, can lead to inappropriate designs
Michael Schrage. Cultures of Prototyping. 1996
A flexible approach to prototyping, and letting the prototypes influence the specification, is important
Shahaf Gal. Footholds for Design. 1996
Designing a (student project) bridge, with the help of the Growltiger package
Donald A. Norman. Design as Practiced. 1996
The design of the power switch on the Macintosh, and why it was so difficult
Laura de Young. Organizational Support for Software Design. 1996
Good design can occur only if the organisation supports the process. (For example, Intuit's customer-focussed approach to designing Quicken.)
Sarah Kuhn. Design for People at Work. 1996
Software should be designed to support real working practices, which includes all the informal, tacit, implicit communications, as well as the formal tasks. One problem is that the people who buy the software for the workplace are rarely the people who have to use it.