Bad Software Design

There are a lot of web applications out there that can be used in our daily live. Especially if you are a business person how manage a lot of projects and clients. But with the large selection of application and software, anyone can get lost in all the features and benefits.

The past few days, I’ve been working with a client who uses a project management application (online) for his work. The application has a lot of nice features like team work and area, time analysis, work analysis etc… But it has one big flow. I have no idea how to use it. Don’t think I am not computer savvy or something similar, I’ve build hundreds of websites and web applications and I downloaded and tested almost every open source application out there. With all this experience, how come I still couldn’t use this project manager. Simply, because of the bad software design.

Even though they have a web interface, I have to download their desktop application to submit comments and other information. So I downloaded their software, installed and tried to use it. Whenever I select any option, they open a web browser and ask me to login again. Finally, I go back to the website (where I started at). They’ve added so many steps to accomplish a very simple task, something like writing a memo or adding comments. Everything can be done from the browser, I don’t need to download a desktop application that will take me back to the website so I can add some comments.

The second “Big & Bad” issue they had, is the Not user friendly forms. I tried to add a note to the application, so I got a form (the note was about the process of work). The form had 2 fields “From” and “To” with no additional details. As anyone using this app for the first time, I assumed “From” is from me, and “To” is to the project manager, which was odd because there were no options, just text fields. After I completed the form, I got an error :O The “From” field was suppose to be “Started Work at” and the “To” field is “Until” to count the hours. Couldn’t they just say “Start Time” and “End Time” or even better, “How many hours”. I correct the form and I have all the fields read, I still couldn’t submit the note. This time it said “I need to add a user”. That’s when I gave up, what user, where am I suppose to add him/her, what the hell am I suppose to do?

After looking around, I found their help section, but the pages I wanted were a 404 (not available)

Let’s say you stuck in this situation and need some support or help. With all the open source apps, supports is hard to come by and not everyone knows what they’re talking about. A lot of my friends having hard time using their CRM applications and don’t know what to do. That’s when a professional software support company like Sage Software comes in handy. Software support is one of the most critical part of running a business now and getting cost effective support when needed is importent. If you are stuck with your application and don’t know where to go, just visit Sage Software and let them help you out.