Enterprise Application Complexity

Eric Burke posted this "screenshot" illustrating the complexity of company applications. And he is right. I cannot tell how many times I have seen enterprise applications that look exactly like this (or even worse at times).

The best part is actually not the picture. It is the many comments people made either defending the horrible interface or attacking the defenders. I quote:

Your company's app is probably industry specific and will be used by a smallish number of people for hundreds or thousands of hours to do their job. Power, flexibility and efficiency become far more important than intuitiveness, beauty and user-friendliness. If a user has to spend 3 hours learning the product then uses it every day for the next year, it's not a big deal.
- Steve Bennett

I don't agree with Steve Bennett when he writes "If a user has to spend 3 hours...", it's not three hours, it's three years, which is a big deal. It wastes time.
- Brett Schuchert

Comics are not literal statements of fact. I can't believe I have to say that. OH MY GOD! HE SHOWED ONLY ONE BUTTON! THAT IS SO UNFAIR! HE THINKS HE CAN CODE A COMPLEX BUSINESS APP WITH ONE TEXT FIELD! ERIC BURKE IS WRONG! APPLE PRODUCTS HAVE MORE THAN ONE BUTTON! WHY AREN'T HIS COMICS MORE ACCURATE???
- Eric Burke

Sorry, Eric. Your cartoon is a cliche, first of all. And secondly, the appropriate comparison would have been Yahoo and Microsoft.
- RealismNotComics

Some of you are way too uptight. It's a freakin' comic people! I think the author has license to take it whatever direction he wants.
- Rob

I tried to press the OKAY button but nothing happened! Eric, your app doesn't work. How dare you put a broken example application on the web! I couldn't even get your Google interface to work - how could you screw up a simple text field?
- Alex Miller

If your first reaction to this comic (and particularly if you took umbrage enough to post a reply WRITING that reaction) is "but my app is complex, so it HAS to have a complex interface", then YOU are exactly the problem being illustrated.
- Nathaniel

This application pic shown is 1000 times simpler than what I am used....
- Kiran

This is more fun than watching Dr. Phil on TV

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Comments

Jive - Mar. 27, 2008

I've seen most things get out of hands when you have to please 10 different people from 3 different departments. Everyone wants their little thing on the site until it all ends up complex, bloated and a nightmare.

Thomas Baekdal - Mar. 27, 2008

Well Bill Cosby ones said:

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone"
- Bill Cosby

Jonathan - Mar. 27, 2008

I don't disagree with the general point Burke seems to be making, but he needs to grow up. To simply rebuff criticism by saying "it's just a comic" is completely lame. If he's going to say something in public, then he should be prepared to defend his assertions properly. So, is he comparing apples with oranges? What does he mean by "your company's app"? To hide behind your means of expression is childish in the extreme.

Alex - Apr. 25, 2008

Hey, offended guys

he meant your company's app 8)