Who said the inmates are running the asylum

Their job forces them to use software, so they cannot choose not to use it—they can only tolerate it as well as they can. They are forced to submerge their frustration and to ignore the embarrassment they feel when the software makes them feel stupid. Users only care about achieving their goals. Writing software is an ongoing, revenue-generating operation of the company, and it is not the same as constructing a factory. The expensive craftsmen who build the factory leave and go to work on some other job after the building is erected.

By contrast, Homo sapiens have a strong desire for success. Programmers also want to succeed, but they will frequently accept failure as the price to pay for understanding. Only programming comes directly from academia, where there are no time limits on research, student power is dirt cheap, profit is against the rules, and a failing program can be considered a very successful experiment.

It's not a coincidence that Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and other leading software companies reside in "campuses. Objective and quantitative measure is highly respected by both programmers and businesspeople.

The fact that these measures are usually ineffective in producing successful products tends to get lost in the shuffle. They were likely given a free hand with programming issues, and the pairing of immense responsibility with immense authority can often be a crucible for creating greatness. The same forces apply in interaction design. If someone is given the responsibility for product quality, and she is given authority equal to it, she will often rise to the challenge regardless of her experience.

The saying is used in government, the military, education, sports, entertainment and business. The earliest citations of the idiom appear to come from Hollywood. One inmate, Red Skelton, will soon be running his own little asylum—the first comedian since Charlie Chaplin to boast his own movie factory.

B-1, col. He tosses to a shiny helmet containing a dense growth of hair. AP —Major League baseball has finally reached the stage where the inmates are threatening to take over the asylum. Think about your telephones, cameras, cars--everything--being automated, programmed, and formatted by people who in their rush to accept the many benefits of the silicon chip, have abdicated their responsibility to make these products easy to use. Our lives are becoming evermore centered around the whims, quips, decisions, and disasters of the high-tech industry.

Please sign in to WorldCat Don't have an account? Remember me on this computer. Cancel Forgot your password? Alan Cooper. Print book : English View all editions and formats. Human-computer interaction. View all subjects. User lists Similar Items. Alan Cooper Find more information about: Alan Cooper. Computer obliteracy. Riddles for the information age -- Chap.

Cognitive friction -- Part 2. It costs you big time. Wasting money -- Chap. The dancing bear -- Chap. Customer disloyalty -- Part 3.

Eating soup with a fork. The inmates are running the asylum -- Chap. Homo logicus -- Chap. An obsolete culture -- Part 4. Interaction design is good business. Designing for pleasure -- Chap. Designing for power -- Chap.

Designing for people -- Part 5. Desperately seeking usability -- Chap. A managed process -- Chap. Power and pleasure. Home About Help Search.