Mr. Coffee, Meet GiftWorks June 19, 2005

Last September I bought the cool-looking, 4-cup black Mr. Coffee coffee maker with a clock that I can, ostensibly, program to make coffee so it's ready when I get up in the morning. I don't use the automated part, because I like the routine in the morning of making the coffee while my Thinkpad chugs awake with all the stuff I have on it.

Design matters. Mr. Coffee's designers developed a cool-looking, rounded pot. But every time I pour, the coffee runs down the sides (see 7th review). The lip of the pot isn't deep or wide enough and can't handle anything more than a small stream. It gives a new meaning to the term "drip coffee". What's worse is that for some reason a small amount coffee runs over the side of the pot while it' s brewing. The sizzling sound of the coffee hitting the hotplate under the pot gets on my nerves.

So what does this have to do with software? Design is everything. If people can't use your software, they won't buy it. That's why hundreds of thousands of nonprofits have chosen not to buy any software at all other than Microsoft Excel or Access. Or they'll buy it and then you'll charge $750 per day to train them on your barely usable software. If you're really shrewd you'll make them fly down to your company and make them stay at the only hotel nearby, which you happen to own (that's the rumor about Blackbaud, makers of Raiser's Edge).

At Mission Research we've invested a ton of time and money on design. GiftWorks is perhaps the easiest software to use that I've ever used, but we're not quite there--yet. We're spending extra time on the upcoming GiftWorks 2.0 to make sure everything is easily understandable, and easy to use, yet still powerful to handle even the most complex aspects of donor relationship management and fundraising. But it's not easy. Design keeps me up at nights. I'm not a great designer, but I'm a pretty good critic. If it's something that appears confusing or hard to figure out, we spend a little extra time on it. Design is everything.

We think we'll get copied (our lawyers are probably salivating at the prospect), and of course we might. But good design takes a commitment, and I don't believe our competition has the same visceral commitment to quality that we do. It's our mission. Software should be cheap, well-designed, and easy to use. Period. If it's not, it's not worth buying.

So I'm going to get another coffee pot. Any suggestions?

Comments

The thing I really like about GiftWorks is that it WORKS for me; I don't work for it!

This is just a test to make sure GiftWork's scenic new website will be able to better serve the customers!