Old Folks Boogie

And you know

That you're over the hill

When your mind makes a promise

That your body can't fill...

             - From Little Feat's "Old Folks Boogie"

I think I'm must be over the hill...a grumpy old man.  There was a time when, faced with an app that failed to work as promised, I would fuss and fight with that app to make it work.  No more.  Now, in the event that an app doesn't work as promised, I delete it and move on try something else.  No patience anymore.  I continually tell myself that I'll put the "fixer" hat back on my head, but I just never get to actually do so.

Mobile apps are the best example of my impatience.  There are many mobile apps for any outcome I care to achieve:  mobile meetings, tracking my heart rate, listening to music, taking notes... Plenty of alternatives.  So, when I run into an app that fails to work (or even fails to meet my expectations), I immediately junk it and move on to the next choice.  No effort, no feedback to the app developer, no nothing.  Just junked.  As my newest daughter-in-law would say: "ain't nobody got time for that".

In today's market, there is an expectation that apps just work.  Buggy apps die quick deaths in the market.  Reliability is not something special now...it's simply a requirement to get a seat at the table.

Classic example.  Last week, I was in Kansas visiting my new granddaughter.  Having taken our pet dogs on the trip, I wanted to find the local dog park.  Google Maps failed to find the dog park recommended by my son...the town in Kansas is just too small for Google Maps to fuss with.  Waze took me right to it.  Any guess as to which app is still on my smartphone and which one got junked on the spot?

Of course, there is a downside.  If everyone took my approach, the developers would never get feedback on their app from the field.  So their app would never improve.  But I have a "grumpy old man" response for that too.  So what?  Why should I be the beta tester?  Build something that works in the first place.

So yeah, I have that grumpy old man attitude when it comes to apps...especially mobile apps.  It either meets my expectations or gets kicked to the curb without further thought.  If I don't immediately get the outcome I'm expecting, I move on.

What about you?  Are you another member of the figurative "grumpy old man" or "grumpy old woman" club (no gender bias here - we accept everyone)?  Or are you willing to provide feedback and work with an app to help make it better?  Respond in the comments.