Software for women

Software for Women What do women want?

Emily WinchCherSoft LtdSoftware engineerWomanAnthropologist

Women make upabout half of thepeople ordained inthe Church ofEngland each year

In 2006 womenreceived 57% of alldegrees in the UK

"For years, women’s progress has been cast as astruggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the endpoint? What if modern, postindustrial society is simplybetter suited to women?"Hanna Rosin

UK Computer science students 2010

Questions for us to think aboutHow are women really different from men?Are these differences relevant to how we writesoftware?Could we or should we be doing things differently?

Generalisation alert!Isnt this all horribly sexist?

"in the special case of scienceand engineering, there are issuesof intrinsic aptitude, andparticularly of the variability ofaptitude"Lawrence Summer, thenPresident of Harvard University

"...there can be injustice in treating people the same when in relevant respects they are different, just as much as there can be in treating people differently when in relevant respects they are the same..." beMark Halstead, Education, Justice, andCultural Diversity: An Examination of theHoneyford Affair, 1984-85

Productive conversations aboutdifferences are inquisitive open inclusive

Women are less Women, onstrong than men, average, are lessso Beth shouldnt strong than men,be allowed to join so lets make athe army. range of lightweight power tools.

Declawing stereotypesSome people are Some people areless strong than less strong thanothers, so Beth others, so letsand Jim should make a range ofpass a strength lightweight powertest before they tools. hcan join the army.

How might ourfemale users andcustomers bedifferent from us?

Attention

"We all know thatknowledge workerswork best by gettinginto flow, alsoknown as being inthe zone "Joel Spolsky

Wow, is it really 3am already?

Solving problems,software engineerstyle.

Software Engineers ManifestoWe often seem to value...focus and attention over multitasking andinterruptions

Your software is not the centre ofmy universe

Find and open slide softwareMake a blank slideFind and open browser, search for imageChoose an imageSave As, Make a folder, OKSwitch to slide softwareInsert picture, browse to folder, choose image, OKInsert textType quotationFind and open image editor.Open image, browse to folder, find the image, OKAdd a semi-transparent white layer to the imageSaveSwitch to slide softwareInsert image, choose the image from before, OK

Usability concepts....

Situational awarenessWhats the current state of my training materials sales pitch holiday plan? I dont give two hoots about the state of files documents software programs my inbox

interoperability

interoperabilityI want reminders of my appointments in time to drive there.I want to click on an appointment and select "drive to".I want to drag the agenda onto the meeting in the calendar.I want to click on an appointment and call the other invitees.I want to drag pictures and web pages onto my contacts.I want to drag a route onto my calendar.I wan

Women inhouseholds withchildren spend onaverage an extrahour a day onchildcarecompared to men

Software Engineers ManifestoWe often seem to value...focus and attention over multitasking andinterruptionsmastery of arcana over delivering business value

"Then, sometime after college, we had our first child. After that,I found I couldn’t program any more. Seriously. There were justtoo many interruptions. As soon as I got back “up to speed”with the software I was working on and “recovered state”enough to make the next logical step, I would get anotherinterruption, and the program would go back on the backburner. Later, I’d find myself having to puzzle out what I hadwritten a day, a week, or even a month in the past.When I finally did get back into programming, it was through [...]Python. It was amazing. I could get stuff done again. That’sboth because Python code is more compact and because it ismore readable."Terry Hancock

Usability concepts....

Ubiquitous direct manipulation

Gossip, n:Hearing something you like aboutsomeone you dont.

Its not far from chatter and gossipTO TREASON!

GossipI am thinking of gossip as Gossip is the narrativedata in the great social of a community, itsexperiment we call internal mythology, the"community." stories the community tells about itselfAnn Burlingham Darkhawk

Learning styles

Software Engineers ManifestoWe often seem to value...focus and attention over multitasking andinterruptionsmastery of arcana over delivering business valueindividual prowess over team working ability

Communication styles

Geek culture can be... Aggressive Competitive Confident Direct and straightforward Interrupting Using insults as a form of bonding Taking pride in being unoffendable

Other people can be interested in... Co-operation Helping, mentoring and teaching Collaboration Expressing themselves Consensus "tactfully" Other points of viewAside: Why do so many women dislike this stereotype?

Software Engineers ManifestoWe often seem to value...focus and attention over multitasking andinterruptionsmastery of arcana over delivering business valueindividual prowess over team working abilitydirect speech over tact

"Women are more likely to placeintrinsic value on activities thathelp to build a network of trustedrelationships."Emily Winch

Software communities are valuable to womenWomen are valuable to software communities

Communities: norms and culture

Open source community How To Ask Questions The Smart Way 1. Try to find an answer by searching the archives of theforum you plan to post to. 2. Try to find an answer by searching the Web. 3. Try to find an answer by reading the manual. 4. Try to find an answer by reading a FAQ. 5. Try to find an answer by inspection or experimentation. 6. Try to find an answer by asking a skilled friend. 7. If youre a programmer, try to find an answer by reading thesource code.

Open source communityDescribe the symptoms of your problem or bug carefullyand clearly.Describe the environment in which it occurs. Provide yourvendors distribution and release levelDescribe the research you did to try and understand theproblem before you asked the question.Describe the diagnostic steps you took to try and pin downthe problem yourself before you asked the question.Describe any possibly relevant recent changes in yourcomputer or software configuration.If at all possible, provide a way to reproduce the problem ina controlled environment.

Dreamwidth developer community"We welcome people of any gender identity or expression,race, ethnicity, size, nationality, sexual orientation, abilitylevel, neurotype, religion, elder status, family structure,culture, subculture, and political opinion. We welcomeactivists, artists, bloggers, crafters, dilettantes, musicians,..."

A culture clashPat: "Hi, I’ve installedyour software and Ireally like it. I have a Jo: "This is addressedquestion, how do I go on page 5 of theabout adjusting the manual."whatnot?"

A culture clash Pat: "Hi, I’ve installed your software and I really like it. I have a Jo: "This is addressed question, how do I go on page 5 of the about adjusting the manual." whatnot?"Hi, I am too lazy to read Please at least makethe manual or try any of some effort, you idiot,the menu options; I’d is my time so muchrather waste your less valuable thantime instead yours?

A culture clash Pat: "Hi, I’ve installed your software and I really like it. I have a Jo: "This is addressed question, how do I go on page 5 of the about adjusting the manual." whatnot?"This community seems We are not interestedhelpful: I’d like to be a part in having you as partof it, although I don’t know of our community. Gomuch about the software away.yet.

Making a forum into a communityBe real, friendly and helpful

Making a forum into a communityBe real, friendly and helpfulWelcome new people

Making a forum into a communityBe real, friendly and helpfulWelcome new peopleEncourage them to participate

Making a forum into a communityBe real, friendly and helpfulWelcome new peopleEncourage them to participateThank people for their contributions

Making a forum into a communityBe real, friendly and helpfulWelcome new peopleEncourage them to participateThank people for their contributionsAllow avatars and personal information in profiles

Making a forum into a communityBe real, friendly and helpfulWelcome new peopleEncourage them to participateThank people for their contributionsAllow avatars and personal information in profilesActively discourage unpleasant behaviour

Making a forum into a communityBe real, friendly and helpfulWelcome new peopleEncourage them to participateThank people for their contributionsAllow avatars and personal information in profilesActively discourage unpleasant behaviourWelcome the asking of "silly" questions

Making a forum into a communityBe real, friendly and helpfulWelcome new peopleEncourage them to participateThank people for their contributionsAllow avatars and personal information in profilesActively discourage unpleasant behaviourWelcome the asking of "silly" questionsProvide "back-channels" for everything off-topic or meta

Examples

In conclusion...

Thank you for coming!

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Software for women

by Emily Winch on Apr 24, 2011

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Software for women — Presentation Transcript