Nothing changes so much or so fast as the user experience.
When someone begins using a computer or even a new application on
the computer, everything seems to move too fast. Screens flash by
at lightning speed and the user would love to have everything slow
down just a little so they can actually understand what’s going on.
Flash forward a few months and you’ll see that the user
has become a lot more proficient with the computer and its applications.
Tasks that used to require days now take hours to complete. However,
a new problem has surfaced — the computer is extremely slow. The user
begs for an upgrade, any upgrade, to make the excessively slow computer
perform its job quickly.
The problem is that nothing has changed except the user.
The computer still runs at the same pace it always did — in fact,
it often helps to time the computer to prove this fact. Experience
makes a great deal of difference in the way the user perceives computer
execution speed. In fact, the computer can slow down and speed up
daily based solely on the user’s mood at the time.
Optimization can help with this particular problem too.
However, this is a case where optimization doesn’t mean increased
system speed. Helping the user become more efficient — tuning the
user — is an important part of the optimization process. When a user
gains enough experience, it’s often possible to improve user efficiency
and keep things moving fast by helping the user make better use of
system resources. For example, an email download can take place in
the background while the user types a document or performs some other
task. Believe it or not, the computer often spends more time waiting
for the user than the other way around.