I play guitar as a hobby. Not great, but I enjoy it and find it relaxing. It's a good break from my day periodically, killing a few minutes before a meeting. It's also a nice way to unwind at night. I find it better than playing games or my phone or streaming more Netflix shows. I enjoy those as well, but there is something different about music.

I tend to use acoustic guitars, meaning no electronics. However, I have had electric guitars in the past, and have even used pedals to alter sounds. When I saw this article about design lessons from guitar pedals, I was intrigued. It has 5 lessons from these devices, which are for other digital gear. However, I think they could apply to software as well.

The first one is that these pedals are rugged. While I'm not stomping on pedals with my feed, I do think that we could ensure software is more robust and not susceptible to small mistakes by users, especially in the order of their touches/clicks that might cause problems.

The second is about using more than our hands, which I hope doesn't apply. You can add voice or gestures but don't require those. I HATE those features. The fourth is about physical UIs, including physical buttons, which I think is important for cars, but not necessarily for all software. However, if you can give someone a button or knob instead of a touch, it can be helpful.

The third is to have bold, visual cues. I had a designer once say we ought to build more Fisher-Price software, meaning something obvious and usable by a child. I know some of our processes are complex, but we ought to work to keep things as simple as we can. For databases, I think clear, consistent names help here, especially for indexes, FKs, and triggers.

The last one is to make things beautiful. I have to admit I didn't think about this much before coming to work for Redgate Software. Across the last 15 years, I've learned to appreciate the value of design, UX, and the people that make things look good. I can't do that; I have no skill in this area, but I know that having someone come behind me to do this is worth the effort.

Of course, on top of all this, your software has to work and perform well. If the software doesn't work correctly or is very slow, none of your clients are happy. Learn to write better code, improve your skills, and listen carefully to those asking for features. If you do that, these design lessons will make sure all your efforts shine through.