You know how an iceberg is 90% underwater? Well, most software is like that too — there’s a pretty user interface that takes about 10% of the work, and then 90% of the programming work is under the covers. And if you take into account the fact that about half of your time is spent fixing bugs, the UI only takes 5% of the work. And if you limit yourself to the visual part of the UI, the pixels, what you would see in PowerPoint, now we’re talking less than 1%.
That’s not the secret. The secret is that People Who Aren’t Programmers Do Not Understand This.
Important Corollary One. If you show a nonprogrammer a screen which has a user interface that is 90% worse, they will think that the program is 90% worse.
Important Corollary Two. If you show a nonprogrammer a screen which has a user interface which is 100% beautiful, they will think the program is almost done.
Important Corollary Five. When you’re showing off, the only thing that matters is the screen shot. Make it 100% beautiful.
What can you do about this? Once you understand the Iceberg Secret, it’s easy to work with it. Understand that any demos you do in a darkened room with a projector are going to be all about pixels. If you can, build your UI in such a way that unfinished parts look unfinished.
https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/02/13/the-iceberg-secret-revealed/
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