When designing a good interface, the trick is not to get too hung up on the interface itself. When you think about designing an interface, you specifically think about the settings it needs to change and the functions it needs to perform. In the end, you find yourself with something very functional but not particularly useful. The best interfaces are as close to invisible as possible. This allows the user to focus on what they need to do instead of how they need to interact with the interface to do it.  

Look at thermostats, for example. A designer thinking about the interface makes a functional device with up and down buttons to change the temperature, a button to turn it on and off, a switch to change it from heating to cooling, and maybe it displays the current time somewhere just for fun. The really fancy ones might include a calendar display to let you set it to change the temperature automatically based on the time of day or day of the week.  

If, instead, you think about the task the user needs to perform or the overall purpose of the device, you start to look beyond the interface itself, and you might design something very different. You can see an example of this in the "smart" thermostats that many people are starting to use. Instead of looking at the actions the device needs to perform, they looked at what the end user is ultimately trying to accomplish and the specific problem they're trying to solve. They want to be comfortable. What's more, they want to be comfortable without using more energy than they need to, not just in terms of how much actual energy is needed to heat and cool their home, but how much energy they spend manipulating the thermostat's interface to get it to do what they want. This mentality gave us a device consisting primarily of a target temperature display and a knob to change it.

Additional settings allow for customization, but they're tucked away in the background as something users rarely need to interact with, if at all. The device keeps track of your schedule and whether or not you're home, determining when to maintain a comfortable temperature and when to kick on the heating or cooling to ensure your house is comfortable when you get home. When you do need to use it, the task you need to accomplish most is right in front of you and very simple to work with. The result is that this device you use to keep your home comfortable is nearly invisible.  

The same concept applies to software development. Perhaps even more so in the case of a CRM and marketing platform. A user wants to write an email to all their contacts asking them to leave a review when they close a transaction. Maybe they want to put a little personalization in those emails to refer to the customer by name and mention the address of the property they just bought or sold. You want the user to think about the content of that email and have an easy way to write it and add variables for the customer's name and the property involved. You don't want them thinking about how to add the customer to the CRM, configure an email campaign, add a transaction to that customer, and mark that transaction as closed. We've worked hard to adopt that kind of mentality throughout DeltaNET® 7.  

What if you only needed to enter your transaction into a transaction management platform, as you always have, and the related CRM and marketing actions took place automatically? You thought about the kind of message you want to send to the customer and when, and the path to creating those things was obvious and intuitive. Afterward, the platform automatically identified the closed transaction, set up the customer in your CRM, associated the transaction with them, and sent the message. This, and so many similar workflows and automations, is a reality in DeltaNET 7. We've been walking the line between an immense amount of functionality, customization, and general ease of use. Historically, we've leaned toward more functionality in believing those things were mutually exclusive (we're developers and engineers, after all). However, in DeltaNET 7, we've finally found a solid balance. The things you need to keep your mind on the task are right at your fingertips, while the settings and customizations are folded into the background to be readily available should you need them.  

It's not perfect. Sometimes the easiest path to accomplish a task isn't clear, or different users may think to accomplish the same task in different ways. Still, it's the best marriage of functionality and simplicity since the zip tie. Think about it; it's just a piece of plastic with a little flappy tooth to keep it from sliding apart. But I once had a 1986 Audi 4000, and about 30 of those things were the only thing keeping it out of the scrap yard. But I digress; everything that can be done in DeltaNET® 6 can be done in 7, only faster and easier. The overall capabilities are clearer, so you don't have to search for things because they generally live right where you would expect them to. The interface is also clean and uniform throughout, so knowing how to interact with one function means you know how to interact with them all. 

When it comes to getting users closer to the task they need to perform, perfection will come when the computer can read your mind. I can't decide whether that thought is more exciting or horrifying, but it might not be that far off. I'll make a note to keep that in mind for DeltaNET 10.