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>Anyway. I explained it to him and he simply didn't get it. He was like "yeh, but I can do that by dumping the SQL from the live site then importing it to the destination and running a find-replace, then pulling down the media via SFTP".

There should be a name for this.. I want to call it Houston's Law. Basically when dropbox was pitched on HN everyone said it was dumb and easy. To paraphrase: "It's just rsync with a fuse filesystem..."

I think computer programmers / nerds in general don't adequately appreciate how entirely terrible the average user is at using the basic features of their computer, its OS, and its software, let alone doing anything advanced with it. Probably they've forgotten how hard it was for them to initially learn what files and directories really are, how networks actually work, how to issue instructions and read output on the command line, et c.

I know people in non-nerd office jobs where "not completely shit at using an OS and office productivity programs" makes them seem like super-heroes to everyone else. Most people don't get it, and don't really care too (and I'm sympathetic to their POV—computers and software are, in practice, largely terrible frustration-engines)

100%. Most people I know don’t really understand how a directory structure works from an end user point of view. I’ll say to some something like “ok, where did you put that file?” - no idea if it’s the folder called x on the F drive or the other one called x on the Y drive. Renaming files, opening zips, knowing that you can’t use a TIF file on a website, this is all magic to most users. Stuff like simple automation or find-replaces, absolutely no chance.

On the one hand I’m full of sympathy: UI’s and OS’s are rarely thought about really well. On the other, your “non nerd” users has a tendency to hide behind the tech. The number of people who say “I don’t do tech, I leave that up to my [son/daughter/cousin/friend/colleage]” and then don’t Google it is pretty high…

> It dawned on me then that - brilliant though he is (and he really is: one of the best all round devs I know) - he couldn't see the benefit because he 1) was too good at what he did that he didn't see that most people aren't like him, and 2) he simply wasn't the audience.

Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid this or books to read, as I feel like I have this problem. I've been trying for nearly a decade to start a profitable side project, but any ideas I come up with are too technical so end up being hard to sell and/or complicated to build. If someone told me of an idea like this I'd probably also dismiss it :-)

Find someone (I’m one!) who is sits between nerdery and business requirements. I spend 90% of my time being a sort of nerd-translation layer between dev / design people and clients. I’m sometimes frustrated by being a generalist (especially when I see the insane talent here on HN!) but it does serve a good purpose!

Also: try and unpick some of the successful business ideas (the real big ones!) and work out at a really high level what they do. Dropbox - already mentioned here - as an example, did one thing: kept that folder in sync wherever you went. That’s easy to explain to a non nerd, it’s blindingly useful for anyone in any work or home environment.

I’ve also found that identifying sources of pain is a really good start. Ask your average office worker what they hate most of all and then figure out if you can reduce even some of that pain just a little bit.

Become a contractor doing this stuff for clients. I do bookkeeping currently, which is super easy for me, but in trying to train clients who want to do it themselves, and in general just working with all kinds of business owners, I see so much about what “normal” people struggle with.

When I first started doing it, I thought what I did was so easy, there’s already lots of software to help, soooo thought clients could just do it themselves if you showed them how. But I’ve learned so much of it is so hard for people with no background in it, and also so hard for people who don’t Google stuff.

> Now - me - I too can run a SQL dump, a find replace and an import. But - I'm running a business. I have about 50 clients, so about 150 sites (local/staging/live for each). My imperative is to be able to do these migrations with zero effort and in minimal time. I could do it manually, but the time it takes me would be non-trivial.

Or you could write a script to do so. I don't use automated tools, because they all sucks, have limitations, and the time you spend learning and fixing tools written by others (assuming you can) is more than the time you spend writing your own scripts.

Instead of spending all that money on a tool that you will have to continue to pay, how much would have you spent to make a tool like that by built exactly for your needs and how you wanted? Probably a tool like that, without useless features like a GUI (a tool meant to be used by a technician doesn't need one), could have been built in a week, or even less time.

Ok, so say it took a week. (For me it’d be longer, I’m a mediocre coder at best…) - but say a week. That’s £2500 in my time.

That’s 10 years of me buying a license. Plus, my tool would be out of date pretty soon with no active development.

Granted, your way would be interesting (possibly fun!) and there are lots of things I do that I bring my own php skills to. But for something like this that has client data at risk, it’s a no brainer to pay someone else.