What Do Users Want? Engineering Usability into Software

Overview What users really want is good tools. All software systems, from operating systems and languages to data entry and decision support applications, are just tools. End users want from the tools we engineer for them much the same as what we expect from the tools we use. They want systems that are easy to learn and easy to use and that help them do their work. They want software that doesn't slow them down, that doesn't trick or confuse them, that doesn't make it easier to make mistakes or harder to finish the job.

This is not an easy assignment. You know it's difficult, because major commercial software packages are often riddled with obvious usability defects. Even the biggest software development houses seem to be better at churning out heaps of fast-changing features than delivering straightforward usability.

It is not that the industry thinks usability is unimportant. Ads for new user interface widgets and GUI development tools fill the trade magazines. Rows of books on user interface design line the shelves in the book stores. All the major software houses have elaborate user interface testing programs supported by expensive usability labs. We lavish more and more attention on user interface programming--as much as two-thirds of some project budgets--and still miss the mark by miles.