More importantly, "what is convenient for users" will frequently change and be expressed only vaguely by those users in natural language bug reports or feature

More importantly, "what is convenient for users" will frequently change and be expressed only vaguely by those users in natural language bug reports or feature requests. Converting that natural language into something machine-readable is programming, whether it involves typing cryptic strings into emacs or hooking together components graphically a la LabVIEW.