> This sort of "design blindness" happens whenever system designers prioritize the needs of the IT system, rather than its users. My specialist is therefore for

> This sort of "design blindness" happens whenever system designers prioritize the needs of the IT system, rather than its users. My specialist is therefore forced to deal with a client interface barely pasted over some sort of database. The data is shaped to fit the design of that database, rather than the other way around. I just finished listening to The Pragmatic Programmer (EXCELLENT as an audiobook), and the authors talk about this pretty explicitly: > As soon as you have an executable user interface or prototype, you need to answer an all-important question: the users told you what they wanted, but is it what they need? > Does it meet the functional requirements of the system? This, too, needs to be tested. A bug-free system that answers the wrong ques tion isn't very useful. So it looks like some programmers need to read this book for homework!