Skip to main content
3 of 8
Corrected the link
Euan M
  • 786
  • 4
  • 10

What you are being asked for is the implementation of a non-functional requirement.

You are being asked for a usability improvement, not an expansion of functionality.

Non-functional requirements of a system are still requirements.

In this case, these usability fixes are intended to increase the user's productivity and lower their error rates.

Usability fixes can be non-trivial to implement. This does not mean they should be dealt with as second-class concerns. As a developer, you are there to create what is important, not what is easy.

An excellent book for helping understand usability as a key, core, engineering concern is
"The Design of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman (link).

A good example of a system which is feature-complete and which needs further development of the user controls, is the Model T Ford. As a car, it goes. It stops. It carries passengers.

Now take a look at the user controls (link). No-one makes them like that any more - for good reasons.

They are hard (and error-prone, i.e. injury-prone) to start.

The throttle is a pair of sticks on opposite sides of the steering column, and they have to be operated independently and simultaneously.

Euan M
  • 786
  • 4
  • 10