Pay close attention to your business problems and when you are seeking out usability help, talk in detail about how the research is going to be conducted. This is an article I wrote to capture how I feel about usability right now. Similarly, I am not too happy that usability folks are doing so much design and development. We need to talk to each other and interact, not do each other's work. This is an interview with Alison J. Head that I conducted a few days ago.
Humans really are funny creatures.
They do so many unexpected and interesting things. Conversely, only 13 percent of consumers have no plans to conduct online transactions, a drop from last year's figure of 40 percent. Sounds like marketing with a good dash of usability thrown in. IDC surveyed 600 commercial sites and found about half expecting to make money by year's end. It may be the same for both, but it's important to discuss the options because the decision will affect cost, design, production, and time.