Talk to them, meet with them, find out how they live, how they work, and how they play. Understand what their PC and Web skills are. Don't patronize your users by giving them what YOU think they need. Today's Websites and applications generally require more skills than one human can handle. Whatever You Build, Do It Quickly Even if you have a great idea, and it takes too long to build, chances are someone else will develop the idea first.
Users are incredibly fickle.
You have a small window of opportunity to build something that is both timely and usable. In your iterative design process, show users prototype product in various stages of development. Usability problems should be handled just like software bugs. About the author Theo Mandel, Ph.D. is the principal and founder of Interface Design and Development. The author of two books on PC and Web software design, he consults and educates designers and developers world-wide.