12 steps to stellar software design

Step 9: Make direct amends. Unfortunately, sometimes tapping into users for feedback can backfire. If you can't deliver an improvement, prepare for the worst. "Don't burn bridges with your users," said Crow. Goldman agreed. "They will never come back and they will tell all their friends."

Step 10: Continue your inventory. Usability testing is not a one-time event but a cycle: Observe, analyze, design. "It should be like using shampoo," Crow said.

Step 11: Realize that without users, it doesn't matter. Goldman used the example of the CueCat, a handheld for scanning barcodes in magazines and then taking them to a URL, as an example of usability gone wrong. "It didn't solve the problem for users. They still had to go to their computer," he said.

Step 12: Pay it forward. The software community has a number of resources, including Yahoo's User Interface Library and Tango.freedesktop.org, to offer lessons learned. This is a crucial element to advancing the industry. "We all have a responsibility as designers to share best practices," Crow said.