Icing or cake?

Usability is not everyones priority ...

"People who know me know I have misgivings about the phrase "user experience". Sometimes the phrase is appropriate (e.g., when discussing a purely recreational interaction), but oftentimes it is used in a lazy way to describe a raft of benefits of UCD. Today I encountered a good example how the phrase "user experience" can pollute the minds of people.

I was talking with someone who had previously engaged a well known "user experience" consultancy for advice. The consultancy has a fine, international reputation, and I have seen some of their work, which is good. I'm not slagging their ability in the least. But what I do object to is how they cast the benefits of UCD. They talked the standard talk about improving user experience. The message came through clearly. Yes, user experience is good, but face it, it really isn't our highest priority. Sure, it is nice to offer a good user experience, I'm sure our employees would be grateful, but the really important issues are functionality, how we can value from our databases."   continued ...   (Via Modules and Wholes)

Usability is icing on the cake?