Myths and measurements: Evaluating the ROI of design

A justification for design costs when you look at usability ...

"There's a dirty little secret that nobody in the design community wants you to know: it's actually possible to build and ship a software product…without designing it first! There. I said it. Now my time is short; even as I type, assassins with square-toed shoes and goatees are stalking my whereabouts.

But just because you can construct software products without designing them first, why on earth would anybody want to?

The analogies are endless: you wouldn't point a construction crew to an open lot and tell them to build a structure without giving them blueprints, would you? You wouldn't ask a doctor to re-set a broken bone without looking at an x-ray; you wouldn't storm the beaches of Normandy without a battle strategy and a good map; you wouldn't even don your shoes before putting on your socks."   continued ...   (Via Cooper)

Myths about design.