Why study human factors (HF) and why now? HF will become an increasingly important consideration in the design and implementation of technology. Increased utility for the user is the minimum requirement of a successful technology. Presently, processing power and bandwidth are quickly becoming commodities, utility is no longer a technological issue, it is a user issue. As such, HF design will become the differentiating attribute of a successful product. As the cost of technology continues to drop while the cost of training and maintenance remain relatively constant, it is inevitable that the technology costs will fade into the background and user issues will dominate. A good system designer will start with the user first and build the technology around the users needs and work habits: in other words, a good system designer will start with HF issues.

As evidenced in our case studies, the basis of HF is fitting a new technology into the users existing conceptual model. A conceptual model is a framework we develop as we learn about the world. Knowing that a red light means stop and to drive on the right side of the road are part of a conceptual model we use for driving: it is really just the "common sense" needed to drive safely. Conceptual models take time to develop and time to change, consequently it is much easier to adapt new designs to existing models than create new models. We see this in essentially all HF designed products. This was the basis for Xerox’s Star computer, Web TV, and computer telephone integration(CTI). The designers studied existing habits of users and modified designs to exploit their "common sense". Most people understand the basic workings of an office(Star interface), a TV(Web TV) or a phone(CTI), so by exploiting this basic knowledge designers can leverage in new technologies and capabilities. For example, today’s phone looks just like yesterday’s phone but the utility of the phone has grown tremendously with the advent of call center technology.

Critics often criticize HF as just common sense. This is exactly right! HF is the task of defining and exploiting common sense: as one might imagine, this is not a trivial task. Currently, models for HF design are wholly inadequate. What we have is a mish-mosh of specialized military-based research and obscure academic theories. The resolution of the current body of work does not match the needs of industry, it is either concentrated on the minutia of switches and joysticks or the psychology of thought and work. Industry is left to blaze it’s own trail and this is not cheap. This puts HF design in a precarious position, it is expensive and the results are not immediately quantifiable, consequently it is easy to exclude or cut from a budget. Tension exists between the mounting pressure to implement HF initiatives and the intangibility of the results. Those organizations which can integrate HF into their designs will be one important step closer to product acceptance and success. Other issues related to this class certainly play important roles in product acceptance, but without a realizable increase in utility a technology is not likely to reach these other hurdles. And today HF plays an ever increasing role in utility.