Conversely, what is easy for the user typically had a ton of work put into it. Systems that truly understand their users’ needs and wants and address them directly and elegantly don’t just happen on their own. You first have to make a concerted effort to find out who your users are, what they want, and how they operate. You then to have translate all that into an experience that will, if not delight them, then at the very least not draw negative attention to itself.
And that’s the interesting thing here. You can put a ton of work into designing something, and then count it a roaring success if the user never even notices it. Users come to your website or use your software to get something done. If they’re able to accomplish their goal without too much fuss, you've won!
(As a usability engineer, I’m always struck by how brief users are when something goes smoothly – “That was nice,” “Pretty easy,” “I like that.” On the other hand, users are never short of words when something doesn’t go right.)
If, however, your UI frustrates them in their goals, you have effectively made them work for it. And people don’t like that. Humans are inherently lazy creatures. Sure, we can accomplish quite a lot if we put our minds to it. Figuring out a poorly-designed system just to buy or sign up for something is not typically where we would care to do that.
Training for a marathon? Sure. Learning a second language? You bet. Spending 30 minutes trying to figure out how to expense that last business trip or register your car? Definitely not.
For some reason, this quote seems to be popular with gamers
