Reference:
The Design of Everyday Things
Donald A. Norman
1988 Basic Books
Summary:
Errors are an everyday part of human life. There are typically two types of errors: slips and mistakes. Slips occur when someone makes an unconsious error, while mistakes happen when someone consiously reaches an incorrect conclusion. Steps must be taken in design to minimize slips and errors. One such method is to use "forcing functions," or functions that won't let action B take place until action A has been completed. Generally, forcing function are a nuisence, but are well worth it when they prevent catastrophe.
Discussion:
I like the idea of forcing functions, as it is easy to forget just how many warning alerts and signals that we ignore. For example, I can't remember the last time that I heard a car alarm where I was actually concerned that a car was being stolen. Since we do so many things on autopilot, it is important to make people think about what exactly they are doing before making a devastating mistake.
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