The Annotated Assistant: A Step Towards Human Engineering

The Hatter\´s watch nicely illustrates the effect of idiosynracy in system design. Really, a watch could provide any number of features, but most watches designed for people put a high priority on telling the correct time of day. Thus, the Hatter\´s watch is an excellent example of bad human engineering. By human engineering we mean "the selection among design alternatives so as to relate to people." Carroll\´s stopped watch is the ultimate in poor human engineering because the user must do all the work.