I still have that passion, but for different reasons I’ve stopped using the term "usability". Now it has evolved into more of a mindset, one that I often describe in the following way:
The application is not the goal. It is an obstacle between the user and the goal.
Applications need, to borrow the words of Albert Einstein, to be designed to be “as simple as possible, but not simpler”. Simplicity, in this context, is about how easy it is to accomplish a specific goal with an application. It's not about minimalistic design.
When it comes to making people adopt a new application, or anything that requires them to learn something new or change their behaviors or habits, it is important to understand that simplicity is also a matter of scope. To get people to adopt a new application, you often can’t design for the end state – a fully adopted full-featured application that does everything you want it to do. Instead, you have to acknowledge that every change is an effort for your intended users, and that minimizing the total change by breaking it down into a number of smaller changes is key to make people willing change and adopt a new way of doing things (with a new application).
It's like with computer and video games. As a beginner, you don't start at the last level. You start out at level one, a level which most likely has been designed for beginners. Then, every time you play level one, you practice the skills needed for completing level one and for being successful at next level. When you're skilled (or sometimes just lucky) enough, you will proceed to level two and face a new challenge and an increased level of difficulty. But the challenge and effort required to succeed will be much lower than if you had started directly at level two.
This reasoning boils down to some one simple advice:
Don’t design for the end state.
Before users can run, then need to learn how to walk. They need to be motivated to walk. Your job is to make them want to take their first step and help them do that by making it as easy and attractive for them as possible. So don't launch all the features at day one. Instead, design your application to support a step-by-step transition from today’s practices to tomorrow’s practices. Ask your users for feedback along the way so that you can work out the kinks and adjust the design. Make sure the design evolves together with the users, incorporating their feedback about what works and what doesn’t into the design of the application.
