What does usability mean to you? How do we know we have it?

First, this is a long first entry. Sorry, hopefully it's worth your time to read and respond.

Most of us are engineers. We're smart people. Give us a problem, and we'll solve it. Unfortunately, we're so good at solving problems that we don't spend much time eliminating them in the first place.

What is usability? How do I know when I have it? My experience signing up for this project brought a few points to mind.

I got an email asking if I wanted to join this project. I clicked the "visit the site" button, my web browser fired up, and the project page appeared. Great. Then a banner message said my browser was old and I was missing site features.

Red flag #1. It should work with what I have. If breakthrough performance sometimes requires new tools, make them easy to get.

I clicked the "Upgrade your browser" link and up popped the download page. I downloaded the browser update, and ran it. It hung... in the middle of my screen... in front... blocking all my other applications. Ctl / Alt / Del.

Red flags #2 and #3. The tool should work, and it shouldn't get in the way of other work I'm trying to do.

I deleted that upgrade and downloading another, same problem. I finally downloaded a different browser that worked. That cost me an hour.

Red flag #4. Don't waste the users time with unproductive activities.

Now to set up my account. I entered the required information. In seconds an email with an account setup link appeared. Fast - good. The account setup process was an infinite loop. Enter name, email address, password, get sent back to the first screen, repeat. Another 20 minutes gone clicking links and looking for a way to finish setting up my account.

Red flag #5. Don't take the user to unexpected places. They need to know and control where they are at all times.

I finally clicked on the link that said "forgot your password?" Another email message and different link let me finish setting up my account.

Red flag #6. Don't make the user discover back door ways of doing things.

It was pretty clear I didn't have a good usability experience.

Based on this, and many similar experiences, I have a few thoughts on what usability would mean to me.

1. Do nothing. The most usable task is the one I don't do. Get rid of tasks.
2. Put everything I need to do a task on a single screen optimized for that task.
3. Please make software that works.
4. Be consistent. I'd like to learn once and use that learning everywhere.
5. Make the results predictable, usability means different end user skill sets will still result in predictable performance.
6. Tell me where I am in the process. If it takes 5 steps, and I'm on step 3, tell me. Don't violate item 2 to make this happen.
7. Make help useful. An online manual isn't help, it's frustration. Give help 3 dimensions. One is "what is it". Another is "how do I use it". The last is the "what are you trying to do, I (the help system) will make it happen".
8. Tell me if I'm trying to do something I don't need to do.

Now for the punch line of this thread. End users, you end up using everything vendors make. What does usability mean to you? How do you know when you have it? Are you willing to change how you do things to achieve usability, productivity, and consistent results?

Sound off, users. If you do, you'll get better usability.