Something like five years ago, I grouched to the Powers That Be about the El Cheapo locking handle for our office suite's door to the stairwell in our building, which was sloppy enough that actually I had to hold it in horizontal position as I locked it with my key. I believe that TPTB complained to the landlords a few times, to no avail, and the handle became progressively wobbly over the years.
That was until someone broke into the building over a weekend. Fortunately, no suites were compromised. But lemme tell you--did that ever put the fire under the landlords' toes: The new lock looks positively bulletproof.
Problem is, it's a finicky pain in the backside to actually lock. Most of my co-workers use the elevator at the end of the day, so I always verify that the door is in fact locked before I exit the building. Sadly, the process is still a matter of error-and-trial for me, even days later. That's a problem. As in software, you never, everEverEVER want tradeoffs between security and usability--indeed, the latter should be a pillar of the former.
Having been whacked upside the head with that point, I can only--and very fervently--hope that I've followed my own maxim through the years. Because the online and physical-world parallels run a little too close for comfort for me just now.
