TL;DR
Most people are blind to software flaws, a collective 'quality blindness' that lets bad products pass as good; training oneself to see flaws is the key to improving quality.
The author notices hundreds of bugs a week, while most people around him see nothing. It's not that they're lucky — they simply don't notice. This is 'quality blindness.' The author thinks that for programmers, curing this blindness is useful.
Where blindness comes from
He gives an example: as a kid, he didn't notice his friend's mouse was hard to use because he'd unconsciously gotten used to it and compensated for the erratic tracking. Similarly, programmers develop quirky habits to work around software quirks, growing numb and thinking the software is fine.
Ordinary users are no different: Volvo forum fans deny reliability data because their own cars never broke down. A Blackboard employee believed users loved the software, even though it was one of the most hated in education.
The cure is possible
The author says that as long as people are receptive, just pointing out flaws works. He's cured several friends; some said years later, 'Now I see bugs everywhere.' For teams, blindness can cause shoddy products to ship as if they were great — more dangerous than deliberately trading quality for speed.
Now with AI coding assistants, low-quality software is easier to produce, but also easier to improve — provided one first sees the problem.
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