The Principle of Least Astonishment Explained: What Exactly Is It?

The Principle of Least Astonishment (PoLA) is an important factor in user interface design and software design. Defined in the 1980’s, it dates back to the early days of modern computing. This principle effectively outlines one of the fundamental tenets of human-computer interaction (HCI).

The Principle of Least Astonishment postulates, “if a necessary feature ha(s) a high astonishment factor, it may be necessary to redesign this feature.” A broader application of this principle informs us that a part or a component of a system should behave in a way that the users expect it to behave. In other words, the users should not be surprised, startled, or astonished by the system’s behavior, or by the behavior of any of the system’s components.

This principle fundamentally defines the Human Usersas the integral (if not critical) part of the larger system, whose design and structure should match the human users’ experiences,...

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