So it was my turn to do the house chores. Vacuum cleaning this time.
I get the vacuum cleaner out, switch it on and a few seconds later I notice it's making a funny noise. I switch it off and tell my wife. I say something ridiculous like it needs oiling or we need a new vacuum cleaner.
"Oh don't be silly there's just hair caught in it" she exclaims. Over she comes. She gets the scissors and starts cleaning the brushes on the cleaner. A few minutes later she switches on the vacuum cleaner and started vacuuming the floor.
Now why didn't she complain and want me to do it, seeing as it was my job?
Because she wanted to see how well the cleaner worked after she 'fixed it'. I was happy watching her vacuum. She was happy to experience the fruit of her labor. It was a win-win situation.
The moral to this story? Getting people involved is never a bad thing.
You can apply this to every day development. Get users to contribute. When people contribute they have a vested interest in the software and want to experience the rewards of their input. Not only do they feel good seeing their work in action, they'll be more likely to spread good word about the software. And also when things go wrong they will happily take some of that responsibility because now the work is shared.
Recently I've been harking on about the good news of Domain Specific Languages. DSLs are a great example of how to get power users involved. Even simple application configuration is a good avenue to get user contribution.
The bottom line is that flexibility and accessibility are key to building this two way interface with the user.