SMBC always hits the best topics. You know the guy is good when the thread discussing the comic is full of the same misguided machismo that is being made fun of.

User interface design is an artform, that comes with practice and experience. Even with those things, user experience studies frequently reveal difficulties and issues in interface design that were unforeseen. The very fact that an engineer understands the internal workings of a device or a piece of software make it impossible for them to imagine themselves in the shoes of a new user. The result - phone systems and fax machines and tv recorders with impenetrable interfaces that frustrate and anger users.

If you want to read up on the principles of intuitive design, and get a good listing of how this engineering mentality can lead to some terrible design choices, you should read The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman.

Here's a quote from the beginning of the book:

'You would need an engineering degree from MIT to work this', someone once told me, shaking his head in puzzlement over his brand new digital watch. Well, I have an engineering degree from MIT. (Kenneth Olsen has two of them, and he can't figure out a microwave oven.) Give me a few hours and I can figure out the watch. But why should it take hours? I have talked with many people who can't use all the features of their washing machines or cameras, who can't figure out how to work a sewing machine or a video cassette recorder, who habitually turn on the wrong stove burner.

... Well-designed objects are easy to interpret and understand. They contain visible clues to their operation. Poorly designed objects can be difficult and frustrating to use. They provide no clues - or sometimes false clues. They trap the user and thwart the normal process of interpretation and understanding. Alas, poor design predominates. The result is a world filled with frustration, with objects that cannot be understood, with devices that lead to error. This book is an attempt to change things.