When to improve usability by destroying it

Fitts' Law says that the bigger something is, the easier it is to point to it, and the closer it is, the faster you can point to it. This has enormous implications for designing any interactive product, including websites.

(This Wikipedia article defines Fitts' Law in more abstract, science-like terms, but if you remember the above, I think you'll be okay.)

How can you advantageously use this principle to destroy usability? When does that, in so doing, actually improve the user experience?

Let's take a look at a couple of fictitious examples.

This has enormous implications for design, but only when you reflect that design is more than "look and feel." It is operations. It is interactions. And yes, it is relationships -- and the models we use to manage them. - Cam Beck