Groupware, like other forms of information technology, should be designed with the users’ needs and capabilities as the focus. User‐centered system design consists of observation and analysis of users at work, assistance in design from relevant aspects of theory, and iterative testing with users. We illustrate the various stages of this approach with our development of group ware for software designers. We have extensive studies of designers at work, have developed the beginnings of a theory of distributed cognition, and are at the first stages of iterative testing and redesign of a prototype of a shared editor to support their work.