The dry powder inhaler, which has traditionally relied on the patient's inspiratory force to deaggregate and deliver the active agent to the target region of the lung, has been a successful delivery device for the provision of locally active agents for the treatment of conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, such devices can suffer from poor delivery characteristics and/or poor reproducibility. More recently, drugs for systemic delivery and more high value compounds have been put into DPI devices. Regulatory, dosing, manufacturing and economic concerns have demanded that a more efficient and reproducible performance is achieved by these devices. Recently strategies have been put in place to produce a more efficient DPI device/formulation combination. Using one novel device as an example the paper will examine which features are important in such a device and some of the strategies required to implement these features. All of these technological advances are invisible, and may be irrelevant, to the patient. However, their inability to use an inhaler device properly has significant implications for their therapy. Use of active device mechanisms, which reduce the dependence on patient inspiratory flow, and sensible industrial design, which give the patient the right clues to use, are important determinants of performance here.