That is why a lot of programmer jobs, especially for small firms where design and development will never be completely distinct teams of people, are listed as "developer / analyst" (or "analyst / developer").
Translating what the user wants into a practical design that is useful to them can be more important than actual programming skill.
Even further removed from programming: inside industry knowledge/experience can be vital too, particularly in regulated industries, so that you can translate what the user says they want into what they actually need (I have before had to quietly ask "have you run that past your compliance department?" when presented with a requirement that I saw would cause problems with the auditors - spotting these things in design stages rather then the UAT stage saves a lot of hassle).
Translating what the user wants into a practical design that is useful to them can be more important than actual programming skill.
Even further removed from programming: inside industry knowledge/experience can be vital too, particularly in regulated industries, so that you can translate what the user says they want into what they actually need (I have before had to quietly ask "have you run that past your compliance department?" when presented with a requirement that I saw would cause problems with the auditors - spotting these things in design stages rather then the UAT stage saves a lot of hassle).