Product Development: Are You Prioritizing Complexity Over User Happiness?
Sounds like we are going to speak about something very basic. Curiously there are millions of products in the world — some of them are great, amazing, game-changing. If today we open a modern marketplace like Amazon or Alibaba it is quite difficult to distinguish one product from another, they all look similar — similar designs, similar functions — kind of copies one of another.
Looking from this perspective, a product development is a mix of great ideas, technologies and features, designs. Before we start any product design, even if we want to improve something existing, it is important to find out who are the main users of the product and how they actually use it. I’ve seen many improvements which definitely add product complexity and can boast lots of functions which no one or very small audience uses. If it is so, why there are so many complicated and expensive products which are used at 20% of their functionality? There is a nice article — Simplicity in communication, which is actually working well for any product’s function you want to build into your product.
It is because we are as human-beings want to make things more advanced than our competitors and we are thinking about how to improve the product, but not how to make its users happier using the functions they need. You might want to read How to analyse competitors and why?
At the end, the product development is about tiny details of how the product is used every day or even every minute of its life and what value it creates for the customer.
Related articles:
Psychology in the business — no product development is possible without communicating within the team, with partners and customers
Why is Team Planning as Important as Product Features in Startup Success?
Ambience is crucial for productivity — the way where and how we work seriously impacts our productivity.
Consumer participation is the future of product and service development
Looking from this perspective, a product development is a mix of great ideas, technologies and features, designs. Before we start any product design, even if we want to improve something existing, it is important to find out who are the main users of the product and how they actually use it. I’ve seen many improvements which definitely add product complexity and can boast lots of functions which no one or very small audience uses. If it is so, why there are so many complicated and expensive products which are used at 20% of their functionality? There is a nice article — Simplicity in communication, which is actually working well for any product’s function you want to build into your product.
It is because we are as human-beings want to make things more advanced than our competitors and we are thinking about how to improve the product, but not how to make its users happier using the functions they need. You might want to read How to analyse competitors and why?
At the end, the product development is about tiny details of how the product is used every day or even every minute of its life and what value it creates for the customer.
Related articles:
Psychology in the business — no product development is possible without communicating within the team, with partners and customers
Why is Team Planning as Important as Product Features in Startup Success?
Ambience is crucial for productivity — the way where and how we work seriously impacts our productivity.
Consumer participation is the future of product and service development