Everyone is focused on what is possible. We dash out new apps, launch new features, iterate a dozen times, and we get addicted to our product. We are certain we can build just about anything we want. It would be great if the tool was not your only lever. Still, you can’t expect to have a good product without taking care of usability.
The whole stack is there for the user to use it. You are ready to sacrifice many things for the sake of functionality, but if you want to create a truly great product that is more than a technical solution, you have to take care of the user experience.
You might be afraid to say it, but it becomes a difficult game to win despite all your efforts. It is true that it is not enough for your product to look and work well because you have to excel in everything that matters — understand your target audience, build a product they will love, pay interest to the smallest details — even those you did not disagree to do away with. Ask questions, listen to users.
The battle isn’t lost because the more you keep trying, the more solutions you get in solving problems. So,
- talk to real people,
- show them the problem you want to solve,
- listen to their feedback.
If they cannot pick up the problem in a few minutes, you are on the wrong track. Be brave enough to hear the most devastating feedback and turn it into insight to help improve your product.
Use yourself as a test subject. Close your eyes, try to use the product, fall into traps, and use all the techniques to get out of this dead end. It is not your ego that is at stake here. The goal is not to show off all the skills. It is to push your creativeness to come up with solutions that will work for everyone.
Product design is not a linear process that allows you to hit every goal step by step. It is iterative and a leap of intuition, which requires openness, exploratory spirit, courage — and the courage to go back to the start line. It is not about fighting for “beautiful”. Good product design is about creating all your assets (copy, design, and code) that fit each other, that come from the same vision.
Things will fall apart. Things will happen. You will not keep up with the status quo. You will not believe how fast you can deal with new ideas. You will discover new trends, new solutions, new perspectives. You will come across new tools, new approaches to what you have been doing for years. You will fail.
You will have to start from scratch. You will bet on the wrong horse, refuse to use the right method, and then become an expert. You will hear conflicting opinions from the community, choose the ones you like, and convince yourself that you are the only one who can be right. Then you will discover that you were wrong. You will get lost in corporate politics, you will switch between excitement and depression.
It is all good, sometimes we must be willing to make bold bets, take solid steps, and invent on behalf of your customers to help move their world forward and make their life worth living.
In summary, Make mistakes. Try out new things. Get lost. But most importantly, find your way back. Again, Make some more mistakes. Figure stuff out. Share your experiences, and Repeat.
That’s the path towards inventing the future and building something that will outlive you.
