What do customers want? I'm referring to end consumers not enterprises. Companies that release software products and services may know a whole bunch about their customers, the features they want, the services they need, their pain points etc. But this data seems to get lost a little in the transition to an actual product or service. During release cycles, there seems to exist a basic culture/tenet that drives development. To me, this has changed over the years and for the better of course. But where is it going?
Ship as many features as possible:
This has been a gory past for software. Ship as many features as possible in the product. Make no attempt to ensure they are discoverable. Make no attempt to link them together. Feel great about a 25 feature release! One can say this about operating systems/software programs of the 90s even early 2000s
Ship features tied to real scenarios:
This is somewhat new. Development teams figured out that people want scenarios not features. For example, customers want to be able to download songs and have them automatically synced to their favorite MP3 device and ready to play. They could care less about the download browser or the sync tool or the USB connection for the MP3 device. Customers want an entry point that takes them through an important/useful/entertaining scenario without having to worry about the individual parts. For example, this style has been used extensively in the design of Windows Vista. The new Control Panel is a great example of providing scenarios as opposed to features.
Ship some features and make them beautiful:
Companies such as Apple are doing this right now. Create a certain feature set and work on making the design beautiful and elegant. Think Apple iPhone, iMac. Another example - Microsoft made Windows Vista one of the most beautiful operating systems ever created with Aero glass technology.
See how all of the above are tied to shipping features? The all important feature list is right there in the title. Will this be the way of the future? Here's a thought and I fully believe this should be the war cry of any major software development company.
Ship delight!
How about that eh? Does an end user care about features? Do they care about scenarios? Do they care about design? We cannot be blind spotted by any of these areas. Ultimately, a product needs to delight a user. The user needs to jump out of their bath tub, cry Eureka while running around naked! They need to get the same feeling of a thrill seeker skiing down an icy slope, a kid that scores his first home run in little league, an environmentalist watching hybrid cars race down a highway. OK, that was an exaggeration, but you see where I'm going with this. A product/service needs to delight users. It has to engage them. It has to make them feel glad about using it, want to try out new products/services from your company and most importantly talk about it to their friends. After all in this day and age, that is the best marketing. Make something delightful! The world will love it and love you for it!
Hey Chris! Nice blog :)
I was reading this entry and what didnt seem clear to me was - what delights customers in addition to features that solves their scenarios and look beautiful?
Posted by: Neha | June 15, 2008 at 03:14 PM