shiny hammers — utility + usability + beauty
DESCRIPTION
Slides from my talks at Optimal Experience in Wellington, New Zealand, and the H2O Summit at LinkedIn HQ, October 2013.TRANSCRIPT
Shiny Hammers
This is a talk about altruism.
Also, vanity and laziness.
About alignment of interests.
About earning happy customers.
And keeping them.
By investing in design.
Design?
Design = creation of something that does work
…so people don’t have to.
Design = innovation
Design = leverage
name, logo, meme
hardware, software, service
recipe, guide, mantra
Design is a fundamental
human pursuit.
firethe wheelagriculturearchitecturerule of lawmedicine
society
Design is aboutscaling people.
Product Design
Product design =investment in customer
acquisition and retention
Retention = happiness
Happiness?
Back to hammers…
Everyone has a shiny hammer.
The tool you reach for first,the tool you feel great using.
The tool that helps you scale.
Three Things to Consider
Good
Cheap Fast
Utility
Beauty Usability
Utility
Beauty Usability
Utility = work
Utility = capability to do work(for a customer)
Utility
Beauty Usability
Usability = cost
Usability = cost to access utility
Cost = time + $,fixed and variable
Fixed usability cost =evaluation, implementation,
switching cost, learning curve
Variable usability cost =maintenance, usage,
exception cost
Utility
Beauty Usability
Beauty = concisedescription of value
Value = utility × usability
Beauty works toevoke positive emotion,
e.g. confidence, trust.
Beauty maximizes the oddsa potential customer will
consider your product
…or an existing customer will evangelize it.
Accessible Utility
Everything designed hasmaximum theoretical utility.
Accessible utility = theoretical utility × usability
= efficiency = value
Greater usability = lower cost
For equivalent utility, increased usability =
greater value
For each customer, every product has maximum
utilizable value.
(More sophisticated customers can access greater utility.)
Each potential customer has a budget (time + $)
to invest in your product.
To acquire a customer, you must meet their
accessibility threshold—their budget.
Obviously this is perceptual—witness success of certain
products, e.g. vices.
Surplus Time
Great products give time back.
Time back = happier customers
Customers will invest surplus time
back into your product.
A product that helps your customers scale,
helps you scale.
Organic growth,user communities,
evangelists.
Constraints
Why invest in design?
Investment in designinvests in your customers
and invests in growth.
Investing in design says“I like my customers” and
“I want more.”
Altruism =“I can help you”
Vanity =“I can help you”
Laziness =“I have limited resources”
Designing a product to scale?
Where are you constrained?
salessupport
developmentoperationscustomers
If you have zero customers,there is only one right answer.
Design investment changesas you build relationships
with customers.
Design investment is a deliberateallocation of resources between
utility, usability, and beauty.
Focus shifts as yourtarget customers change.
New needs require new investment in utility.
Growing businesses
Enterprise
China
Invest in usabilityto reach customers
with fewer resourcesor simpler needs.
Maximize shareof existing markets.
Empower the layman.
Invest in beauty to address changing tastes
or new customers withdifferent tastes.
In a competitive environment,there is no normal.
Usability in Practice
Avoid falling into the product trap.
Not every usability problemshould be solved with UX.
Sometimes it’s cheaper tothrow people at the problem.
(Or cheaper people. It depends where
you’re constrained.)
Customer Support
Customer support is a greatway to increase usability atlow cost to your customers.
It’s also a great feedback mechanism.
Obviously, this isn’t scalable—“web-scale,” anyway.
If you only have 10 customers,you don’t have a scaling problem.
You have a “I only have 10 customers”
problem.
Documentation
How fast is yourproduct evolving?
A high rate of change makesdocumentation obsolete quickly.
Document stable or matureparts of your product.
Leave the rest to support.
Community
Do your customers talk to each other?
Do they have surplus time to spend on your product?
Seed a community—Twitter, Facebook,
forums, mailing lists.
Reward altruisticcustomer behavior.
Interface Design
Does your product dosomething new,
or something better?
M-PESA unlocked bankingfor millions in Kenyavia mobile phones.
M-PESA delivered demonstrablyless utility than a bank.
But with infinitelygreater usability.
Minimum Viable *
Start here.
Utility
Invest a little here.
Beauty Usability
And here.
Beauty Usability
Start with just enough utilityto get your first customer.
Until you know whoyour customer really is or
what your product really does,invest judiciously in
usability and beauty.
Usually, that meansfor patient customer zero,
usability = you
You probably know yourfirst customer. Spend timewith them. Teach. Listen.
At this point,beauty = also you
Since you know your customer,and presumably they trust you,
they’ll try your product.
Try = minimal investment(time + $)
The burden is on you to prove why your customershould continue to invest
in your product.
Your customer puts in time + $,and—hopefully—gets utility out.
And time back.
And greater happiness.
Randy Reddig@rr