Steven P. Jobs put a dent in the universe. Sure, he too stood on the shoulders of giants past, but his dent is unarguably spectacular and perhaps the most successful. For it caused a global culture shift. It let loose mass-access to delightfully useful technology. It edified the world on how to bring products alive.
Now there is no turning back. To succeed, product companies must truly amalgamate technology and design in context of users.
Seven things that bring products alive
While the pace of product innovation and a new technological possibility is just thrilling, it presents a daunting prospect for many product companies – new and old. Now they are somehow expected to magically:
- Always put users first
- Architect for cross-platform and cross-device use by default
- Think systemically about the product
- Seamlessly blend engineering and design
- Embrace product development best practices
- Master persuasive technology design, and
- Build a balanced, tightly integrated team
These seven things are hard to master, but now more than ever, near-impossible to ignore. Here they are, up for reflection…
[1] Always put users first
Not so long ago, the words “user interface” sent software engineers into hiding. Creating software was a black art, after all. What did mere users know about such things? Users had to learn to fit the software. Obviously.
Some technology companies though, decided way back, that truly great solutions would stem from keen study of human nature. They went out of their way to observe people. Intuit for instance, in 1989, famously started embedding engineers and product managers in customer homes and workplaces. Their “Follow Me Home” program continues to this day. Apple’s legendary laser focus on simplicity and sheer usability got cemented back in the ‘90s. And at the revered National Instruments, new engineers are required to spend a few hours each week supporting customers.
These companies, in their own unique ways, institutionalized the “User First” philosophy. Today, it is clear that user-centered thinking delivers solid business benefits including fast and large-scale product adoption, higher productivity, lower support and maintenance costs, and significantly reduced risk exposure to costly late-stage changes.
The mantra is the same for enterprise as well as consumer software products: Put Users First. Those who still hide from this reality, it seems, are doomed to perish in darkness. Slowly.
[2] Architect for cross-platform, cross-device use by default
Today’s global smartphone count is about One Billion and by 2016, this will be the expected annual smartphone sales number. Imagine: One Billion smartphones sold annually. Add to that, hundreds of millions of tablets and notebooks.
We can safely assume that over the next 5 years, every single person who owns a notebook, will also own a smartphone or a tablet or all three. This opens product development avenues never before available. But it also pushes user expectations up a few notches.
People will expect all applications to respond to common gestures. They will be unforgiving of applications that don’t adapt to all their screens. They will have even more choice and even less attention spans. Conceivably, all these people – hundreds of millions of them – will expect the tools and information we provide to be naturally accessible on the go, and on any device of their choice.
Clearly, mastery over the Cloud-Smartphone-Thick-client product engineering paradigm will be a huge factor in the delivery of future product user experiences.
[3] Think systemically about the product
While any number of different tools and techniques can be used to actually define and create the product, a systemic view is necessary to keep it all together as the product develops and evolves. It boils down to clear thinking on a few fundamental aspects of the product.
At the highest level: what inputs must the product handle? What different ways should it process these inputs? How should it provision the resulting output? Next, what should the product’s internal architecture be like… namely the data access layer, business logic layer, presentation layer, and key subsystems thereof?
At this point it is also a good idea to outline key considerations for each layer – like deployment scenarios, must-have security features (e.g. HTTPS for web access, obfuscated C++ for APIs), scalability needs (horizontal, or vertical or both), data management and data processing, design and coding principles (reusability, modularity, use of 3rd party software etc), localization, globalization & internationalization requirements. Also the preferred technology stack can be identified at this point. Special attention must be given early on, as to where and why to use third party software. While 3rd party components can save plenty of time and effort, they can also cripple the product at a later stage by not being extensible enough or robust enough to support the product as it grows.
A clear, concise and evolving systemic visualization of a product is perhaps the biggest strategic asset a product team can have.
[4] Seamlessly blend engineering and design
A lucid systemic view alone cannot guarantee product success. Products often under-deliver because they are either over-engineered or over-designed (or both).
Over-engineering typically results in unnecessary features that make a product overly complex and intimidating, particularly to new users. Over designed products, on the other hand, focus on aesthetics and visual elements at the cost of comprehension. Both these “overs” tend to degrade usability, technical performance, maintainability, product evolution and supportability. These (easily avoidable) issues almost invariably stem from flawed assumptions about a product and its ecosystem, particularly about users and usage scenarios.
User centered R&D techniques provide a real-world feedback loop that is preventive as well as corrective in action. User research, for instance, helps isolate the feature set for a minimum viable product, by identifying real-world usage scenarios, operating environment and product ecosystem. This in turn leads to more sound decisions about product architecture and choice of technology stack. Similarly, regular usability reviews throughout the product development cycle, help weed out design and engineering flaws, through the lens of actual users.
To encapsulate the idea; engineering and design efforts can be blended by using user-centered R&D techniques.
[5] Embrace product development best practices
Ever clicked a button and ended up staring at a progress bar for the longest time? That’s when things start to become horrible. Enter performance engineering. This is perhaps the most fundamental tenet of really bringing products to life. Core product performance has a cascade effect on many major aspects of the product, like horizontal / vertical scalability, overall system responsiveness, and the product’s financial performance too (wasted resources = avoidable costs.) Therefore the product must be engineered to use available resources very, very well and deliver output in a timely manner.
On the other hand, the product must also be reliable, secure and comply with relevant standards. These requirements naturally impose computing overhead, but they are essential and can be built with minimal performance impact. To do this, the engineering practice itself must force developers to think about these issues early on. Because from a system perspective, a feature that works fast but is unsecure or not reliable enough is not a feature anymore, but a bug.
This may seem basic hygiene, but key best practices can be sidelined in the face of tough deadlines. This is just a reminder that good engineering practices are at the heart of any high-performing product that is also scalable, reliable, secure, and standards compliant.
[6] Master persuasive technology design
Why will your product’s trials convert to sales? Why should users continue using it? Why should they upgrade? Why should they recommend it to others? Why should they politely turn away your competitors?
The solution lies in persuasive technology design. This emerging discipline is helping engineer products that can incrementally influence and change human behavior.
For instance, a touch device might look pleasing, but only feels good if it responds instantaneously to gestures. Deleting a social network account is emotionally demanding because the underlying technology spreads and interlinks us in many little ways that together create great social pressure to stay. Likewise, leading e-commerce portals push greater sales by using algorithms to make intelligent cross-sell / up-sell recommendations. Even cleverly done 404 error messages can humanize a product and keep users engaged.
Building a well-crafted product is critical, but a product’s commercial success increasingly depends on its in-built persuasiveness.
[7] Build a balanced, tightly integrated team
Today’s Software product companies adopt a global product development model almost by default. But, turns out, building a cross-border product organization is like an art form. For us, success depends on getting four key things right:
- Creating the right mix of high-caliber talent across borders, including product managers, information architects, software architects, visual designers and engineers.
- Giving customers full visibility into the hiring process.
- Creating a work environment where people deeply respect Intellectual Property
- Operating with transparency and honest communication
That said; a well-run cross border organization creates immense competitive advantage by accelerating speed to market without compromising product quality.
We are here as partners
At Clarice Technologies, we are thrilled to be part of today’s revolutionary pace of product and technology innovation. But we also understand this presents a daunting prospect for many product companies – new and old. Now they are somehow expected to magically:
Do email your comments to info@ClariceTechnologies.com. We will love to hear from you!
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