Summary
Motley: Features sell a product. When in doubt, add more features!
Maven: These days, software is less about features and more about reliability, fit 'n finish, performance, and usability. Use the Kano model to help you focus on the right scenarios for the user.
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[Context: Motley is struggling with a common project management problem]
Motley: I am wondering how we are ever going to make any money on this product. We had to make so many cuts to make it to market in a reasonable time that the product is not all that useful, in my opinion. We need more features, and we need them quickly.
Maven: Do you think it's just features that make a product successful and sell lots of copies?
Motley: Well, pretty much. If the software doesn't do what you need it to do, why would you bother buying it? Features trump everything else. For a v1, we should even consider shipping sooner with a few more bugs to get a few more features in.
Maven: Hmmm… you were telling me the other day that you have an iPod Touch, right?
Motley: Why are you wasting my time here? Yes, I have an iPod Touch. Get to the point.
Maven: One more question: why do you have an iPod Touch vs. a Creative Labs Player vs. a Zune? The iPod costs significantly more doesn't it? And don't the other players typically have more memory for the same money, and perhaps include FM tuners?
Motley: That was three questions, wise guy. I chose the iPod Touch after playing with it for a while. It does what I need it to do, it's reliable, and it's extremely well refined and polished. I could flick the list views and pan around for hours. I love watching the acceleration of the list view as you start to flick and slow down as "friction" takes over. They really did a nice job with the interface. I had to have it. It's a really fun device to use.
Maven: So it's more than just features that attracted you to that particular model?
Motley: Well, in this case, yes. I looked at the other MP3 players out there, but I wasn't impressed. They had the same features, but the iPod Touch was just, well, fun. Additionally, one of the other players that shall go unnamed crashed within just a few minutes of use. I was not impressed.
Maven: Does the iPod Touch do everything you want it to do?
Motley: Not necessarily. It would be great if it had a built in GPS, for example, so I could hop on a wi-fi network and get directions from where I am. An FM tuner would be nice for those nights I go to the races (they broadcast the commentary over FM). But seriously, I have to get some work done. Why are you bothering me about all this?
Maven: Let's go back to the software you are working on - you were saying we need more features and should even ship with slightly lower quality to get features in. Does that equate back to your iPod Touch experience?
Motley: Well, errrrr, ummmm…
Maven: That's what I thought. A decade ago, when there was little competition for many software products on the market, features won the war. End users actually put up with an operating system like Windows 95 that blue screened every other day when it was released. It was the best thing out there and the reliability issues were tolerated. Times have changed. Users expect software to "just work". They want it to solve their problems their way with a minimum of fuss. If it meets the majority of their scenarios and does it well, users are generally happy. These days there are always other options if a product does not meet their needs.
Motley: You did mention "their way" above, though. In order to do things their way, you need to make it as configurable as possible and including knobs and buttons allowing them to customize their experience. That takes time to build.
Maven: I would actually argue that too many knobs to twist, turn and pull just ends up confusing the user creating a frustrating experience. Look at the iPod Touch - two buttons. Compare the browser on the iPod Touch to something like Internet Explorer on the desktop - very few configurability options. But, users are happy. In fact, they are ecstatic about the device. It satisfies 80% of the core user scenarios. It may not keep the power users happy, but there are other options out there, including third party software updates that could potentially add some of the knobs and buttons they need.
Motley: There is still a minimum feature set we would need to be successful.
Maven: No argument there. However, that feature set is usually not as large you think it is. Nail the top priority user scenarios extremely well and you will likely be successful.
Motley: Easier said than done.
Maven: Sometimes. You need to really understand the user in order to make good decisions. Here are a few other keys to success:
- Reliability: The user's first experience with the product should be positive. It should "just work". It should be working out-of-the-box within a few minutes. Spend more time during development ensuring it installs easily and doesn't crash vs. adding features. What features are there must be solid.
- Fit 'n Finish: Were the gravity and friction capabilities on the iPod Touch really necessary for a decent user experience? No. Do they set the device apart from competitors? Yes. Do they make the device fun to use? Absolutely. Do they set the bar for interfaces on mobile devices? You bet. Nice icons, nice graphics, and little effects add up to a really positive experience with the device when combined with the other criteria listed here.
- Performance: Waiting sucks. Apple put the right hardware in the iPod Touch to ensure performance would not suffer. I am sure they spent a lot of time tuning the experience to make it snappy. Users will no longer accept sluggish software. Performance actually is a feature.
- Usability: The user interface must be incredibly intuitive such that you do not even need a user's manual. The user should be able to pick up the device and be productive within minutes. An understanding of human psychology is a requirement when developing a good interface.
As another example, how many features of Microsoft Word do you use?
Motley: Out of the 10000? Probably 20.
Maven: Exactly. A few extremely polished features will likely satisfy 80% of your users (see the Pareto Principle, or 80-20 rule). Spend time making an incredible experience for those core features, and add features once the polish is in place. Aim to delight the user.
Motley: Delight the user? That sounds a little "foo-foo" to me. What is "delight the user" supposed to mean?
Maven: Think about the Kano model, which comes from Six Sigma. A diagram illustrating the concept is shown below:
Pasted from <http://www.isixsigma.com/library/content/c030630a.asp>
The lower curve represents the basic needs of the user that must be present in the product for it to stand a chance to be successful. With the iPod Touch example, it better play MP3 files. That is a basic need that the device must fulfill, and if it didn't, it wouldn't sell, at least not as an MP3 player. These features likely won't set you apart from the competition either.
The middle curve represents those features or criteria that you can never have enough of. With the iPod Touch example, more memory, faster performance and better sound quality are always welcomed and can set the product apart from the competition.
The upper curve provides the greatest opportunity to beat competitors, and are those things that truly "delight" the user. With the iPod Touch example, the polished user interface, the flick and pan operations, the automatic playlists, etc. help set it apart from other players and make customers say: "Wow, this is a cool device!" Often these types of "features" are unexpected, but very welcome.
Motley: Interesting model. You are saying that we must met the basic needs, consider performance characteristics, but to really set ourselves apart, we need to consider those things that delight the user. This typically revolves around ideas that really catch the user's attention, and are often the result of polishing existing user experience paradigms and features.
Maven: Exactly. Although polish does not always equate to delighters, it does contribute to a solid user experience - moreso than the addition of several more half-baked features.
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Maven's Pointer: Although I (James) work for Microsoft, I will gladly give another company kudos for a job well done if it is warranted. I do own an iPod Touch and think it's a fabulous device that other MP3 players cannot keep up with. I have been extremely happy with my purchase, even though I could have gotten a significant discount (relative to other players) on one unnamed player. "It just works" really matters to me - the device and/or software needs to be polished, usable, reliable, performant (is that really a word?), and just do what I need it to do. That's not to say Microsoft doesn't make some fabulous products as well, such as OneNote, Money and Vista (yes, I am happy with Vista). Apple does a set a great example, however, when it comes to building software and devices that consumers love.
Maven's Double Pointer Indirection: There is more to Kano analysis and mentioned here. There is guidance available in some of the resources below on how to ask user positive and negative questions and plotting them on a 2-D table, to determine whether ideas are delighters, performers, or basics.
Maven's Resources:
