Future-proofing your designs

This time, rather than sharing a story I'm sharing a question.

Which part of your product design do you think will sustain a test of time?

When I look at the products I helped define and design over five years ago at HeadBox, I see that they have become almost entirely different. There isn't a single feature that has not been modified. User number one on the platform is still me but this has zero utility.

It happens to all software as it continues to adapt to customer needs. It's normal.

Some features may survive longer than others. And I bet the actual outcomes can easily surprise you. Features you've considered a masterpiece would be replaced. Others may stick around long, even though they seemed nonessential at first.

The Artlebedev design studio has delivered hundreds of product designs over the years. Their most known design is the logo of Yandex. But their most successful design is the remote control for BBK DVD players. There are millions of those pieces worldwide and they continue to be manufactured today. No customer knows who designed the remotes but the adoption is unimaginable.

All this really is just another reason to feel humble about your solutions. Most of them will be filtered out.

Pick your own takeaway:

• You don't win through future-proof design, you win via natural selection.
• You can't outsmart the market, you can only outlive it.
• An infinite game is wiser than a finite game.

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Perhaps this has also been bugging you for a while. Or maybe you've never thought there could be more than one answer. Either way, I invite you to pause and look at this closely.

It's healthy to challenge your defaults in a while.

If you feel like sharing your answer hit reply—I'd love your thoughts.

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Truly yours, Sergey Soloviov