Techie’s Product Vs End User’s Product

The purpose of this article is to emphasise the importance of designing and building a product from an End User’s Usability perspective. History shows the failure of many such products when designed otherwise.

• Microsoft Windows OS Vs MacIntosh OS in the 2000s
• Microsoft Office Email Vs Lotus Email.
• Apple iPod vs the rest of the portable MP3 players.
• Apple iPad vs the Rest of the Tablets.
• Facebook Vs Google Circles
• WhatsApp Vs Telegram and the rest.?

What is a Techie’s Product?

A Product that is designed only from an Engineer’s perspective. Business Requirements converted into Products by Engineering Teams without an in-depth understanding of how the product will be used by the End users. In short, I call it, “Designing for the Requirements rather than its Usability.”? ?

User’s Product

A User’s product is built with one primary design thinking in mind - How will my User use this product? You will still follow all the Product Management processes such as?

1. Requirement Analysis and Technical Feasbility
2. Design
3. Build
4. Test?

A Product Manager would always be looking at the product in each of the above stages from an End User perspective and make necessary changes if there are any discrepancies in meeting the usability goals of the product.?

Simple Usability Practices to keep in mind during Product Design

1. Error Messages - Should be simple and clear. It should provide actions for the user to take.
2. Aesthetics - Colour and Graphics should be pleasing and match with the Business domain that the product is catering to.?
3. Forms - Simple and Easy to fill. Break into multiple sections and pages, if necessary. Provide options to go back and change form entries.?
4. Mobile Apps should not be used for Long content creation. Use it mainly for content viewing, simple actions to be performed and notifications to the user.
5. If you see a need to add a "Help" page, understand that you have not designed your application well. E.g., You do not see a help page in iPhone.?
6. If you have a complex process, add an optional video to explain the process before the user can complete the Transaction/Process in your product.?
7. Keep in mind - Images and Icons can convey more useful information than only text. Do not under-estimate the value of a UI Designer.
8. Do not build a Tool for multi-purpose use. This can confuse a user on what the primary use of that tool is. Be clear on the primary goals of your product and you can do value additions in line with the primary goals.?

The Present and the Future

I am listing some of the latest technologies where design thinking is still in its early stages and I believe it is one of the reasons why these technologies are not being adopted by non-tech users in a massive scale. ?

• IoT - Design it in such a way that the Business value use cases are segregated from Device Management and Device Configuration Use cases.?
• DeFi/Blockchain - Keep the Blockchain technical complexity away from the UI. A Blockchain DeFi Transaction should be as simple for the user as an Online Banking Transaction.? ?
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Today, many AI applications are expecting their Users to know Complex Queries, Models and Tools to get the desired results. I like the way Amazon has built the Recommendation Engines in their E-commerce App. Even though it is a simple AI, I like it for its ease of use. End Users should see the output from AI rather than thinking about how to use it.?

To summarise, every Product Manager should know the basic Usability Engineering principles and every Organisation should empower the Product Team to apply those usability principles to build a successful and sustainable product for the market.

References: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/