a half‑century of product fail

16 November 2013, 13:26

This is the final instalment of the mini‐series I ran on the usual social channels—twitter, g+, linkedin and xing—called wishful thinking breeds failed products. It distilled what I have witnessed and heard during 20 years in the (mobile) software industry.

To complete the round number of fifty, I present the final dozen + two wishful thoughts for future reference. I am curious if you recognise some of these:

‘The hardware specs are fixed, now we can start with the software design.’
‘We spent ages discussing this, trying to find a solution that pleased everyone.’
‘We thought we could spend a couple of man‐days on the low‐hanging usability fruit.’
‘The source is the ultimate documentation.’
‘There is no need to go for the gold‐taps solution.’
‘It does not hurt to have those features as well.’
‘One code base; fully cross‐platform.’
‘You have to pick your battles.’
‘Once you get familiar with the internal workings of our software, it becomes easy to use.’
‘Our specific target user group is: everyone.’
‘Our developers are very experienced; they make the UI of their modules as they see fit.’
‘We religiously adhere to the HIG.’
‘You can do that by [writing, running] a script.’
‘What do you mean “it’s all connected”? we just don’t have the time for those bits and pieces.’

ask not what this blog can do for you…

Now, what can you do? First of all, you can spread the word; share this blog post. Second, I invite you to connect via twitter, g+, linkedin, or xing; there is a new series starting, again with a thought every workday.

And third, if you recognise that some of the wishful thinking is practiced at your software project and you can and want to do something about it, then email or call us. We will treat your case in total confidence.

ps: you can check out part three if you missed it.

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If you like to ask Peter one burning question and talk about it for ten minutes, then check out his available officehours.

portrait of Peter  Peter Sikking is an experienced
interaction architect. He unabashedly puts shipping great products at the centre of his design practice. He is known for his work for Google, Nokia, the Metapolator & GIMP open source projects, and startups.

Peter teaches, mentors, lectures and publishes. He enjoys working with small teams in an international setting, but also the fact that his work can be found on half a billion mobiles and creates billion‐dollar revenues.

What is Peter up to? See his /now page.

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