Swiss Army Knives
The Swiss army knife is a remarkable product. By combining many products of low utility, it becomes a product of some utility. One of the rare occasions where a core product is improved by bolting on mediocre features.
Some look at a Swiss army knife and see power & flexibility. They argue that it can do everything. Why buy a USB stick, just get the Swiss army knife that has one included?
Others see a collection of useless tools. A useless saw. A blade that Mick Dundee would laugh at. A dirty toothpick, a tiny scissors. The worlds worst screwdrivers. What a mess. I see similar traits in software apps. You know the sort. “It records bugs, it visualises web traffic, it has a to-do list, it even makes french fries…”
When you’re drawing the line around your software, make sure you’re not leaving in marginal utility features in an attempt to add more value. These little wannabe-features hang around unloved, bloating your app, hogging the UI and adding to maintenance costs.
Prioritizing Features
To make sure your features are worthwhile look at how many of your customers will be using the feature, and how often. This gives you a sense of what’s valuable. Let’s start with the following diagram.
Next we plot out the features being discussed, I’ve put in features from a typical project management app as an example.
It’s clear to see that some features are more worthwhile than others. I’ve color coded the key areas.
Focus your efforts on the top right. Doubling down on those features there adds far more value than bolting on more toothpicks. If “Upload file” is something everyone uses all the time then it’s worth making sure you’ve got a great uploader, whether it’s drag and drop, or progress bars, or whatever else helps.
The amber sections represent danger. If you’re building features that only a small sliver of your customer base heavily depend on, your product is doing more than it should. These customers won’t be happy if you remove these features, but they’re worth very little to you. You can try hiding them behind preferences, but be careful. This line of thinking leads you away from a cohesive product and toward consultingware, where your product is a mixed bag of mediocre features. It’s at that point you start telling people “It’s the swiss army knife“.
When you’ve a wish-list full of features that “sound like a good idea”, simply ask Who’ll use it, and how often?
Our product Intercom is excellent for letting app owners talk to your, get to know them and gather feedback.
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