Product hierarchy
AI commoditising to here and moving upwards
- MeaningfulGrowth: it keeps delivering, for buyers and users plus the company and its people
- ExperienceDelight: positive usage habits form and users become advocates
- Ease of useFrictionless: it does exactly what it says on the tin
- Look & feelTrust: new, shiny, modern... or just like everyone else's?
- Features & functionsBasic: core tasks, now cheap for everyone to build
For me, product or service quality works like a hierarchy, and each layer gives people something different. AI now builds features and functions, and much of the look and feel, to a high standard for anyone, and ease of use is following. What makes products and services differentiated is the thinking that goes into their experience, and into making them meaningful.
That’s where the time should go, into figuring out what we really should be building, as opposed to just building for building’s sake.
Read the full argument in Meaningful Doesn’t Need the Word Better
The Hooked Model canvas
- 1 What internal trigger is the product addressing?
- 2 What external trigger gets the user to the product?
- 3 What is the simplest behavior in anticipation of reward?
- 4 Is the reward fulfilling, yet leaves the user wanting more?
- 5 What “bit of work” is done to increase the likelihood of returning?
The Hooked Model is Nir Eyal’s work, and his full Hooked canvas shaped how I think about the experience layer. I’m building on top of it. There’s a trigger, an action, a reward and an investment, and around that loop a good experience turns into a habit, and users come back.
From Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal, NirAndFar.com
Marty Cagan's empowered product team
- ProductValue riskwill people buy it, or choose to use it?
- DesignUsability riskcan users figure out how to use it?
- TechnicalFeasibility riskcan we build it with the time, skills, and technology we have?
- Better outcomes togetherBusiness viability riskwill this solution work for the various dimensions of our business?
The empowered product team is Marty Cagan’s work, and it’s another foundation I build on. In a recent talk, Marty puts business viability first, as more important than he once gave it credit for. With development and deployment becoming such a commodity, people are talking about how you can build anything. The question becomes whether you should. That’s why empowered product teams need to become stronger, not weaker, with clear business goals, so product, design and technical get to better outcomes together.
From Empowered by Marty Cagan, SVPG.com