Strategy + Design

Do products dream of living forever?

A designer’s dive into longevity in software products.

iTunes, Inbox, and dozens of other software were proud to say that they were perfectly fine, thank you very much.

Are they though?

Eternal designs

Chairs, shoes, pants, railway tracks, buildings… The early design ideas of these things have remained timeless. They have stood the test of time for hundreds of years. Dieter Rams must have been proud.

These ideas are of physical things. Tangible things that can be touched by humans. We don’t have to create new affordances in them that don’t necessarily serve. Hence they have remained eternally functional.

Being a product designer of the internet age, I am more interested in the longevity of the design of software products. I would like to understand if there are ways to make these products last for a longer period of time.

We know that software products leverage on technology to make tedious processes simpler for humans. They are unlike physical products by their very nature. They are logical and perceptive. We can’t get a hold of them (other than the devices that act as their hosts) but we can well experience their effects and gains.

However, it is always easier to replace these software products with newly updated, completely reformed, efficient technologies. When these innovations happen at a fast pace, the old designs die early and prematurely (sometimes rightly so).

If you have read Nassim Taleb’s books, you might be aware of the concept called Lindy Effect. It says that any non-perishable thing like technology or software will have a longer life expectancy with each additional day of its presence in the world — meaning, the life expectancy of anything is directly proportional to its current age.

So how can we make sure that our products last longer than right now? To understand that, we need to know why they are having a difficult time surviving in the first place.

Exclusive but equally broken software

I am interested in covering one important reason for the low survival rate of software products these days. It’s the behavior of having to use multiple products that serve the same need. I will get to why it is bad for the products’ survival in a few paragraphs.

Now, if you notice, we have a polyamorous relationship with different products that more or less serve the same need. Consider streaming services for example. We will be happy to subscribe to one service that has all the shows that we want to watch. But instead, we end up subscribing to three or four of similar services that don’t offer anything better in terms of viewing experience except for that one show that isn’t available elsewhere.

We can translate the same analogy to software products like communication tools, food ordering apps, ride-sharing services, digital wallets, social media tools and more. We use a particular wallet when we are after its exclusive coupons. We login to a particular food ordering app for a restaurant it delivers from. Otherwise, we are comfortable using similar competitor apps when we aren’t looking for any specificity.

Survival hindrance

When products compete over exclusivity — because of intellectual rights to content/technology or powerful linkups with banks/big institutions, they end up monopolizing the market, making it difficult for new competitors to take part in the game.

This leads to products that are equally broken in quality but just have one or two exclusive things that are difficult to replicate by others. Now you see why this is bad for survival.

This market capturing strategy of exclusivity is a pathway to a product’s expiry. Because monopolizing the market is not good for the users. They will have no choice but to pay whatever price the company sets. Users are locked-in, even though they would like to explore better quality products. If users are forced to stay with a product, they will leave or make a solution in-house if found a chance.

Moreover, when a product is leveraging on exclusivity, innovation takes a hit. All of the focus and resources will go towards maintaining the relationship with important partners that contribute to exclusivity. This means it is hard to keep the attention on the users’ experience.

Designer’s role in longevity

With this context, let’s drive back home. How can we designers help design products’ longevity? Quite simply because if products have a longer usable life, it means they are serving the users’ needs effectively and we are doing a good enough job!

Understand the problem space

The first step is to understand the problem space inside out. By problem space, I mean the users’ needs and the technology that can help achieve their goals. If business decisions are made in such a way that innovations and experience design aren’t given the primary focus, for the reason that the key partners don’t require any, explain why that is detrimental to the product’s survival.

Involve users and speak up for them

We should proactively learn to understand users and the business during pre- and post solution phases. Getting users involved at every step means that they understand the importance of their roles within the design of products. Keeping the real user needs in mind is everything. Let’s be their spokespeople!

Be a strategist

“The best designers are business strategists.”

Design is not just about screens and interactions anymore. Every part of a product’s experience is designed as part of the holistic strategy. We need to drive innovations faster by melding design and strategy together.

If companies are separating business and design activities, there is a higher possibility of false assumptions about user preferences getting in the way. As designers, it is important to involve ourselves at the very beginning of product creation, so we can share users’ responses and attitudes with the team, as the business case is being developed.

I know that it takes courage to take ourselves out of the design bubble and talk to business thinkers about our reasonings. Maybe, we can think of it this way — the designs that we make today might not make sense tomorrow if we don’t actively engage.

Designing is magical, so is sustainability.

Next time, you are given a screen to design, I want you to think of whether you’re helping the product live longer.

Thank you for reading. ❤

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