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I used Strava’s latest AI feature for a week—here’s how it went
Aliens, car crashes, and a deep dive into my fitness stats.
The majority of new features fall flat. It’s a fact.
- 70% to 95% of new product launches show no measurable impact
- 80% of features are never used — not even once
As a result of ‘feature bloat’ and other issues, engineers end up spending up to 13 hours a week on tech debt, on average.
I myself have launched a lot of features that haven’t worked. As have most PMs. But failing is good as long as you’re learning.
But a lot of the time, feature flops are brushed under the rug. Hush hush and move on.
In the past couple of years, I’ve learned how to avoid features that flop. But it’s still so common across the industry. These days, I find it hard to get excited for new feature launches.
I’m more of a cynic.
So, when Strava launched their new AI feature, I thought:
Great, not another one..
But how wrong I was.
I tried out Strava’s new Athlete Intelligence feature for a week and it turned out to be one of the most surprisingly delightful moments I’ve had in a while.
Possibly in over a year (at least since Spotify’s daylist feature, which I’ve now stopped using, ironically).
So, I wanted to look at the launch, the feature and the UX in detail to work out why this feature launch in particular has gone well (and where it hasn’t).
Stay tuned for aliens, car crashes, and a deep dive into my fitness stats.
October 2024 Beta Launch
I first downloaded Strava five years ago in 2019, then upgraded to paid in February 2023 for the segments.
Started in 2009, Strava is one of the biggest fitness apps in the world, now with 125 million users in 190 countries.
