I’ve recently noticed more companies taking a slow, but very thoughtful approach to their product development. One of the first companies where I’ve noticed this was Apple. As far as the iPhone goes, they’ve always been known to introduce new features at a slower pace than Android. Quite often becoming subject to mocking ads from Samsung because of it.
The thing is, when they do decide to release a new feature it’s usually better executed than its counterpart. And guess what? The latest data shows that 87% of American teens owns an iPhone. So Apple must be doing something right?
Other companies that I’ve noticed taking a similar approach include Cultured Code (The makers of Things) and my favorite travel app Flighty. They are both very simple apps at their core, but they are just so well built. And both of them take a fairly long time before coming with major updates, but once they do you can rest assured that it’s extremely well executed!
This makes me think of changing my approach as well. And I think this is something that doesn’t go for just product design, and it’s important for service design as well.
I believe it’s better to offer less features or less options, and only add more once you have designed them really well. There will always be people that are looking for just the things that you do offer. And for the ones that are looking for more? Well, would you rather disappoint them now with an inferior offering and never see them back or be able to tracht out to them a year or two from now to let them know you can finally offer them what they are looking for at a quality that you’re proud of?
