Most software vendors struggle to make their software better. We add functionalities, we improve performance, we fix bugs. We follow strategic vision which tells us where our application sucks… I mean is very good but should be pushed closer to perfection. Unfortunately it is the vision which sucks so often because we focus on wrong areas.
Yes, new features make sales easier but they rarely make users happy. Generalizing a bit, most users don’t use the most new features delivered in a new version. Users follow their old, well-known paths. If you want to make users happy you should track those paths to see where they can be improved.
I see many examples how it is screwed up these days. When I shoot at Google Docs or OpenProj it is because my frustration grows when I try to follow the most basic, yet the most frequently used, tasks delivered by the software. And while I like both I still come back to their old-school Redmond-based alternatives.
Similar situation I found today with MindMeister. It is web-based mind-mapper. Probably the nicest-looking web-based business software I’ve seen so far. It looks nice, is free (for basic features) and delivers functionality you need from that kind of software. Nothing more I could have expected. Except of doing the basic things right. The frustration can appear quite fast when you can’t delete a node in a mind-map or change connections between nodes, no matter how hard you try. These are the most often used features. They should work. OK, they work. Most of the time. Actually they work 99% of the time. But that’s not enough.
Although I use mind-mappers rather rarely I like MindMeister much. It’s a piece of well done work. Unfortunately small issues affect a bit that nice picture. They are small but happen in the area where they should not. The one which is the most frequently used.
That’s just another example that when you want to make your users happy (or happier) you should adjust your vision to include the work on the things which your users use the most often. With complex application the quality and usability can differ depending on areas/functions/modules we consider. Focus on those which make your users frustrated with everyday use and fix them. That won’t bring you direct sales (as new features would) but content user will spread the word.
And the good user is the happy one.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Our team launched a new collaborative web-based mind mapping tool called Comapping. It is worth checking it out at comapping.com.
Thanks for information. Although I’m not a regular user of mind-mappers I believe they can be helpful tool on different stages of software development life cycle.