When “Useful” Features Create an Avalanche of Problems
Good design is as much about knowing what not to include, as it is knowing what you should put into your product. Understanding why not to include some feature or element is critical to creating stellar product experiences, and it’s this type of thinking that can prevent a lot of headache for your customers down the road.
On a recent project involving a major insurance company, we were designing a tool for advisors to manage their clients’ portfolios. In the initial spec and designs, we had a simple feature: a lightweight inbox for managing communication with clients through the application, so that these advisors had a centralized location to manage these relationships.
As we started designing, something didn’t feel right. On its face, the feature seemed to make sense, and inside the context of the application, it was a natural extension of the functionality. The problem was, this feature didn’t consider what was happening in the entire experience ecosystem. In the end, we decided having this inbox functionality was going to create some big problems down the road, and we removed this large chunk of otherwise helpful functionality.
So – what happened? Why did we decide to remove a feature that seemed, on its face, to be a great addition to the product experience?
There’s more…read this whole entry
