Friction

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Today I was talking to my friend about a product idea that requires users to take a very simple action to derive value from it. She thought that the product might have an issue with stickiness if it requires users to take an explicit action on regular basis. The reason that Mint works so well is because user is not required to take any action or change his normal routine in any manner. It pulls the necessary data from the bank servers.

The discussion reminded me of something I read in an innovation strategy book about continuous vs. discontinuous innovation. Even a small friction in value delivery can reduce the adoption and stickiness of the product. Users are less likely to adopt to discontinuous innovation, unless the value they derive from the effort to learn or perform an extra action is higher than the effort.

User Interface Design vs. Visual Design

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As a product manager, I have been reading a lot about design issues lately.It took me a long time to comprehend just how important(even more than engineering) design is for success of the product. No matter how great your engineering team is, it needs to be told on what to build.

I often debate what is more important, User Interface Design or Visual Design? Truth be told, both are equally important, but if I had to choose one, I would lean towards usability design. In essence the interaction of the user with your product and how easily he gets to do what he intends to do with the product is supremely important.

You could have an OK visual design, but a great user interface design and have a hit product on your hand. Good example is Google itself. But no matter how great your visual UI design is, if the product is not well designed for user interaction, it will not have a long shelf life.

I am trying to use many of these principles at Faqden Labs and I will continue writing about my experiences and thoughts.

If you are at MIT, 6.831 is an amazing course on User Interface Design( http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.831/2011/handouts/gr1-analysis/gr1.shtml)