- What not to cut
- Find what’s core
- Kill lame features
- What if the user…?
- But our customers want it
- Features that trigger errors
- Errors
- When features don’t matter
- Will it hurt?
- Prioritizing features
- Load
- Decisions
- Distractions
- Smart defaults
- Options and preferences
- When one option is too many
- Visual clutter
- Removing words
- Simplifying sentences
- Conversation
- Cutting time
- Removing too much
- You can do it
- Focus
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Cutting time
There’s always a cost to using any software, device, or service, even if there’s no monetary charge. Time.
Cutting features and content saves time because there are fewer decisions, fewer buttons to press, less thinking, and less reading to be done. It can also save time by making the service simpler and more efficient to build so that it is speedy to run. There’s a reason people are willing to pay more for more powerful versions of the same computer: They save us time.
There’s immediate value in improving performance. Most product owners don’t look that deep. They spend budget on the features on the surface while the infrastructure underneath creaks under the strain. When things become critical, the job of fixing it is complex and expensive.
Many people assume that the more time people spend using their app or device, the more they liked it. My experience is the opposite. Whenever I’ve cut the amount of time it took people to choose a car, buy a movie, or read some information, the result has been more revenue, happier customers, and more users.
Watch carefully while someone is using a piece of software, and you’ll be struck by how much time they spend doing nothing—staring at the screen, frowning, and hesitating. They’re thinking, and thinking is effortful and hard. Sometimes it’s useful to pause and reflect, but often it’s a chore. Save users’ mental energy for the things that really matter to them.
Time is, at best, an indirect measure of success. We assume that more time means users were satisfied or successful in their task, but the connection isn’t that simple. If people are confident, they’ll make decisions faster. If people are interacting with each other, they’ll make use of a social media site. If it takes too much time and effort to do those things, they’ll give up.
Of course, counting features and content is itself an indirect measure of the time it will take to complete a task. The thinking time is the critical part. So don’t rely on lists or designs. The only way to know for sure is to test with users. But you can be sure that saving time will matter to them.
Focus on helping people to achieve their goals quickly.
