If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good.

Key ideas

Buchheit argues new consumer products should nail about three essential things and cut or half-ass the rest, because a compelling core matters more than a complete feature list.

1. 1

   Distrust the complaint about missing features

   Buchheit writes that reviews of the iPod and iPad fixate on absent features, often ones already found in unsuccessful rival products. He believes the idea that more features means better is the root of this misjudgment and a reason otherwise smart people are bad at product design.

2. 2

   Pick three things and get them right

   Buchheit's method is to choose three key attributes, which he says define the product's essence and value, and to treat the rest as noise. He describes the original iPod as small enough for a pocket, able to hold many hours of music and easy to sync with a Mac, with little else.

3. 3

   Launch thin outside the core

   Buchheit says Gmail launched with room for all of your email and an interface built on conversations and search, while secondary features were minimal or absent. He adds that other features can come later, but they cannot rescue a basic product that is not compelling.

4. 4

   Use the cut to find the essence

   Buchheit argues that limiting the first version forces you to find the product's true value, and that a product needing everything to be good is probably not very innovative, though it might be a nice upgrade to something existing. He asks founders whether at least 80% of their effort goes to their top three features.

5. 5

   Know where the advice stops

   Buchheit says this probably only applies to consumer products, where the purchaser is also the user, and that this includes some business products. For markets whose purchasing processes carry long lists of feature requirements, he suggests you should probably produce as many features as possible instead of spending time on simplicity.

In Paul’s words

What’s available here

• Original source

  Linked. Opens on the publisher’s site.

• Player on this page

  Not applicable. Written piece; nothing to play.

• Full text or transcript

  Not reviewed. No license to show a text version here.

• Our summary

  Draft. Written by us with AI from the full public text and checked against it; quotes are word for word. Not yet rights-reviewed.

• Ask questions with AI

  Not reviewed. Off until there is licensed text to work from.