Paul Buchheit, the creator of Google’s mantra “Don’t be evil”, its email service Gmail, and FriendFeed, wrote a blog post the other day entitled “If your product is Great, it doesn’t need to be Good.” His post is about product design.
He says:
“What’s the right approach to new products? Pick three key attributes or features, get those things very, very right, and then forget about everything else. Those three attributes define the fundamental essence and value of the product — the rest is noise. For example, the original iPod was: 1) small enough to fit in your pocket, 2) had enough storage to hold many hours of music and 3) easy to sync with your Mac (most hardware companies can’t make software, so I bet the others got this wrong). That’s it — no wireless, no ability to edit playlists on the device, no support for Ogg — nothing but the essentials, well executed.”
Paul’s also credited with saying:
“It’s better, initially, to make a small number of users really love you than a large number kind of like you.”
I think when someone suggests focusing — during the process of creating things — it’s often overlooked or brushed aside. I think that’s because focusing is hard. Making great things is hard. Often times, it takes more time, effort, efficiency, and perhaps more failure. In today’s world, focusing is becoming even harder because we crave instant gratification. But instant gratification usually only produces a short-term result. It’s [instant gratification] not concerned with the long-term.
But when you create something that’s really great, you win big. Even if you only satisfy a few people (or a single person at first), you win big. Why? Because you’re loved by these people. And love is hard to get right.
So don’t spend your time trying to please everyone, because you’ll spread yourself too thin. If you’re lucky, you’ll end up being liked by everyone. And that’s still a big if. But over the long-run that’s not worth much anyway. That’s not what’s important.
At the end of the day, love matters most.