The secret behind mass adoption

Jonathan Schwartz from Sun has some really good things to say in this Fast Company article. He talks about simplicity changing the world and convenience is the force multiplier. I wholeheartedly concur. Software designers are notorious for putting more functionality, gizmos, buttons after each release to win the mandatory bakeoffs. Customers are also to blame since often they want the best of everything regardless of whether they'll use the features or not.

What we should never forget is our target audience. More often than not, they are ordinary folk who want you to help them make their lives simpler not more complex. The equation that comes to mind is "delivered value - cost of change = adoption". For the public to adopt your solution, you have to make sure the equation is positive, i.e. the value the customer receives is worth the trouble to pay and learn a new way of doing something, otherwise, it doesn't matter whether you have a better mousetrap if he or she can't figure where to put the cheese!

Jonathan must be a cool dude, he leaves us with two thoughts that carry me through today. "When you do what you love, you can't lose" and "ultimately, everything is personal."

If you've started, keep moving...if you're moving, don't stop...maybe life is that simple.