By Marty Cagan · svpg.com · LinkedIn
Marty Cagan argues that removing usability problems and bugs only gets a product to the absence of pain, which is not the same as delighting users. Great products cause pleasure, sometimes from raw value, but often from something intangible that users struggle to articulate. Usability tests are a useful warm-up, and the follow-up conversation after a test is where product teams can discover the spark that resonates with users. That spark may come from specific 'inspiring' features or from the overall flavor and design of the product. Product people therefore need to design deliberately for pleasure, not just usability.
01Key takeaways
- Removing bugs and usability friction is valuable but only gets a product to the absence of pain.
- Usability tests are a warm-up; the discussion that follows reveals where delight may lie.
- Watch for the moment a user's reaction shows a spark and investigate whether you can build on it.
- Pleasure may come from overall design flavor, not only from individual features.
- Design explicitly for pleasure as well as for usability.
02Key sections
- Pain versus pleasure
- Cagan contrasts fixing bugs and usability issues, which removes pain, with what makes users genuinely excited. Eliminating obstacles is necessary but not sufficient.
- Sources of pleasure
- Pleasure can come from tangible value such as saving money or providing critical data, or from less tangible qualities that users find hard to name.
- Learning from the post-test dialogue
- The conversation right after a usability test is where teams learn the most about a product's potential to delight, since users are reacting to something real rather than guessing.
- Inspiring features and overall design
- Some delight comes from specific features built for this purpose, while other pleasure stems from the overall flavor and design of the product.
03From the post
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Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.