I strongly believe product simplicity and predictability are a superpower. They give the user a sense of control, which is a gift when the world feels so complicated.
A lot has been written about trust, but it almost always comes down to making small deposits consistently over time. I appreciate this variation on the same theme.
Ami, the ideas here resonate very much. My teams are having similar experience with AI experiences as you laid out: “It added more friction, but it built trust faster and got our users comfortable with the new AI toolset”
So much of what you’re talking about is the connection between building trust and building confidence. Software that focuses only on “task completion” can miss this important point; some “friction” is necessary and beneficial to users, in situations where confidence is the biggest hurdle.
This one resonates deeply. I remember when I led Discovery experiences at Shopify. I naively assumed that we'd bedazzle all users by magically showing the most relevant products in storefronts and search results. Thankfully, early customer engagement during ideation showed that customers want controls (that are simple to use). They want to be able to have a say in how their storefronts show up. In fact many saw these controls are foundational to their craft and business values.
A lot has been written about trust, but it almost always comes down to making small deposits consistently over time. I appreciate this variation on the same theme.
Love this article so much. It reminds me completely of my master thesis project!
https://www.politesi.polimi.it/handle/10589/153775
This is refreshing because in a world where we are optimizing for engagement, I think we should be optimizing for building trust.
Ami, the ideas here resonate very much. My teams are having similar experience with AI experiences as you laid out: “It added more friction, but it built trust faster and got our users comfortable with the new AI toolset”
So much of what you’re talking about is the connection between building trust and building confidence. Software that focuses only on “task completion” can miss this important point; some “friction” is necessary and beneficial to users, in situations where confidence is the biggest hurdle.
Another banger from Ami the great 🤩
This one resonates deeply. I remember when I led Discovery experiences at Shopify. I naively assumed that we'd bedazzle all users by magically showing the most relevant products in storefronts and search results. Thankfully, early customer engagement during ideation showed that customers want controls (that are simple to use). They want to be able to have a say in how their storefronts show up. In fact many saw these controls are foundational to their craft and business values.
❤️ 🙏🏽
Love this article Ami, all of your articles may contain 1000 words but the wisdom carry bring 10x change in teams.
Action is the antidote to fear. Very wise words. I think you said it better than when I wrote action beats anxiety.
You inspired me to outline better each step of my signup process to let users know why we need each piece of information.
https://stoicproductmanager.substack.com/p/action-over-anxiety