How Great Products Are Built

In a previous blog post, I discussed how being pure in terms of engineering process (agile scrum vs. waterfall) doesn’t make sense. I covered the necessity of understanding individual skills, culture, etc. as a precursor to driving the most out of team members. Over time, the team further gels and builds momentum by feeding off individual energy, trust, and commitment. My colleague, Ashish Prasad, wrote about this in his blog post about the Engineering War Room for Evoq Social.

It Tastes Good?

Recently, while helping to jumpstart a new product solution at DNN Corp, I had the occasion to ponder another important aspect of engineering process: design. A co-worker, Kevin Tufts (UI/UX Designer) wrote about the importance of sketching in the design process  I’d like to look more deeply at design as a precursor, rather than jumping quickly into code. But rather than focusing on software, let’s look at something different: chocolate. Yes, chocolate!

Let’s face it, most people enjoy chocolate. But how many people associate the creation of fine chocolate with design? Not many! Sure, they think about trial and error formulas, blended into creative mixtures of elements, which play with the sense of taste and smell. However, there is another aspect of this process and it concerns presentation: the presentation of the delightful treat itself.

Let’s look at Ferrero Roche. You may have seen their commercials on TV. They convey suave elegance to highlight the candy’s exquisite taste. In so doing, it’s impossible to ignore the elegant gold packaging atop a dark brown paper tray, in addition to comments about the chocolate’s excellence.

If you’ve had occasion to try a Ferrero Roche, you know its sumptuous qualities. It delights the pallet! The company describes the delicacy as “smooth chocolaty cream surrounding a whole hazelnut; with a delicate, crisp wafer, all enveloped in milk chocolate.”

BUT, did you also take note of the packaging?

Gold wrapping, red letters, the brown paper tray: how it’s gently stuck together. Pulls open simply. Beauty, ease, taste: a complete experience!

Novices and Experts Really Want the Same Thing

This experience is not unlike what we want in software. We want customers to feel an emotional connection with our products. We want them to quickly recognize and repeatedly savor their value.

There is no silver bullet for realizing these results. However, there are parallels to fine chocolate. It’s all about the experience, and stepping through it top to bottom, frequently during the course of a project. With strict attention to detail and the willingness to be demanding, team members can and will deliver the goods.

It’s easy to cite the need for extensive, detailed mockups. That’s pretty obvious. What’s tricky is how to define these mockups; how to arrive at a point where they can take shape. It requires time spent observing and constructing user personas whose actions are carefully mirrored in drawings.

Whether computer-generated or drawn by hand, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is realism in terms of actions taken and the purpose behind those actions. Stepping carefully through those, questions are asked as to why each action is taken, what objects are desired, and how tasks can be simplified. This is a painstaking, iterative process which has no shortcuts.

You Can Be Agile and Still Think Ahead

Image source: Jordanhill School D&T Dept on flickr.

Modeling behavior is a good way to start the process of working with mockups, but it’s the tip of the iceberg. There is no substitute for continually revisiting objectives, pondering how process steps can be eliminated, how steps can be simplified to such a degree that the product’s operation becomes obvious.

When that point is reached, it’s easy to refine for improved viewing (e.g. contrasts and shading), make pleasing to the eye (e.g. colors) and become intuitive (e.g. animations). With good balance between these attributes, a well-working product that is correctly priced for value stands a good chance of success.

Conclusion

So let’s revisit the parallel to a finely prepared and packaged chocolate candy, like Ferrero Roche. There is no substitute to forethought, i.e. design. It’s great to be fast and agile with code, but if you don’t get the mixture right from the start, the result won’t be delectable. Obvious value; great preparation; simplified access and repeatability of that value make for a product that’s impossible to pass up. Emotional tie established.

Enjoy!