This Isn’t for You

Design

It always astounds me how few companies are comfortable saying “this isn’t for you.”

Your product will never please 100% of the people 100% of the time. Trying to make your social network less social for the people who don’t want to interact with others is a mistake. Trying to make a multiplayer-focused game fantastic for single-player aficionados is a losing strategy.

The best products strive to be fantastic for a limited set of use cases, and don’t worry about the rest.

Sure, other people will use your product. But Product Design is a game of tradeoffs and sacrifices. Let the users who want something else go somewhere else that can provide it better than you.