I’m Slip-ping
Fine Quotes on Simplicity
Much has been said about Moore’s Technology Adoption Curve and the difficulty of getting consumers to “cross the chasm” to achieve success in the marketplace. Today I was wondering whether the simplest solution to help consumers make the jump across the chasm is to just focus on ensuring that your product embodies simplicity. This may seem like a simplistic answer, but it does help to explain why products with simple operation, simple concept, simple marketing message do manage to succeed.
Perhaps the more question is what happens after the early and late majority adopts the product? Consumers bore of the simplicity of the device and desire more. Complexity is sprinkled over the product to enhance the emotion-al attachment to spice up the relationship. Does simplicity pull them in initially for the first date, and then complexity reels them in further to make for a steamy relationship?
Some stay wed to their devices/objects forever; others go looking for a new fling. differences is a good thing.
8 Responses to “Crossing the Chasm”
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The tech world in particular is replete with examples of where simplicity has helped cross the chasm, and where the lack of it has caused failure. But there are many types of simplicity, and product simplicity is only one of the factors. Palm’s Pilot succeeded because it stripped away the un-necessary (though provided a framework for third parties to add it back in for niche or power users). Microsoft’s products are rarely simple, but they crossed the chasm by partnering with IBM to create a simple business choice in the early days of the PC.
Also, the product simplicity and the message of the marketing simplicity I’m not sure need to be 100% aligned (though they should not be at odds, but they may emphasize different things). An example is TiVo, where they used a piece of the VCR metaphor to simplify the message of what the product was about, but this spoke to only a part of the product functionality and not the part that people actually found the most compelling. I argued in a post a little while back that they picked the *wrong* metaphor which hurt their promise of simplifying one’s life: [link to “Metaphors are a Double Edged Sword]
I like your point about alignment between marketing message of “simplicity” and actual product design achieving simplicity. Maybe I am one of the few people that don’t own a TiVo just for the reason you point out.
Designing a piece of software is a balancing act between meeting the needs of the ‘average’ user while not alienating beginner or advanced users. The goal should be to provide the possibility for the beginner to become the ‘average’ user and the tools for the ‘average’ user to become a power or advanced user. That said … it’s incredibly difficult, and most software would fail on this rubric - but it’s a worthwhile pursuit.
Agreed.
But I did an electronic double-take when I thought that your comment was about an ongoing thread. “Beginner.” “Average user.” “Professional”. I think there’s another category of user after Professional: “RSI’d” …
I think the chasm can be understood in part in “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell. One naive question to ask is, “How is the simplicity of an idea, concept or product related to its adoption via the mechanism that lead to a tipping point?”
I’m a fan of Gladwell’s Tipping Point like millions of other folks. Regarding his newer Blink the jury’s still out on whether it’s true that complex inferences can occur in an instant because my psychologist friend Prof. Dan Ariely literally freaks out whenever somebody mentions Blink.
Perhaps it can be said that simplicity is a useful catalyst for crossing the chasm. How many such conditions there are may be the deeper question that needs to be addressed. I hope I (or anybody else) can figure it out in a blink.
My thoughts on Simplicity and the Apple announcements about iPhones and AppleTV are at http://snipurl.com/17uiv
It seems that simply thinking beyond “tasks to be done” to what will support my journey through the day leads to innovation the consumer wants to “pull” rather than new “stuff” the producer wants to push. It takes more effort to push a “wobbly” concept than it does to hang on to one that is being pulled!
Definitely a clear thought Jim. Relevance is a great attractor as compared to irrelevance marketed as necessity or desire. John