When added feature actually improved user’s lives

Here is a powerful example where adding a feature actually leads to a positive outcome for the users. This one comes from a real-life case that relates to a non-digital product. It’s a strong lesson in product design.

The other day, I stumbled upon the mess in front of my garage door that led to the car elevator. There were three cars waiting to enter. The car elevator is slow, and the street is narrow with no place to park. As a driver, you wish your car elevator to be instantly present so you don’t have to wait on the street when you park.

The issue is that the elevator usually takes one minute to lift up from the underground.

I called the maintenance technician, complaining about the issue. He proposed a fantastic yet simple solution:

"Why don’t we program the elevator so that it lifts up automatically a few minutes after the car is parked in the garage? By doing that, drivers won’t have to wait for it on the street. This will solve the issue."

I agreed. Guess what? The jam on the street disappeared on the day when this simple "feature" was added to the elevator operating system.

Lesson learned: A well-planned feature will actually improve users’ lives. It could come from research, from tacit knowledge, from experience, but it could never come from a business stakeholder wishlist.

When designing a product, try to map every feature to user value (or better, to multiple values). Features are means, not ends. They fail miserably when features become the goal themselves.

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