Hacker News Reader

Comment by jbogp | Hacker News Reader

This is very true. I actually tried to make a poll. It worked pretty well I have to say.

But again it was skewed towards the people ready to take time to answser so the answser were mainly very enthusiastic which I know now doesn't represent the majority of the users

View on HN

This seems like the Innovator's Dilemma as it relates to any product or service that can be used casually but also has "power users".

Power users are a mixed blessing.

Pros: they give you many ideas what to do. Often they're your best word-of-mouth evangelists.

Cons: If you take their requests too literally, they can drive the product/service into becoming something with too-narrow appeal and poor learnability. (However, if you don't listen to them, enough, they get mad and maybe you lose their evangelism, or worse it turns into anti-evangelism.)

That's the great thing about software: it can be configured to meet different needs at the same time. So tired of the "it can appeal to new users or power users" false dichotomy that drives all software toward the lowest common denominator. It's like the mindless, constant-growth dogma has spread from the stock market to software developers who care more about "market share" and mass appeal than craftsmanship and usefulness.

Although I agree it's possible (and so "dilemma" is hyperbole), in my own experience it's quite challenging to pile on the features while retaining a simpler experience for more casual users.

Realistically: The early-adopter power-users will want their new features relatively quickly. It takes significant discipline and foresight to add them in a way that won't complicate and compromise the simpler experience. Yes you can hide options, etc., but eventually the complexity can start poking through.

Of course that's just my experience as a developer and user of many programs; you may be smarter and/or luckier than me.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com