Follow Through

One of the most common mistakes made by amateur golfers is a failure to swing through the ball. They have a tendency to pull up their eyes at the last moment, restricting their momentum just as they strike the ball. This subtle movement can make the difference between an eagle and a triple-bogey.

Product is very similar.

It only takes…

• One bug to break your product.
• One line of copy to misdirect users.
• One extra second of latency to kill engagement.
• One misinterpretation of customer use cases to render the product unusable [1].
• One oversight in user expectations of privacy to instigate backlash [2].
• One blind eye to the laws to introduce a costly lawsuit [3].

Sometimes it’s the last 10% that makes all difference. Follow through.

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[1] Skitch 2.0 was met with heavy criticism by its loyal users due to some foundational changes made to the product without understanding how users were using the product.

[2] Facebook is all too familiar with pushing the boundaries of user privacy.

[3] Path was caught uploading mobile contacts without user permission, leading to user outrage and a $800,000 FTC settlement for violating COPPA regulation.

Photo credit: HaraldMM