Inspired by this post Functioning From: Interface Design, "What is Product Excellence?"....

Technology products often follow a reasonably well understood lifecycle. I just recently blogged about it in a slightly different context.

Donald Norman in this book, in his book, The Invisible Computer puts it this way:

When the technology reaches the point where it satisfies basic needs, then improvements in the technology lose their glamour. Now customers seek efficiency, reliability, low cost, and convenience. Moreover, new kinds of customers keep entering the market as the product matures. In the early phases were the early adopters, those who were willing to gamble on the new technology because they felt the benefits far exceeded the costs. More conservative customers held back, waiting for the technology to prove itself, to become reliable. This is the cycle of market adoption described by Geoffrey Moore in his book Crossing the Chasm (see figure 2.3).

It can be a painful realization for a product developer when the type of improvements and the new functionality shift from a pure checklist of features for early adopters to a more refined, reliable, and elegantly simple product. The message from customers changes from "feature A, B, C must be done, to please make it easier to do features C, D, and E." Shifting from one methodology to another can be disastrous if not handled carefully.

At the very time when a company needs to step back and take a new look at itself, when it needs to reorganize and restructure, the financial story puts severe pressures on its ability to do this. Time is the one thing it does not have. Suddenly, it has to meet market requirements, but the old guard wants to do it by adding yet more new technology, bringing out new products at an ever-faster rate, and fighting the falling revenues by cutting back on the size of the company. It is a tumultuous time. Geoffrey Moore called it a "tornado."³

How does a company prevent this from happening? I've been following a few software products recently current in beta, with an interest in purchasing a few. These products are clearly falling into the lifecycle. I've read the forums and see all of the feature requests from early adopters and promises from the development staff. At some point, in version 2 or version 3 though, the product has ceased to be an early adopter product -- and will likely have crossed over the transition point Donald Norman suggests in his book:

 

By the transition point though, most software applications have pages of switches, and options by which the application can be controlled.

For example, Visual Studio 2008:

I didn't attempt to count, but there must be hundreds of options within. The vast majority of the options cater to the small percentage of vocal early adopters. I don't change very many options in an new installation any more -- even though they finally added the ability to copy settings from one installation to another.

How does a mature product like Visual Studio "go simple?" Do you risk alienating your early adopters? Do you create two different versions? These are tough questions. For Microsoft and Visual Studio, early adopters are often their "most valuable professionals" these days. Hardly the group you want to push away.

Microsoft demonstrated in Office 2007 that it is possible to rethink a user interface in an attempt to simply it and make it more appealing to the general consumer. The Office team was concentrating on user experience, no longer a feature "war" like they had been fighting for the last 10 years. There was grumbling sure, and complaining, some people resist change at all costs. But overall, it was well received. I still hunt around for a few options occasionally -- but the things I need are generally in the "right" place. It's been long enough since I switched that I've forgotten the struggles of using old versions already.

What do you do when you're already at the curve's transition point? How do you adapt? Hindsight only helps prevent a future reoccurrence -- but even then the tendency of typical software development and design suggests this pattern is difficult to avoid. (If you are a user of the product you sell, it may be easier to avoid).

Once you've hit that transition point, you either need to change, add new products, accept mediocrity, or retire. Change is most painful, but most likely to lead to renewed interest in your product and sales.