Insight: You break expectations by changing what someone…

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Realized by Jason F. on November 3 2011:

You break expectations by changing what someone’s already used to. You change expectations by giving them something new. Understanding the difference is key to product design.

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12 comments so far

Jenn 03 Nov 11

Fantastic quote on the day after Asana launched their Basecamp killer product.

Jenn 03 Nov 11

@37signals

FYI … you blog software has been hiccuping a lot lately.

It started serving RSS content to my web browser, instead of HTML .

The code can be found here.

Victor Scott 03 Nov 11

@Jenn Kind of a dick move to post a link to your competing product.

medlaw 03 Nov 11

I write screenplays for a hobby and it is a truism in that industry that studios want something “new” that is just like something that has previously been successful. Business talks and talks about outside the box but those products rarely make it to market. Wasn’t the iPad basically a big iPhone? Let me take a shot at reworking the quote with the above in mind.

The key to product design is to understand how to give users something they perceive to be new but actually conforms to that which they are already used to.

BTW , agree with Victor. Dick move by Jenn.

EH 03 Nov 11

Victor: And then complain about the mechanism. ;)

Jenn 03 Nov 11

@Victor, EH

I’m not in any way affiliated with Asana.

Jonathan Clarke 03 Nov 11

Asana is astounding. 2 years of dev time and million of dollars spent and all they have is a to-do list web app! It may be a very slick to-do app, but a to-do app is all it is. I was shocked.

Is that what Jason means about breaking expectations?

Matt 03 Nov 11

Jonathan Clarke

That’s be candid here, Basecamp is nothing more than a To-Do list either.

Now yes, it’s a very nice and overly simple To-Do list that I enjoy using … but it’s just a To-Do list as well.

Jonathan Clarke 04 Nov 11

@Matt, no I think Basecamp goes a lot further in creating something more meaningful and useful. Asana’s value proposition seems quite bland in comparison.

Dylan Bennett 04 Nov 11

Google Reader much?

Robert 04 Nov 11

@Dylan You took the words right out of my mouth.

Ebun 07 Nov 11

Great quote, but I also like that the post says “Realized by Jason F.” instead of “Posted by Jason F.”. It’s a seemingly minor difference, but that nuance helps paint this post as an epiphany.