{"id":5565,"date":"2013-10-16T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-16T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=2862"},"modified":"2020-03-30T19:12:03","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T23:12:03","slug":"less-is-more-simplify-your-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/less-is-more-simplify-your-products","title":{"rendered":"Less is more: simplify your products"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"simplicity\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In a world with so much noise, where everything tries to be bigger and better than it\u2019s competitor, less has truly become more.<\/p>\n

Many software products seem to become increasingly bloated throughout their lifecycle. The need to stay competitive inevitably leads to an overblown feature set where the core of the product is overshadowed.\u00a0This has brought us into an age where feature requests take precedent over smart product design decisions and customer feedback drives product design.<\/p>\n

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.\u201d –\u00a0Antoine de Saint-Exupery<\/p>\n

This happens because, when\u00a0entrepreneurs set out to solve a problem, they ask \u201cHow can I improve X\u201d when they really should be asking \u00a0\u201dHow can I make X drastically simpler\u201d.\u00a0Products like\u00a0Square<\/a>,\u00a0Stripe<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Medium<\/a>\u00a0have ushered in a new age of \u201cDo one thing and do it damn well\u201d.\u00a0My Co-founder Matt Boyd actually wrote an\u00a0excellent post on this topic<\/a>. I highly recommend checking it out.<\/p>\n

Use the noise to your advantage<\/h3>\n

Contrary to what you might think, all this noise actually makes it easier to stand out. Well designed and thoughtful products almost always get the spotlight over the crappy ones, because they dare to be original and stop trying to be something they\u2019re not.<\/p>\n

“Pinterest meets Dribbble for pets”<\/h3>\n

If this sounds even remotely like your startup pitch, I\u2019d highly suggest taking another look at the problem and how you are trying to solve it. Stop trying to be all things to all people and just do one thing extremely well.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

If you want to stand out, do less but do it damn well. Less is more.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Do you agree with my point of view or maybe you see it a different way? Leave a comment below and let\u2019s chat about it!<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: This story was written by Eric Bieller<\/a>\u00a0and originally appeared here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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