Modern products spend a lot of time tweaking small features and using the objective metrics of data to back up the choices (A/B testing bla bla bla). However I do wonder if there’s a fan fiction alternate product universe that could be worth exploring which led me down the thought experiment of having retroactive product testing.
What is it?
What I mean by retroactive product testing is to have users use two versions of the same product and determine if they are able to discern the difference.
An example would be perform a blind test between Office 2013 and Office 2016, would the user be able to tell the difference between the two versions. (The main features from documentation seems to be a cleaner interface and the collaboration feature. How many enterprise IT allow for this to be enabled?)
What if we expanded the versions a bit further to Office 2010 and Office 2016? Some features such as read mode (which I personally find annoying) and different splash screen.
If we go all the way back to Office 2003 version the most obvious difference would be the missing ribbon and difference in default saved file format.
Then here begs the question, are users happy with the new changes? Does the new layout/ new features actually help the user’s productivity (since Office is mostly known as a productivity tool). Most importantly, what are the features that users are willing to pay for, what were the new features they found annoying and is it even possible to create a product that allows users to pick and choose features as and when they need it and pay as they use?
A better way?
Current features roadmaps are extremely linear. I think there are times where features may be cut or rolled back, however it is rare that features may be re explored (or I am not aware of at any rate). Still using the example of Office (it’s the most common application most people would know) there was an interesting assistant called Clippy which was killed off in 2007.
The assistant was more of a nuisance than help at the time of launch, however with AI and chatbots resurfacing as a fad, I am curious why the cute paper clip was not resurrected. And beyond Clippy, I’m sure Microsoft’s idea graveyard has a lot of cool ideas that were shelved that could be re-explored for modern day use.
Devolving to evolve
It might be worthwhile to consider reverting back to a much older branch and devolving the product and allow the product to evolve along the new linage.
If one were to compare Word on mobile versus Desktop, the missing ribbon leads to missing functionality. When real work needs to be done, most employees still need to open up their laptop instead of working off their mobiles.
What if it is possible to revert all the way back to Word perfect and design from a time where ribbons and GUIs did not exist. Allow the product to evolve from a time a lot further back so that there is not legacy to worry about?
