How People Will Use Things

I.

There will be people who use your product, and there will be people who don't use your product. Some will love it and some will hate it. Some will love your product, but won't use it; some will hate your product, but still use it.

There will be people who use your product on its own, while others will use it alongside other products. There will be people who aren't yet using your product, and those who are but will soon stop.

Some people will use every feature, but most will use just a few. Some will use your product will their full attention, and some will be distracted. Some people will use your product anywhere they can, while others will stay put.

People will use your product while they're angry, sad, happy, neutral, distracted, frustrated, hopeful and excited – and most of the time it will have nothing to do with you.

There will be people who do not understand that your product is a product, rather than a feature of the parent system.

Some people will use the product as you expected, and some will surprise you.

II.

When I log into one of my bank accounts, I automatically log into the the other two at the same time to get a birds-eye view of my financial landscape ( bleak though it can be ).

I had a Facebook account with only one friend so I could get access to the photos and sketches he would upload for a project we were working on with a few dozen other people.

Safari is my default browser for developing, surfing and reading, but I use Chrome at the same time for company business like Google Docs and running our project management software.

My car key makes a really good screwdriver.

I often find myself falling into the trap of thinking that I understand how people will use a product, but if I just observe the way I interact with the products that surround me during the day, I am reminded of how arrogant that assumption can be.