Flow, Ways Benchmarking Hurt Your Product
Ahhh such a relief... Isn't it great that things are not as bad as they used to be a few weeks ago? I mean Israeli government is bombing refugee camps, Hamas is holding on to hostages, but hey we're not seeing as much of that on Instagram anymore don't we... I mean, the algorithm knows the best for us I guess...
Listen to Gabor Mate for a nuanced, compassionate commentary articulated in simple, human terms. So many great points to ponder. It is a shame that they apply so strongly in this conflict and some of them hit hard.
This edition of Cue is brought to you by this article: The trick to sticking to a project every day.
I have 7 newsletter posts in my drafts folder. I think about them every day. When I run into an interesting problem at work, I digest it a bit and add my learnings to these drafts. This ongoing reflection helps me make better sense of what my work. With better reflection, I feel that I am better at engaging with the problem and as a result, the parties to the problem are also better off.
But these learning cycles can be quite long. Weeks may pass until I collect enough nectar that I feel worth sharing. And I feel those long cycles every time I edit my drafts. I feel the burden of "omg I thought I would have written this out completely and sent it out last week!"
The article I linked above encouraged me to take a different approach to this newsletter. I am now aiming to send more frequent and regularly spaced posts. Some of them will have more depth than others. Some of them will be a bit superficial and maybe not as articulate. I would appreciate your comments when you feel that there is something lacking in the future posts.
Thoughts: Benchmarking is a terrible way to make UX decisions
Benchmarking or competitive analysis is a popular way to get a sense of existing solutions out there. Especially when starting a new project, it helps you consider solutions that are likely to be working for the users, as these solutions are already in the hands of real users.
In a simple benchmark, you look at solutions from competitors to get inspired, to reflect on your own ideas, or identify things you want to copy. (In many cases, copying is fine by the way) This usually happens by downloading apps and screenshotting like crazy or opening tab after tab to compare visual designs. There are many cases where a simple benchmark meets the needs of the designer/researcher.
In a more involved benchmark, you carefully pick competitors, identify how you will evaluate each competitor, and do a multi-disciplinary team analysis. There are variations where you study/grade your competitors periodically, using the same grading criteria for each. For example, running a usability study with the same scenarios against your own site and your competitors every 6 months is an example of a more involved benchmark.
Over-reliance on benchmarking for making UX decisions hurts your product for four reasons: