What’s your favorite part of your job?
It’d be hard to choose just one part of the UX profession that I love the most. But high on my list is getting a glimpse into so many different organizations and how they plan and operate.
Slide UX has helped nearly 200 companies since our formation in 2012.
We learn so much from each client, and we get to teach them a lot as well. That’s why we’re always looking for trends. What makes a digital undertaking successful? What surprises do teams encounter along the way?
By recognizing common mistakes and fallacies, so we can help our clients avoid them.
This brings me to one we see often: the fallacy of the finish line.
A common fallacy in product development
Launching a product or releasing a new digital experience is a huge undertaking. It requires planning, design, research, engineering, testing, and so much more. As teams ready to launch, it’s only human that they begin to imagine how glorious launch day will be.
“I’ve been slammed for weeks! But we’ll launch soon, and things will calm down.”
“We’re cutting corners right now. But we’ll launch soon, and then we’ll have time to come back and clean up some of these ragged edges.”
“We’re burning hot on team costs, but we’ll launch soon. Then we won’t need this whole team.”
In practice, the launch is not the finish line. It’s a starting line. Once there are users in the system, you discover new bugs. You quickly learn more about what users need and how they really interact. You see the realities of system performance, integration performance, and more.
After launch, every bug, slow functionality, or confusing interaction is money lost. The clock is ticking on fixes.
If you’re working towards a launch milestone, and you hear yourself or your team talking about it as a finish line, reset your thinking. Celebrate, yes! But anticipate post-launch churn. It happens every time.
Steps to take as launch day approaches:
Protect your calendar.
Set expectations; do not make lofty promises for the next thing.
Plan to keep the team assembled for longer than you think you need to—do not skimp on that budget.
Plan for monitoring and prompt issue resolution.
It’s common for teams that are launching brand new digital experiences to underestimate how much there will be left to do at and after launch. But even experienced agile teams who are used to the ongoing nature of product development can fall victim to “finish line” thinking.
As launch day approaches, resist the temptation to think the work is soon over. Plan for a proper conclusion–and the new phase that’s just beginning.