UXD versus Features – our users speak

August 24, 2011 by Aswath Mohan

We recently launched the Mu Studio Performance Suite. It introduced many exciting new capabilities  including instant access to Multiple thousands of tests on Mu TestCloud, Multiple tracks, Multiple performance engines etc.

While these are certainly very useful features that bring tremendous benefits to the user, what really got users excited and had an emotional impact was not the features but the design (UXD). To me, what’s been really cool to experience is how discussions with new users quietly shift in quality – from ‘do you have more features than the other tool?’  to ‘WOW! You guys have thought through how I want to test.’

I am now regularly in meetings were a demo of the software product makes people stop mid-sentence, start to realize the power of a simple yet effective design and visibly get excited about the prospects of driving it themselves, like they would say a new car or phone.

Design is what separates an average product that has good features from an exceptional product that has just the right amount of features. In fact it seems like after a certain point too many features starts to hurt the cause instead of helping it.  As usual Scott Adams nails it below..

Features vs UX Design

Of course there is a minimal set of essential features that provides meaning to the product. But the challenge now shifts upstream to make us

1. really think through the use cases, and

2. say NO often to many seemingly good feature ideas from practically everybody, until you can

3. determine what is going to be really impactful,  and then

4. let loose a top design & development team like the one we have at Mu

to come up with Excellence.  :-)

 

Performance Suite UI

Kudos to the Mu engineering team, particularly the UXD heroes to have pulled this one off !!

Categories: Release
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