Who can do the most can do the least. So-called “desktop” professional software was mostly designed with this in mind: a lot of functionalities in order to cover all user needs, including minors, including the rarest ones. All served by a gray interface with tabs or multiple navigation menus. Usually served cold with its user guide.
This reflex is still present. Why?
Because ease of use is not always well experienced. To keep things simple is to agree to do less, to relegate, or even to remove. “What will our customers say if we remove functionalities? They will have the impression that the software is less complete! ”
Don't be afraid. By eliminating the superfluous in favor of essential functionalities, the content becomes easier to organize, the application easier to use. Too much choice increases decision-making time and therefore learning time. This relationship between the number of choices and user behavior has been scientifically established (Hick's law). From the moment we look at the user's point of view, the answers are obvious: our preference is always for the simplest, the most effective or the fastest.
But temptation does not always come from within; it also takes the form of a recurring wave of customer requests. This is another difficulty: being able to evolve the application while maintaining its ease of use. Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the two founders of 37 Signals, publisher of the Basecamp project management application, explored the subject in depth in their book Getting Real (free). At the risk of appearing peremptory, their position is not to integrate requests for the addition of functionalities raised by their customers in order to maintain a clear and coherent vision of their product.
“That's why you start by saying no. Every new feature request that comes to us - or that comes from us - is rejected. We listen but we don't take it into account. Our first response is “not now.” If a request comes up regularly, it is from that moment that we start to be interested in it. Then, and only then, do we get serious about it. And what do you say to people who complain when you don't follow up on their feature proposal? Remind them of the main reason why they like this app. “You like it because we say no. You like it because it doesn't do a hundred things at once. You like her because she's not trying to please everyone all the time.”
Jason Fried - Freely translated from Getting Real