The Meat and Potatoes
Icebergs
If you’re planning a feature set for a product, always beware of “icebergs”. These are features that on the surface look harmless and trivial, but once you dive below that you discover that you’ve only accounted for 10% of the scope. Unexpected encounters with icebergs, without the proper navigation skills, can spell disaster and possibly sink your entire ship.
There are two typical scenarios where we run into icebergs at Scrapblog. The first has to do with the sheer complexity of the product, and the second is with the illusion of simplicity.
Let’s start with the first one. As an application grows in size and complexity, each new feature has to take each previously added feature into consideration and determine if it will be affected by the new addition. A web application is a living, breathing system. The more intricate the system gets, the more potential for complication there will be when a new element is introduced to the system. A feature that might seem easy to implement at first may prove to be much more complex once you uncover the existing structures that will need to be re-factored in order to do so.
The second scenario we run into quite a bit is what I like to call the illusion of simplicity. This occurs when achieving simplicity for the end-user requires a great deal of complexity on the part of the development team. My job as a user experience designer is to anticipate the actions of a user to make their experience as transparent and intuitive as possible. In short, I have to be a mind-reader (at least as far as the first iteration goes). This usually amounts to doing as much of thinking for the user as possible on our end. In some ways, making a dead simple and intuitive interface can be much more complex than making a complex interface. How’s that for irony? Just take a look at the complexity behind Google Suggest.
So how do you navigate these treacherous waters? Well, we’re still answering that question. However we’ve learned not to take anything for granted, and to drill down into each and every feature addition far enough to identify any unexpected curve balls before committing to a development schedule. Icebergs will always exist no matter how well you map out the route. But a little more research up front can mean the difference between reaching your destination and certain doom.