November 17, 2008
“ Features tell you what you can do, constraints tell you what to do.

After a debate I had with a Memiary user this morning, I’ve been thinking about this all day, and I think that phrase sums up my belief. In the end, none of them is better than the other, but just more suited to the type of product you are creating and the type of user you are serving.

Memiary is supposed to be simple, minimal, focused, and something even my grandmother can use, so embodying constraints into its soul is what’s best for the type of the product that it is — this way, the user is told what to do, and most of them are not left in the dust with things they can, but never will do, creating a mist around what they should be doing with it. Its potential and purpose are best served with its constraints.

On the other hand, some products are supposed to be rich, open, and serve the ‘hacker’ type of user and usage, in which case, constraints are just going to make its users mad, get in their way, and limit the product to its potential — what it could be, but what it isn’t.

The iPhone is a perfect example of a product trapped in the middle of the two types of products and the two types of uses. Steve Jobs’ vision is to serve me and my grandmother at the same time. My grandmother would be amazed at what it can do, and would never want to go beyond it. On the other hand, I want to hack it to the level that it can make calls to the moon while displaying a video wallpaper and tethering to my laptop.

The Delimma:

  • If Steve doesn’t tell my grandmother what to do with it, she won’t use it.
  • If Steve limits what I can do with it, I won’t use it.

The Solution:

  • An App Store which lets us make applications, enabling us to use the iPhone to do what we want with it, and go far far beyond its original use and potential, BUT with Apple’s approval.
  • All the product’s settings hidden under the “Settings” section, never to be seen by anyone who won’t use it and modified like crazy by those who want to use it in their own way, BUT only limited to what Apple wants us to modify, not what we want to.
  • A computer-based syncing software with a focused experience to enable us to transfer music, videos, podcasts, and what not to the device easily, BUT not any other type of file, and only those files which can be read and seen by iTunes, preferably purchased from their store.

In one word: compromise.

(via sidyadav)