The world has changed.
Here’s how things used to be: Software companies made programs packed with features, and many of these programs were difficult to learn and use. Many of these programs also had too many features, and thus the term “bloatware” was born.
Here’s how things are now: With the advent of mobile as a software platform, companies have started creating single-purpose apps… apps that do one or two things, but do them well. Software teams have to focus on creating simple utilitarian apps that are easy to use.
Will feature bloat sneak into the mobile platform? Yes, and I can think of several instances it already has. But with a focus on modal apps that are intuitive and obvious, the baseline for users is shifting… usability is now a core requirement. It’s just something that you have to do as entry criteria… it’s “table stakes.”
(Note: the term “table stakes” has two meanings. In gambling, it’s the limit that a single player can win or lose in a single hand. In business, it means the minimal requirement or baseline for a new product or business arrangement. When I say that usability is “table stakes”, I use the term in the second way.)
An obvious reflection of this new reality occurred last month, when the Usability Professionals Association changed their name to the User Experience Professionals Association. User Experience is more than just usability, and usability is now a “must have” for programs large and small. It’s not a niche, it’s just what you do. This is good for users, and bad for usability “specialists” just do usability testing and usability audits – they need to bring more to employers than that.
Users are surrounded by a feast of riches – hundred of well-designed usable apps. They are “spoiled” in that they now expect apps to reflect their mental models and be immediately learnable and useful. Designers and developers, produce an app that doesn’t live up to their expectations at your own risk.