From Beta to Bedrock: Build Products that Stick.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve watched promising thoughts go from zero to warrior in a few days before failing to deliver within weeks as a product developer for very long.

Financial goods, which is the area of my specialization, are no exception. It’s tempting to put as many features at the ceiling as possible and hope someone sticks because people’s true, hard-earned money is on the line, user expectations are high, and a crammed market. However, this strategy is a formula for disaster. Why, please:

The perils of feature-first growth

It’s easy to get swept up in the enthusiasm of developing innovative features when you start developing a financial product from scratch or are migrating existing client journeys from papers or telephony channels to online bank or mobile applications. They may think,” If I may only add one more thing that solves this particular person problem, they’ll enjoy me”! What happens, however, when you eventually encounter a roadblock caused by your safety team? don’t like it? When a battle-tested film isn’t as well-known as you anticipated or when it fails due to unforeseen difficulty?

The concept of Minimum Viable Product ( MVP ) is applied to this. Even if Jason Fried doesn’t usually refer to this concept, his book Getting Real and his radio Rework frequently discuss it. An MVP is a product that offers only enough significance to your users to keep them interested without becoming too hard or frustrating to use. Although it seems like an easy idea, it requires a razor-sharp eye, a ruthless edge, and the courage to stand up for your position because it is easy to fall for” the Columbo Effect” when there is always” just one more thing …” to add.

The issue with most fund apps is that they frequently turn out to be reflections of the company’s internal politics rather than an experience created purely for the customer. This implies that the priority should be given to delivering as many features and functionalities as possible in order to satisfy the requirements and needs of competing internal departments as opposed to crafting a compelling value statement that is focused on what people in the real world actually want. These products may therefore quickly became a muddled mess of confusing, related, and finally unhappy customer experiences—a feature salad, you might say.

The significance of the foundation

What is a better strategy, then? How can we create products that are reliable, user-friendly, and most importantly, stick?

The concept of “bedrock” comes into play in this context. The mainstay of your product is really important to users, and Bedrock is that. It’s the fundamental building block that creates value and maintains relevance over time.

The bedrock must be in and around the regular servicing journeys in the retail banking industry, which is where I work. People only look at their current account once every blue moon, but they do so every day. They sign up for a credit card every year or two, but they check their balance and pay their bill at least once a month.

The key is in identifying the core tasks that people want to complete and then relentlessly striving to make them simple, reliable, and trustworthy.

How can you reach the foundation, though? By focusing on the” MVP” approach, giving simplicity precedence, and working incrementally toward a clear value proposition. This means avoiding pointless extras and putting your users first, making the most of them.

It also requires having some guts, as your coworkers might not always agree with you immediately. And in some cases, it might even mean making it clear to customers that you won’t be coming over to their house to prepare their meal. Sometimes you need to use the sporadic “opinionated user interface design” ( i .e. clunky workaround for edge cases ) to test a concept or to give yourself some more time to work on something more crucial.

Practical methods for creating reliable financial products

What are the main learnings I’ve made from my own research and experience?

What problem are you trying to solve first and foremost with a clear “why”? Whom? Before beginning any project, make sure your mission is completely clear. Make sure it also aligns with the goals of your business.
Avoid the temptation to add too many features at once and focus on getting that right first. Choose one that actually adds value, and work from there.
Give simplicity the precedence it deserves over complexity when it comes to financial products. Eliminate unnecessary details and concentrate solely on what matters most.
Accept continuous iteration: Bedrock is not a fixed destination; it is a dynamic process. Continuously collect user feedback, make product improvements, and advance in that direction.
Stop, look, and listen: Don’t just go through with testing your product as part of the delivery process; test it repeatedly in the field. Use it for yourself. Run A/B tests. User feedback on Gear. Talk to those who use it, and change things up accordingly.

The foundational paradox

Building towards bedrock implies sacrificing some short-term growth potential in favor of long-term stability, which is an interesting paradox at play here. But the payoff is worthwhile because products built with a focus on bedrock will outlive and outperform their rivals over time and provide users with long-term value.

How do you begin your journey to bedrock, then? Take it gradually. Start by identifying the underlying factors that your users actually care about. Focus on developing and improving a single, potent feature that delivers real value. And most importantly, make an obsessive effort because, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, Alan Kay, or Peter Drucker ( whew! The best way to foretell the future is to create it, he said.