Functionality Is Dead

The name of the game in the 1990s was functionality and technology. The new game is ease of use and accessibility.

This wasn’t the first time I was wrong about the relative importance of functionality. I made such a mistake in the late 1980s when I believed that software startups Wonderware (shop-floor interface) and Parametric Technology (computer-aided design) would crash and burn because they did not have the requisite functionality needed to do all the jobs their marketing brochures claimed. And while I was correct about their lack of functionality, I was wrong about how an intuitive and almost fun user experience can make up for a lot of functional and technological shortcomings. (Obviously, they didn’t crash and burn.)

Companies should add the following considerations to their application evaluation process:
Be accessible to a wide variety of employees, suppliers, and customers.
Be simple and inexpensive to upgrade and maintain.
Require little training for diverse sets of users.
Coexist with complementary and competitive solutions.

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