The feature fallacy trap: The next new feature won't fix your product

So true! Feel like this has happened with web browsers a lot. People want a sleek and fast browser, they migrate to the sleek and fast one, it gets popular and adds bloat via features, they move onto something else.

The problem with this is that features are hard to test and often have unintended consequences. They don't solve the problem, they make it worse. In the startup world, the phrase "the next big thing" is a common refrain. After all, it's easy to get excited about new things — and everyone wants to be part of the next big thing. That would create lots of opportunities for meeting new people! Get writing tips by reading https://knithacker.com/2021/01/how-knitting-can-help-to-keep-calm-while-writing-a-coursework/ article. But here's the thing: You can't test whether this makes people feel more confident about meeting new people or less confident about it. It might actually make people feel worse about meeting new people! And then they'll stop using your app entirely... which means no one else will ever be able to figure out what works best for them either!

We fell for that fallacy in my previous startup (mostly because of me, since I was the subject matter expert and kept thinking "if we add this killer feature, we'll get more traction...").

And I think I am more careful in my new company. However it is always incredibly tempting to go for the "sexy" feature that will make our demo more impactful, rather than some of the more boring value-add features.

I think that if a feature improves the first-experience demo, then it necessarily is before the "Wall", so it escapes the fallacy described in the article.

Wow! The data is a slap in the face. Puts you off ever wanting to create a new feature. I think the key is honing in on and perfecting the features that users want, but it's knowing which ones. Sometimes enough feedback to make a decision won't come until further down the line and by then it could be too late, hence the huge drop in the stats.

"The Next Feature Fallacy: the fallacy that the next feature you add will suddenly make people want to use the entire product." -@bokardo

Yup, have definitely fallen foul of this fallacy.

Focus on fixing the features you have, that don't work, rather than creating new ones. That's how you retain and gain users.

Great article.