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The Galaxy Z Flip Is Proof We Crave Old Ideas in Slightly New Packaging
How ‘good enough’ became the mantra of tech design
Every successful product begins with an idea. A way to share photos online. A portable music player. A modular phone. Next comes an MVP — a minimum viable product — or perhaps an MMP — a minimum marketable product. At this point, if the idea is good, it will become a real product. We’re at the beginning of a journey. Oh, the places we’ll go. The possibilities, the excitement.
Right now, we have a clear road map. We made the minimum viable product so we could get something built quickly, and it’s obvious what to do next — make the product less minimum. People want to do things with the product that it can’t yet do, so it’s obvious what the improvements are; we just need to find the time and money for them. The screen could be a higher resolution; the processor could be faster; if it’s an app, it could allow commenting on pictures; and so on. Each time there’s a new release, everyone is excited as the new features bring new opportunities. The users can do more stuff that they want to do.
At this point, there are more ideas than there is development time. Features have to be prioritized, and each new release brings some of those improvements. Oh, there’s a new iPhone, and now it has a fingerprint reader so I don’t have to enter my PIN. Next, it scans my face so I don’t have to touch it. The processor is faster, the camera is better, new features are rolling out one after another, and everyone is happy. There’s singing and dancing in the streets (or camping outside Apple stores in curbside capitalist favela).
But, as time goes on and the releases keep rolling, the to-do list of ideas starts to get shorter. Sure, there are plenty of bugs and tweaks. But you’re not going to get people putting up a Cotswold Outdoor tent in the rain to get some bugs fixed, are you? The processor and camera are better, but these are table stakes now.
So you look at the backlog of ideas and suggestions. They’re fiddly and only appeal to a small number of users. Some features you…
