A delightful user experience should be as intuitive as answering a phone call. If users need to learn a multi-step process for a core feature, the product's design has failed to solve the problem simply.
Users often develop multi-product workarounds for issues they don't even recognize as solvable problems. Identifying these subconscious behaviors reveals significant innovation opportunities that users themselves cannot articulate.
The old product leadership model was a "rat race" of adding features and specs. The new model prioritizes deep user understanding and data to solve the core problem, even if it results in fewer features on the box.
Product performance isn't one metric; it's the sum of all touchpoints, from support tickets to app reviews. These disparate inputs all roll up into the ultimate North Star metric: user engagement.
Instead of building its own cameras or locks, ADT focused on its core security platform and integrated partners like Google and Yale. This ecosystem approach enabled a complex, delightful solution that would have been impossible to build alone.
For a 150-year-old brand like ADT, the most valuable asset is user trust, which is hard to build and easy to lose. Therefore, every product investment must first be validated against its potential impact on that trust.