Good Tools Are Invisible
3 hours ago
- #user-experience
- #tool-design
- #productivity
- A good tool should be invisible, allowing users to focus on their work rather than the tool itself.
- Tool users often reframe a tool's shortcomings as enjoyable puzzles, confusing the feeling of cleverness with actual productivity.
- Tool choices can become tied to personal identity, leading to tribal signaling and blind defense of flaws.
- Productivity should be measured by actual output and efficiency, not by the engagement or cleverness felt while using a tool.
- Good tool design involves providing excellent defaults and minimizing unnecessary configurability, respecting users' time.
- A steep learning curve is a cost, not a feature, and should be justified by genuine productivity gains, not sunk-cost fallacies.