have you ever made your product better by taking something away?

Shajedul Karim
11 replies
we often get obsessed with features, the new, the flashy. ever pause to think about what could be removed? unwanted complexity is the hidden cost we don't talk about. it's the friction in user experience, the cognitive load, the overwhelm. when we remove, we create space. space for focus. space for value. space for the user to breathe. less can be more. it's a lesson i've learned from classic products here. they knew what to leave out. precision in exclusion is an art. if you're a founder or maker, think: what can you remove to add value? because sometimes, subtraction equals addition. ask yourself, what's the least your product can do to provide the most value? minimalist design isn't just aesthetic, it's functional. so today, don't just think of what you can add to your product. think of what you can take away. cuz, elegance is not what you add, but what you take away. the essence remains, the excess is gone. question for the community: have you ever made your product better by taking something away? share your stories. let's shift the focus. simplify to amplify. keep adding value by creating space. cheers.

Replies

When we were building a community-based social network, we removed a few onboarding screens that didn't seem necessary. As you'd have guessed, it decreased our drops by a notable margin.
Aarav Pittman
Got rid of bugs that were causing problems.
Igor Lysenko
I know that there are some companies where they added an extra feature to their product and users massively began to dislike the product because of this. After the removal, everyone returned back.
Benjamin Bennett
I'm not behind a product, but minimalism's kinda in.