Let me keep what I’m comfortable with

Daniele Catalanotto

Oct 11, 2022

A Service Design Principle to keep people at ease.

I open Facebook for the first time in a long time. Shit. Everything looks different. I’m lost. It feels as if I have to re-learn everything.

Compare this to how Basecamp, a company that creates project management software, launched its latest and greatest version, “Basecamp 3”, in 2014. The team didn’t make the update for every customer. Instead, they let people choose which version they want to keep (1).

You might say: “Yeah, but that’s a huge company! Nope, in 2021 Basecamp had about 50-60 employees. That’s not gigantic for a software company (2).

Sure, it’s extra work for the company! But for certain types of services, users will be delighted to be able to stay on the old version they already know!

So let me ask you this:

How can you make your service evolve and, at the same time, offer consistency for those who don’t need the new shiny thing?

Footnotes

The first draft of this Service Design Principle was adapted into more understandable English by the lovely Joanna Bienz. Thanks, Joanna!

(1) As I’m writing this, we were in 2021, so it’s been seven years since Basecamp lets people work with the good old version if they’re comfortable with it.

(2) Asana, another project management tool, has, for example, 900 employees.

Daniele’s personal notes

You just read the second draft of this Service Design Principle.
The length of this principle has been reduced by 22% compared to the first draft.
Once improved even more, this principle could be part of the book “Service Design Principles 201-300.”
As always, feel free to share comments, feedback or personal stories to improve this principle.

Hartmuth Gieldanowski

Oct 14, 2022

Topic : Change Aversion and how to overcome it. Google ventures has an article on it

Daniele Catalanotto

Oct 15, 2022

Thanks for the additional reference Hartmuth 😉

Daniele Catalanotto

Oct 30, 2022

The third draft of this Service Design Principle

I open Facebook for the first time in a long time. Shit. Everything looks different. I have to re-learn everything.

Compare this to how Basecamp (1), launched its newest version, “Basecamp 3”, in 2014. The team didn’t make the update for every customer. Instead, they let people choose which version they want to keep (2).

You might say: “Yeah, but that’s a huge company with huge resources! Nope. In 2021 Basecamp had about 34 employees(3). That’s not gigantic for a software company (4).

For certain types of services, users will love to stay on the old version they already know (5)!

So let me ask you this:

How can you make your service evolve and, at the same time, offer consistency for those who don’t need the new shiny thing?

Footnotes

The first draft of this Service Design Principle was adapted into more understandable English by the lovely Joanna Bienz. Thanks, Joanna!

(1) Basecamp is a online project management tool run by a company called 37Signals which back in the days was called Basecamp.

(2) As I’m writing this, we were in 2021, so it’s been seven years since Basecamp lets people work with the good old version if they’re comfortable with it. — Already use Basecamp 2?. Basecamp. Available at https://extra.swissinnovation.academy/DFrO accessed 30 October 2022.

(3) Basecamp (company). Wikipedia. Available at https://extra.swissinnovation.academy/rOSQ accessed 30 October 2022.

(4) Asana, another project management tool, has, for example, 1666 employees in 2022 — Asana (software). Wikipedia. Available at https://extra.swissinnovation.academy/PUJ2 accessed 30 October 2022.

(5) Humans don’t like so much change or losing something they have, that’s what behavioral economists call “Loss Aversion” — (Why Do We Buy Insurance? Loss-Aversion, Explained. The Decision Lab. Available at https://extra.swissinnovation.academy/BT6U accessed 30 October 2022.

Daniele’s notes

This is the third draft of this principle.
I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 16 % compared to the previous draft.
Added more references to the number of employees and to the older versions of basecamp.
Added a reference to Loss-Aversion as suggested by Hartmuth Gieldanowski