The Truth About Value: Delivering What Users Truly Need
How Small Product Improvements Could Lead to Major User Satisfaction
Let's kick things off by discussing what we all strive for as product managers: value. And I mean real value—value that actually makes a difference for our users.
Many people think that to deliver value, we need to build these massive, shiny features that everyone talks about. But honestly, that's not always the case. Sometimes, the real magic happens in the small stuff—the tweaks, the improvements, the little things that can completely change a user's experience. Those subtle changes can be more valuable than the big, splashy features.
Great Value from Small Things
Over the years, I've learned that delivering value isn’t always about big, game-changing releases. We often get caught up in thinking that we must launch a massive new feature or a major update to provide significant value. But that's not always true. In fact, some of the most impactful value comes from smaller, more focused improvements.
There’s no need to make your users wait for a big, flashy release to experience your product's benefits.
Sometimes, something as simple as a new section or a feature that addresses a specific need can give your users the clarity or support they need to take action. These smaller additions can be just as powerful, if not more so, in driving user satisfaction and helping them make decisions that matter.
Let's Get to Work
At 8base, our flagship product is ARCHIE, an AI Product Architect that designs and defines products based on a user’s simple prompt or idea. And yes, I’m directly involved in its development.
ARCHIE’s first phase is Design. Here, users interact with the blueprint, which adds functional and design elements to expand on their concept. This phase is crucial for two reasons:
The user is exploring independently, experiencing all the functionalities, and generating and re-generating content related to their idea. During this process, they receive a lot of information through the execution of a considerable amount of behind-the-scenes prompts, which means the quality of this information has to be exceptional.
At this stage, users must make a decision. Every insight they get must hold value. We aim to guide them towards taking the next step: contacting us to transform their design into a real, tangible project.
The Blueprint as a Value Source
For this reason, we treat every section of the blueprint as an essential source of value. Each part is crafted with a clear objective: to encourage the user to move forward with the project. One section, particularly, exemplifies this value-size relationship: the Insights section.
Small Feature, Big Impact: The Insights Section
The Insights section provides users with industry-level expertise in a matter of seconds. It gives users their first key insights to help iterate on their ideas. Here’s what we deliver:
Novelty: How unique is your idea? What is its space in the market?
Venture Backability: When relevant, how strong is the potential for venture capital attraction?
Development Complexity: One of the most interesting aspects is where we compare the complexity of developing the project through a traditional process versus ARCHIE’s AI-driven approach.
Each item has detailed tooltips explaining the scores, giving users deeper insight into why each rating was assigned.
Finally, we provide an early estimate of how long it would take to develop the product, again comparing both processes.
The Insights section is a perfect example of a feature that may seem small, but the value it delivers is immense. It arms the user with data, helping them make informed decisions about moving forward.
Wrapping Up
Gosh, how I love the product process. There’s something deeply satisfying about helping users turn an idea into a real-world project with just a few clicks and insights.
If you want more details about ARCHIE, I invite you to explore more here.
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