(2024-06-07) Procopio How The Tech Industry Stopped Building Things Customers Want

Joe Procopio: How the Tech Industry Stopped Building Things Customers Want. When was the last time you waited in line to buy the latest and greatest tech product?

This isn’t just market malaise, inflationary effects, or an extended gap between tech trends. This is a complete loss of the pulse of the customer, in both business and consumer tech products.

as a technology industry executive, I can’t think of one functional piece of business software that I need to do a better job than it’s doing today. In fact, I honestly can’t think of any single platform you might take away from me and make my job harder

I can definitely name three or four of those same platforms, like Slack.com or Monday, that if you shut me out tomorrow, it would probably make my job easier — more enjoyable at the least, as long as I had enough of a heads-up that I could spin up a Google doc to replace it. Oh! OK! Google docs! I could not function without them.

The tech industry started telling the customer what they wanted

nowhere is this phenomenon more obvious and relevant than the stunted mass adoption of the electric car.

electric vehicles ultimately make sense

But until Tesla made electric vehicles that functioned as well as or better than ICE vehicles, no one took it seriously.

But once more rich guys got involved

I mean, even I, back in 2022, said to myself, “This might be my last ICE vehicle.” OK. Then everyone figured out the fuel isn’t really clean and the infrastructure isn’t really happening overnight, which means the bang isn’t really worth the buck yet

The tech industry started relying on the customer to tell them what they wanted

The customer was wrong. The customer is often wrong

I’m a proponent of listening to your customers and letting them help drive your direction. But, let me put it this way. If you’re clutching your side and your friend says you might need to have your appendix taken out, you don’t just hand them a scalpel and tell them to start cutting.

customers rarely focus on the causes of their problems–they just know the pain and symptoms.

You need a doctor.

Tech companies have always been slow to hire people with the skills, experience, and knowledge to translate pain and symptoms into causes and solutions. They’d rather just start surgery right there in the street.

The tech industry followed the wrong trends

THE CUSTOMER DOES NOT WANT GENERATIVE AI.

I like AI. A lot. I’m just not sure how many more overpromised and underdelivered splashy headline genAI use cases the tech industry can keep flinging at the customer before they all throw their hands up en masse.

The boring trends are what’s going to lead to long-term success. They produce tech that doesn’t look like magic. It doesn’t even look like tech. It’s something that can seamlessly be integrated into people’s lives without their having to sacrifice anything or work hard to get the benefit. That’s what tech is supposed to do. And that’s the real reason why the tech industry stopped building what customers want.

Customers don’t buy technology
They buy the benefits of technology.

It used to be that tech things were produced by tech people and sold to other tech people. Then Grandma got a mobile phone because she had to — she couldn’t live easily without one.

Every user is both a tech user and a non-tech user. My mother-in-law. Me. You. Every. Single. One. (Adoption Life Cycle)

Until the tech industry figures out how to serve and sell to all of them, the mass malaise will continue.


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