The Two Words that Created a #1 App-Nir&Far

Hi, I'm Nir Eyal and this is the near and Far Podcast. This podcast is about business, behavior and the brain. On this show, I do a few things. I read quick articles I've written about topics shaping your behavior. I interview authors of books I enjoy, and from time to time I devote episodes to answering your questions. If you want to ask me a question, visit the podcast page on itunes, go to Ratings and Reviews and ask me a question. By leaving a review, I promise to read it and possibly include your question in a future episode. So please ask me anything now. Enjoy the episode and for more, you can always Visit me@nearandfar.com.

Yes and the two words that created a number one app by nearandfar.com.

In contrast to the post on the Power of saying no, Eric Clymer shares how a creative attitude helped his team build a number one ranked app. Eric was the lead developer of the Abutiful Mess app and is a partner at Rocket Mobile. In improv comedy, there are really only two words that matter. Yes, and you share a premise, form a scene, create a character, and if everything works out right, kill the audience. Then you try and do it again with another yes and Before I began developing for iOS, I performed stand up and improv as a hobby. I never thought yes and would apply to the development of software and how to work with clients, but in my best Louis CK voice, it totally did. This essay is about what I learned working with the artists who hired my company to create A Beautiful Mess, an app that went to number one in the App Store. Fifteen hours after its release, it's still near the top of the App Store. Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman, the creators of the do it yourself blog a beautifulmess.com are amazing at what they do. Over the past six years, their mix of recipes, photography projects and other fun arts and crafts ideas have amassed them a following of over 1.5 million visitors per month. They came to my company with the premise for a cute photo app that you add little sayings or doodles to your pictures and share them with friends. I'll bet no developer reading this has ever seen doodles on a requirements document, let alone it being the only requirement on a non existent requirements document. When we started the project, I immediately reverted to a character I call the defensive developer. This character says things like we need requirements. There's a ton of photo apps. What if they want to add on things? It could totally mess up my architecture. I mean we're building a house here, people. Defensive developers love the house analogy by the way, unfortunately, the defensive developer schtick gets old. If he were on stage, his 46 minutes would be joyless and painful. But this was a role I had played before and so sought comfort in what I knew. I was nervous. What do artists know about software? I thought. These women make scrapbooks and cupcakes. How could I possibly explain to them a navigation stack or view hierarchy? Then I had an epiphany. I realized they had not entered their projects with a complete, omnipotent understanding either. I realized I was discrediting them and their creative process because it was as foreign to me as object inheritance was to them. When we're scared or insecure, we tend to say no too quickly. No is why most of us can't be improv comics, and for that matter, why so many designers and engineers keep churning out more of the same old tried and true work they've done for years. No is safe, uncreative, and boring. There are times when no is appropriate, however. No creates a framework through which you can move on to yes and in fact, you can't say yes and without starting with no. In improv comedy, establishing the premises is how you say no. For example, if an improv situation begins with you're a lawyer who's interviewing for a job, the comic must go with it. If something occurs outside the constraint, say, for example, the actor pulls out a stethoscope, the audience will know the premise has been violated. A proper no creates the boundaries within which the performer can thrive while creating the app for a beautiful mess. The period of NO was brief. The premise of photo sharing that lets you add texture and content over your photo was strong, and we went with it. No was only used to limit scope and focus the product. What about a social network of scrapbooks? No. That dilutes the product. What if you could make your own doodle? No. That takes away from a beautiful Messes brand.

Once we agreed on our basic premise, the process of improvising features and design through YES and was natural. One particular feature that was internally driven by YES and was what we call our intro and outro screens. In early versions of the app, the user was dumped into the photo editing view. We needed a way to bookend the creative experience because the user had no real way of knowing what to do next. Users were unsure if they were supposed to select a photo, a background, or just start editing an empty canvas. So we started riffing. Can we make it more clear how to get started? Yes. And can we make getting started look more like Elsie and Emma's brand? Yes, and can we make the end of the editing experience just as branded and clear? Yes, and can you share your creation or start over from the same outro screen? Yes and can we make the transition from outro to intro seamless and one Touch? Yes, and when we were done, we had a clear start and finish to a much better user experience. More importantly, we found our recipe for success. After a couple months of what became collaborative rifting, requirements emerged, design and development sessions ensued, and ultimately we came out with a beautiful product. In contrast to my defensive developers act, a new, much more enjoyable character emerged. He's much more popular with audiences. People like watching him overcome new challenges. He's imperfect, flawed, and has a lot to learn. But because he doesn't get scared and start saying no, he gets a lot more laughs.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the near and Far Podcast. You can always find more at my blog, nearandfar.com and don't forget, if you have a question you'd like me to explore in a future episode, leave me your question, the former review or the podcast on itunes.