A path of worthwhile resistance

A product is really the output of a series of "what should I/we be focused on?" questions, asked in succession. Doing so explicitly and regularly, without the weight of bias, is critical to building things that people want (to buy).

My focus is often drawn to the path of least friction. Not necessarily the "easy" problems, but ones that:

• have solutions that are clear and tractable
• have existing momentum
• are novel / fun to solve

And sometimes (happily), these things align with what is most important to be working on. But often times, I look in the rear view mirror, and realize that I've been focused on something that won't matter.

Having the discipline to ask critical questions that might create friction is a battle hard-won, but incredibly important. Let's call this the path of worthwhile resistance - purposefully embracing friction to ensure that you're on the right path.

Clear solutions, existing momentum, and novelty are all focus biases that stop us from continually asking - are we on the right path?

• are we focused on the fundamental problem?
• have we learned anything recently through feedback or usage that might invalidate previous hunches?
• is what we're building turning out to be too complicated or expensive compared to the value?

For example, let’s say you’re building a calendar application. You’ve got a hunch that building a widget that utilizes an LLM to create a chat-interface for scheduling would decrease user friction. Designs are locked, engineers are stoked to play with the latest model. But as you’re talking to more and more users about it, you’re noticing that people are less enthused to be talking to a computer (than clicking a few extra buttons). Shipping the feature would be the easier path of focus; you’ve got momentum and internal excitement. But shipping something that doesn’t directly address the core problem is 1) going to clutter the actual value proposition, and 2) going to take focus away from furthering that actual core value. As you dig more, you feel more confidence in the decision, you reset focus and end up building a better product (faster).

It's not fun to throw work away. Especially if it's good. But if there's something more important, more in-line with vision and reality, it's good to regularly pick your head up and ask the hard question - "am I actually focused on the right thing?". A core part of Bread product culture is making product development feel more like R&D - nothing-is-sacred, fast iteration, and a constant distillation of what's most important.