Figure 4.2: A good clear value proposition is fundamental to a great UX.
Why is this in an IoT book?
Productization is of course not a challenge that is unique to IoT. It is included
in this book as it is a particular challenge for the consumer IoT field right now.
Many products and services aren’t yet offering good, practical solutions for
proven consumer problems. Even where they are, the value isn’t always
apparent from the product itself or clearly stated in terms target users would
understand.
This isn’t a criticism of the many clever and talented people working in this
field. Most of them are aware that consumer experience is a challenge.
It’s a result of the novelty and inherent complexity of the products and
services. We’re still figuring out what we can do with the technology, and
we’re asking users to wrap their brains around some novel devices and
capabilities.
It also reflects that new technology products and services are often conceived
and developed by people with an engineering mindset who value highly
configurable functionality. These initiatives can often seem complex and
unclear in purpose to consumers because, in trying to do so much, they fail to
communicate a clear value for using the service.
There is, of course, a market for products developed to meet the needs of
highly technical users. There’s also great value in products and services that
help a wider range of people move beyond passive consumption of technology
and learn how to construct their own solutions. For example, If This Then That
offers an accessible way to coordinate different web services and even
connected devices (see figure 4.3). This is functionality that would previously
only have been available to those with good programming skills.