S1E5 - The Cycle of Tech Products

How commercial tech products have turned design into antidesign Tech organisations take a concept or thing which began with a sole purpose to benefit people and, through iterative antidesign, turn it into something that is both bad for people and bad for their business. These things begin in the area of, supposed, human-centered design where the needs of people are the only concern, but within commercial constraints this inevitably leads to a drift toward the inclusion of business concerns. The concerns of people become shared with the concerns of business. The drift continues as the organisation wants more tangible benefits from the good things they are providing people. The organisation wants more than a healthy brand impression, they need to see a direct correlation between being good to people and profiting from it. The need to make "being good for people" a profitable thing puts the quality of the product, and the brand impression, in danger of being eroded in relation to the amount of good that must be sacrificed for the sake of profit. The inevitable next step to silicon valley greed for hypergrowth is the crossing of the line where the product is so bad for people that it can no longer be ignored. Product and brand are worthless and the benefits to both the people and the business are dead. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.