On building with an opinion.
"Stand for something, or you'll fall for anything"
My husband and I go to the same restaurant nearly every Friday night.
It is an old diner from the 1950s with the original, now retro, interior maintained. It’s dark and candle-lit with a comforting hum of kitchen noise and indie music. The staff is consistent, familiar, and always welcoming, knowing our drink order by heart.
The menu is extremely small. Just one page that fits in the palm of my hand. But it is focused.
There is an attention to in-season produce straight from the farm. Using the best ingredients means the food is always delicious, even if there aren’t many options.
This place stands for something.
We’ve been going here for years, and it hasn’t changed much over time, staying true to its values and never trying to be something it is not. They haven’t added to the menu or expanded the space. The restaurant feels purposeful, and you know exactly what the owner stands for.
It has an opinion.
Just like good restaurants are opinionated, so is good software.
Opinionated software comes with intentional design choices and thinking on workflows or how things should be done.
Opinionated software has a POV, and the people behind it are okay with saying no to feature requests that don’t align with that POV.
Opinionated software doesn’t try to be all things to all people. Instead, it seeks out customers who align with their beliefs and, as such, become raving fans.
There is a well-known story where Steve Jobs gave a presentation about the iTunes Music Store. He got peppered with questions from people asking, “Does it do [x]?” and, “Do you plan to add [y]?”. Jobs calmly replied,
“Wait wait — put your hands down. Listen: I know you have a thousand ideas for all the cool features iTunes could have. So do we. But we don’t want a thousand features. That would be ugly. Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It’s about saying no to all but the most crucial features.” - Steve Jobs
When building That Clean Life, we’ve had opinions like:
Nutrition planning should be done with recipes, not with single foods. Multiple single foods should be a recipe for the best client experience.
Only two meals per time slot on the plan. Anything above that will be hard for clients to follow.
Recipes should be designed, developed, and tested by our team so that when questions arise, we can answer them because we’ve made them ourselves.
We believe meal planning should be simple and fun, so we incorporate simple recipes that use minimal ingredients and prioritize design above all else.
We don’t build things that make our product harder to use. No one will ever say, “I wish That Clean Life were harder to use.” When we can make a decision for our customers instead of building in yet another customization - we do it to reduce complexity. We stick to what is truly essential.
Have our customers requested single-food meal planning, more meals per time slot, and more advanced recipes? Of course, they have. But we believe this is how things should be done….. for now.
Yes, for now.
Sure, we have opinions. But we also believe that strong opinions should be loosely held. It is important to remain flexible and open-minded. Over the years, there have been times when new evidence, insights, and experiences have emerged that have made us question our opinions and either modify or discard them accordingly.
As a result of our opinions (loosely held), we’ve attracted an incredible tribe composed of thousands of health and wellness practitioners who share our opinions on how nutrition planning should be - some of whom have been using our product for nearly a decade. And we’re truly honored to be a part of their work.
When we build products with an opinion, we build tools that deliver focused, efficient user experiences.
When we prioritize clarity and consistency, we streamline workflows and attract loyal customers who believe in and support what we are building.
When we balance our strong opinions with open-mindedness, we innovate and ensure our customers feel seen, heard, and cared for.
In a world where most products try to be everything to everyone, develop your POV and run with it.