In thinking about software product development

http://businessofsoftware.org/2013/02/kathy-sierra-building-the-minimum-badass-user-business-of-software-a-masterclass-in-thinking-about-software-product-development/

- don't build an awesome product, build a product that makes its user awesome

superset game
People want to be badass at what you re app is enabling, not at your app.
How would you build your product if your success depended on the user's success.
The key things is the output of the experience, not the experience itself
 Don t design so users are impressed with you, but so others are impressed with them

How to make people experts
badass: reliably superior experience
Expert are not what they know, they are what they do
- Models (examples)
- Edge practice
- Forward Flow: they keep going, no matter what

(see: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html)


How to get people to be an expert ?
- expose them repeatly to "expert" outcomes (model)
=> we can learn a lot simply by watching experts practicing
- edge practice: designed to teach a skill in 3 or less practice session
=> the skill taught in each step must be of the right granularity
- add a clear progress map from novice to expert

Willpower and focus are related: lot of focus means lower willpower later
Make only the core stuff hard, which takes the user a lot of (brain) resources; make sure all the rest is super easy