I’m not allowed to say much about my newest client. But I can say that they’re in the medical industry and they’re going to turn the world on it’s head.

Whenever I start a project and have the luxury of designing the User Experience, I start by asking, “What people will use the system to do.” It’s not rocket science. Together we tighten up the list. We try to keep descriptions as basic as possible:

• Find Patients
• See What’s Happening/Happened
• Create/Edit Patient Account Info
• View Patient Data
• Add Patient Data
• Send Patient Data to Other Doctors
• Get Patient Data from Other Doctors
• Create a Speed Dial List
• Speed Dial
• Create/Edit Staff Members
• Invite Friends

There are tons of good ideas that don’t make it onto the list. Putting off some of the good ideas for the future ensures that the initial product is tight and lean. It’s easier to sell a product with a clear purpose. While the internal list is fairly long the feature list for customers is really short:

• Patient Charting
• Chart Sharing

We don’t throw out the good ideas, because some of them may make it into the product or become their own products at a later date. We table them. We put these good ideas into a list called Saunas & Swimming Pools.

This new project was an outgrowth of a Sauna & Swimming Pool item from another project. It was too big to lump into the original product.

As a feature of the original product I believe this idea would have failed and potentially killed the host. Standing on it’s own it has a margin for success.