When you contemplate adding new functionality to a product, are you thinking critically about the problem being solved, or are you thinking, "let's add a button that does this" as a drop-in replacement for deep consideration of the user journey?
This question separates teams that build lasting, intuitive products from those that create a collection of loosely related features.
The "Save Draft" Fallacy
Let's walk through a classic scenario.
- The User Feedback: Users are reporting that they frequently lose data in a complex form before they can submit it.
- The Feature Request: "We need a 'save draft' button so we can keep our progress."
- The Initial Solution: The engineering team scopes, builds, and deploys a "Save Draft" button.
On the surface, the team has been responsive to user feedback. They've delivered the requested feature. But have they actually solved the problem?
Asking the Right Questions
The "add a button" solution treats the user's request as a prescription, but it's almost always just a description of a symptom. The critical next step is to ask "why?"
- Why is the data being lost?
- What kind of interruptions are the users experiencing?
- In the moment of that interruption, will they have the time or foresight to remember to click "Save Draft"?
By digging deeper and understanding the context behind the issue, you might discover that users are frequently closing the browser tab or switching apps to look up information, answer a message, or attend to a real-world distraction. In this workflow, a manual button doesn't help. You've given them a tool they are almost guaranteed not to use at the moment they need it most, placing the burden of preventing the problem back on them.
The Invisible Solution
The truly elegant solution comes from solving the underlying problem, not just implementing the requested feature. In this case, the problem is not the lack of a button; it's the lack of state preservation during an interruption.
The better solution is a seamless, background auto-saving mechanism that automatically preserves and restores the user's state.
- The user gets interrupted and closes the app.
- When they return, their data is exactly where they left it.
- The problem is solved with zero additional friction or cognitive load for the user.
This is the difference between reactive feature development and proactive, empathetic problem-solving. Target the real problem, understand the context of your users' work, and build the solution they need, not just the one they asked for. They will thank you for it.