Chapter 03 / 07
DETAILS
A product is judged by the parts nobody planned to look at. So we plan to look at all of them.
A master carpenter smooths the underside of a drawer that no one will see. We do the same, and for the same reason: it is the only way to know the whole thing is right.
Six places
Where the details actually are
Not the pixel. The moments where a product is quietly decided.
The error message nobody planned to write
It is the screen a person sees at the worst moment. It should say what happened and what to do next, in their words.
The empty state on day one
Before there is any data, the product still has to explain itself. A blank table is not an interface.
The field name, in the words the person uses
If the office calls it a "site visit", the form does not call it an "appointment".
The slow connection in a moving car
A broker on the highway between two showings is the real test environment, not the office Wi-Fi.
The second week
Novelty wears off in a week. What is left is whether the thing is fast, and whether it is in the way.
The underside of the drawer
Code structure, naming, documentation — the parts only the next builder will see. They are finished to the same standard.
Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Attention to detail is mostly subtraction. We add elements on purpose and remove anything that does not serve the person on the other side of the screen.