> I don't care if a user says they like a feature; I care if they actually use it
That's a mildly dangerous position for a product owner to take (though I accept in the particular scenario described it makes sense). In a customer's mind, having a facility available - even if never used - may be a key feature of the service.
One example that comes up now and then in the offline world is late-night public transit. If you go by measured ridership, it's a no-brainer to cut most trips, because empirically people rarely actually ride late at night (in most U.S. cities, anyway). But when you do, in most cases ridership at other times of day falls also, because people suddenly are worried about the possibility of getting stranded. Even if 98% of the time they never actually use the 2am bus, they like knowing that it's available just in case.
Comments
> I don't care if a user says they like a feature; I care if they actually use it
That's a mildly dangerous position for a product owner to take (though I accept in the particular scenario described it makes sense). In a customer's mind, having a facility available - even if never used - may be a key feature of the service.
One example that comes up now and then in the offline world is late-night public transit. If you go by measured ridership, it's a no-brainer to cut most trips, because empirically people rarely actually ride late at night (in most U.S. cities, anyway). But when you do, in most cases ridership at other times of day falls also, because people suddenly are worried about the possibility of getting stranded. Even if 98% of the time they never actually use the 2am bus, they like knowing that it's available just in case.