The alphabet

• Every book you’ve ever read

• The script for every movie and show you’ve ever watched

• Every law and every contract ever written that governs our daily life

• Every science textbook

• Every history book

• Every novel

• Every text or email you’ll ever send or receive

All of it is derived from just 26 symbols we call letters. Yet, those 26 letters easily fit neatly below.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Oil lamp

The turtle-neck-clad presenter strides onto the stage. Lifting a cloth to reveal the object of interest beneath, he begins:

"Feast your eyes on the most technologically advanced oil lamp the world has ever seen…. and with Wifi capabilities, you’ll receive push notifications when the oil is running low so you’ll never run out again.”

Sometimes, technology is layered onto an antiquated product, process, or technique to address an issue that doesn’t actually need layers of technology. Innovation often warrants an entirely new product, process, or technique.

This is especially likely to happen when technology is used to address a problem with the aim of merely restoring the status quo, rather than charting new boundaries and setting a new status quo.

Don’t let layers of technology mask an antiquated product, process, or technique.

Explicit benefits

Have you ever tried to relay a funny or interesting experience to someone only for it to not land? Sometimes this happens because we unintentionally leave out a key detail that is obvious to us only because we were there. Something similar can happen in product design and sales and marketing. Because we were there for the development of our product, we've poured over it in grave detail, looked at it from every angle, and have every aspect of what it has to offer ingrained in our subconscious. It’s easy to forget that the same is not true of our prospective customers. Benefits or uses that are obvious to us may be overlooked by them. Benefits should therefore be explicit.