Around The Web In A Day

What's the difference between a tool and a toolbox ? This one is easy.

Well, it looks an easy answer, but how come many start-ups mess up with it ? I'm gonna try to answer this, because it really feels as a very important thing to consider.

At first, you decided to design a new product, let's say a blogging platform. So you've already asked yourself the question "Product or Feature ?", and you decided it was a real product, something that people can use to get things done. In fact, that's also the definition of a tool.

You develop your product as a tool, and it's working well. You have a blogging platform that does 80% of what people intended to use it for.

Great.

And then you have users/customers asking for more. They want yet another feature that they liked in a competing product. You ask your developers to add it.

And then your developers see an new great technology that could be used in your product, and they convince you to add the feature that would use it. So they add it.

And then your sales reps/ marketers saw a new market opportunity for your product. They say that your blogging platform could be sold as a CMS if you added a few more features, and they could sell it to much more users/customers. So you ask your developers to add the new bunch of features.

And then your designer is asking you where to put all these new features in the back office. It was a sleek, beautiful and simple back-office, now it looks like MS OfficeXP.  You ask the designer to find a way to switch on/off features, because some users/customers want some features and others not.

Great.

Now you've got a toolbox.

Think of it a swiss army knife. Think of it a Lego. Think of it as Excel Toolbar. Think of it as a box of tools that can help you do many things, but can't help you do a simple thing.

In real life, Toolboxes are made for plumbers or locksmiths.

This is the same on the Web. Toolboxes are great for people trying to do many different things using that the same set of tools every day. Within professional Services companies, web agencies, marcomm companies, employees try to satisfy many different customers by crafting specific solutions for them. Toolboxes are great for these employees, because they can design specific solutions, while learning how to mix and match tools within the toolbox, so the next time they have to build a solution, they have some prior knowledge.

Toolboxes are like infrastructures.

They enable many things to be done, but don't specify the right use for a specific task.

Like infrastructures, the more generic they are, the more they will be used. Like infrastructures, the generic part brings constraints, because there is always a limit to what you can do with it.

On Highway 101, every type of running vehicule can be driven, cars, trucks, buses, bikes. But if you want to get out of it just right there, you'll have to wait for the next exit. 

So if you want a specific job to be done, toolboxes may not be your friends, because they will impose generic constraints on what you can do (so that other uses are possible).

On the other hand, a single Tool must be as specific as can be, so it will resolve your specific needs with efficacy.

It must be dedicated to a simple task, and help you realize it as fast and smoothly as possible. The user interface must be elegant, simple, clean so that you don't ask yourself questions on how to use it. You don't want to read the fucking manual (RTFM) to be able to use it. You want to use it like a pair of scissors. Cut, cut, cut.

So what's in a choice ?

You sell Tools to people that want to get things done, and they usually are not technicians (the house owner). To build a tool, you need developers and designers that understand usage. A Tool is essentially a Product.

You sell Toolboxes to people that want to be able to do things, and they are usually technicians (the plumber). To build a toolbox, you need developers and designers that understand technologies. A Toolbox is essentially a set of Features.

What was your choice ? why ? Did you stick to it ? I'm all listening.