1. How to Build Learnable Apps
that Users Love at First Sight
Adam Kenney adam@pmd.com

3. A little bit about me...

4. Director of Software Dev at pmd.com.We make doctors happy.
(They said it couldn't be done!) Brews beer, writes code, likes
dancing, mountains, fluffy kittens.

5. Director of Software Dev at pmd.com.We make doctors happy.
(They said it couldn't be done!) Brews beer, writes code, likes
dancing, mountains, fluffy kittens.

6. Director of Software Dev at pmd.com.We make doctors happy.
(They said it couldn't be done!) Brews beer, writes code, likes
dancing, mountains, fluffy kittens.

7. Director of Software Dev at pmd.com.We make doctors happy.
(They said it couldn't be done!) Brews beer, writes code, likes
dancing, mountains, fluffy kittens.

8. A little bit about you...

9. Who has a smartphone?
(keep your hand in the air)

10. Put your hand down if you have
NEVER used an app.

11. Tell me your favorite app.
!

12. How often do you use it?

13. You’re “engaged” with it.

14. You’re “engaged” with it.
(as in, you would marry it if marriage were
defined as the union of a person and an app)

15. What was your impression when you tried to
use the app for the first time?

20. What do you hope to accomplish the first time
you open a new app?

21. You downloaded it for some purpose.

22. credit: Kathy Sierra

23. Three Laws of Love

24. Example 1: Pandora

26. How do you play “I Will Survive”?

27. Familiarity makes it easy to learn because your
guesses are good.

29. Law 1. Love starts with what you know.

31. How many options do I have here?

32. If you only have one choice, you can’t make the
wrong choice.

34. 2. Love makes complicated choices simple.

36. Let’s actually try to find the song.

37. Trepidation...

38. I AM A GENIUS.

39. Reward trial and error.

41. 3. Love is spontaneous.

42. 3. Love is spontaneous!

43. Example 2: Facebook

49. 1. Like other apps?

50. 2. How many choices?

51. 3. Rewards exploration?

57. I feel incompetent and angry, and I hate Mark
Zuckerberg.

58. Time for a makeover!

59. 1. Make it familiar.

60. 2. Remove choices.

61. 3. Reward exploration.

62. We’ve come a long way.

63. Now what? Ship it?

65. Only users can tell us with
certainty if this is an improvement.

66. You can monitor their actions from afar...

67. ...but you can’t create an emotion
(love) with analytical data alone.

68. Love from a distance isn’t love,
it’s a fantasy.

69. Heat maps won’t tell you “what were
you trying to do when you got
frustrated and decided to stop using
my beautiful app?”

70. A/B testing won’t tell you “what
were you hoping would happen
when you tapped on that button?”

71. These are not substitutes for
understanding your users.

72. If you want your users to get
engaged with your app, you have
to get engaged with your users.

73. So get your hands dirty.

74. Facial expressions, body language, and
tone of voice will tell you things that
the user could never or would never
articulate.

75. Be a user.

76. Obsess.

77. Your app will be 1000 times better
!

78. Your app will be 1000 times better
and you’ll learn how to design
great software.

79. You can’t buy 32,911 reviews like this.

80. Songza wouldn’t have achieved this as a multi-billion
dollar company.

81. There are many paths to success in
software.
!
The surest is to create mind-
blowingly amazing software that
your users love.

82. Mobile software that doctors love.
Adam Kenney adam@pmd.com

83. Questions?!
Adam Kenney adam@pmd.com