People mostly won't tell you your product is bad.

Criticism is a gift

When we build products, we fall in love with them. It’s natural - we like the problem, we thought of the solution, we spent time building it. We tend to love what we’ve built. We expect others to.

More importantly, we expect others to care. The sad truth though, is they mostly don’t. As I’ve written here, users are lazy. No one really cares about what you’re doing. They care if it makes their life better or easier.

So when someone gives you criticism about your product, it’s actually a very good sign. They care! It means they’re trying to use the product, they want it to succeed, and they are taking the time to help you.

The default behavior isn’t complaints, it’s indifference. This is one of the hardest parts about product development, that the signal you want the most, is silence. It’s important to remember that “no news isn’t good news” when it comes to new products (unless your adoption and retention lines are straight up, somehow).

This is true for other areas, of course. Writing, like this or in other contexts, is similar. Mostly, it’s dropping a stone into the well. Hard to get feedback. Sometimes you get objections and criticism, and it’s hard to listen, because you love what have written, of course.

This isn’t a new lesson, but it was on my mind this week. If users take the time to complain about what you’re building, thank them! That was a gift. Now use it!