Many products that are ubiquitous today seemed incongruous when they started. Sort of like the duck billed platypus. If you don’t know about the platypus, it’s an animal that has the bill of a duck, but also has fur, and it lays eggs. It’s actually a mammal, probably the only egg laying mammal. Yes, unusual.
Let me give you some examples of Platypus product development
When I was working at Skype in the late 2000s, we had a free voice calling app. We added video calling, in 2006 if I remember well, as we thought people wanted to have more richness to their communication. And we had all these small paid for features like voicemail and Skype in which had low take up, so we bundled them into what are now Skype Plans. See, the story here is that we bolted together free features and revenue drivers to grow user value. Sort of like a Platypus. The product grows organically. You add what seems to bring most value to users at the time.
Some parts felt incongruous at the time. How does voicemail fit into a landline where friends can call you from another part of the world that would ring on your computer? It just seemed hard to create a mental model which one assumes should be simple. But eventually things come together as you add value to users.
Another experience at eBay
When I was at eBay, the “inventory” we had on the site also grew organically. We had some new stuff that small business owners listed. And then we had refurbished inventory, that came from other channels. And we had used stuff that people had uploaded from their garage as they cleaned up. And some people wanted to buy in “auction” formats, and others wanted more convenience and buy it on the spot. Again, the marketplace grew organically. Platypus once more.
What I’m trying to get at is that if you’re building product, it’s ok to plan out your 5 year strategy but know that it will change a lot. Mostly, build something users want. And then add some more. And eventually you have this great product that was developed organically. And it might be as wonderful as the Platypus.