Part Two: The product · Everyday use
Asking again is the safe way to avoid a wrong assumption. Being asked the same questions on every visit tells people the product has not been paying attention.
Picture a florist who books a courier every morning. The form asks for her pickup address. It is her shop, and it has been her shop for four years. Then it asks whether she wants insurance. She never does. Then it shows the map view, and she switches to the list, as she does every day.
Each question is defensible. Things change. A wrong guess could send a parcel to the wrong door. Remembering takes work, and each form was built by a different team at a different time. So the product asks, and asks again.
To the florist it feels like being served by someone who has never seen her before. A good shop assistant remembers the regulars.
What is worth remembering is ordinary. The answers a person gave. The choices they make every time: which view, which sort, which filter. The place they were when they left. In software a team shares, it is the same per person: the warehouse supervisor's filter for her own aisle should still be there on Tuesday, whatever the administrator chose for everyone.
The fear of a wrong assumption has a simple answer. Fill in what they said last time, show it plainly, and make it one step to change. A visible guess that is wrong costs a second. A hidden one is the dangerous kind.
There is a limit. Remember what the person told this product, here. Do not go looking elsewhere for more, and forget when they ask.
Therefore:
Ask a question once. After that, fill in the answer the person gave last time, show it plainly, and let them change it in one step. Remember only what they told you here.
In practice. Do the product's most common task three days running. Write down everything you typed or selected identically each day.
Goes with. Before a person has answered, GOOD DEFAULTS (36) stand in. Remembering is what lets WHAT YOU CAME FOR, UP FRONT (44) pick up where they left off. The limit on what to remember is TRUSTED WITH THEIR DATA (58).