An Atlassian app (add-on) is more than functionality

[#1]

DEISER is putting a lot of effort into having a significant presence on Atlassian Marketplace, and usually, we talk in DEISER's blog about our Apps (add-ons) except in this article; I wouldn't like to talk about a specific app but on how we believe it should be, analyzing them and showing our way to reach the goal to build great products.

The ecosystem created by Atlassian is very rich, in the Marketplace you can find hundreds of apps that cover a bunch of functionalities that Atlassian's products don't reach, or increase the features with something more attractive for the user.
Being honest, Jira and other Atlassian products aren't the most usable at all; yes, they have made a great job compared with old-time solutions, but there are a lot of things to do: users want things more accessible, more usable, with specific solutions. Times of swiss-knife-apps are gone.

As the title can anticipate, not everything is functionality; we don't just "sell apps," we offer Jira solutions to work smarter and be more productive.
Typically, people's work isn't to spend hours using Jira or Confluence, they use them as tools to improve their real job, and if we build an app to include more "bureaucracy," it won't add-on real value to the user. Not our goal.

Go unnoticed

A professor I had at Castilla-La Mancha University, José Bravo, once said that the ultimate test to know if something is usable for the final user, it must accomplish three conditions:

• It should solve a problem or a need, don't create a new one.
• The user should feel your product/functionality is essential.
• To deliver value going unnoticed; It's the primary signal you are doing a great job.

Pivot, change and fail fast

Another asset that Atlassian apps vendors have: we are small, at least smaller than Atlassian is, so we can move and pivot faster.
Jira is a huge universe that needs months or years to change something, but we don't, our advantage; that's why we maintain the most possible contact with our clients: for their feedback, which is translated in their needs that we transform into solutions adapted to our products.

On the whole, I would like to share a principle that I apply everytime I can: "don't be afraid to fail"; if you never take risks then you will never succeed. Yes, sometimes you'll probably fail, but without those attempts is challenging to find the way to triumph, principles we apply at every of our apps and we encourage you to try now.

Asking the Community: do you also think swiss knifes are gone? Would you improve your app with new features, or keep working to improve what you already have?

PS: You can visit the original post here