EM Tech #18: When Features Grow, But Simplicity Matters

Hey EM Tech Family! 👋

If you've ever found yourself thinking "Why is this so complicated?" while managing an incident or "I wish this worked this way," this edition is for you. As someone who's sat in your chair and now works to build emergency management software, I want to share some honest insights about feature evolution - and why simplicity matters more than ever.

The View from Both Sides

Remember that frustrating moment when you needed to send out a quick notification during an incident, but had to navigate through multiple menus just to get it done? Or you wanted to manage resources effectively while communicating with the correct group of people?

I've been there. Now I'm on the other side, looking at feature sets and thinking, "How did we let this get so complex?" or "Why did we never think of incorporating this when it could provide value to an entire community of users instead of one?"

The Evolution Challenge

When I was an emergency manager, I thought I understood software inside and out. I saw plenty of gaps that would be beneficial to the EM community where current technology wasn't packing the punch. But now that I'm working on building it, I'm discovering something fascinating: patience and value.

The transition from legacy systems in emergency management to modern solutions isn't just a technical challenge - it's a journey that requires careful consideration and, above all, patience. Each feature in existing systems represents years of user feedback, specific use cases, and evolved functionality. We can't simply rush to rebuild everything overnight.

Instead we need to take a measured approach:

- Analyzing how features are actually used in the field

- Understanding the "why" behind each functionality

- Evaluating opportunities for simplification

- Carefully considering the impact of changes on daily workflows

- Asking ourselves: Will this make users' lives easier?

The Patience Paradox

Here's what I've learned about patience in product development: sometimes moving slower actually helps us move faster in the right direction. When we take the time to deeply understand how a feature is used, we often discover opportunities for simplification that wouldn't be apparent with a rushed approach.

For example, what might look like two separate features could actually be solving the same core problem in slightly different ways. By taking the time to understand this, we can potentially create one elegant solution that's more intuitive than the original two.

Speaking Your Language

Then there's terminology - something that hits close to home for all of us in emergency management. The words we use in our products matter more than you might think. When you're in the middle of managing an incident, the last thing you want is to puzzle over what a button or feature name means.

We're seeing that:

- Emergency management terminology varies across organizations

- Context can change the meaning of certain terms

- Familiar language reduces cognitive load during stressful situations

- Consistency in terminology is crucial for user confidence

The Path Forward

Here's where it gets interesting. As someone who's managed emergencies in the real world, I understand the importance of getting things right. While working to simplify these systems, I've learned that we need to:

- Deeply understand how features are actually used in the field

- Consider the context in which features are accessed

- Balance power with simplicity

- Ensure critical functions are readily accessible

- Build with real-world emergency management in mind

Let's Talk About It

Your experiences and insights are invaluable to this conversation. I'd love to hear from you in the comments:

💭 What feature in your current system would you be willing to wait longer for if it meant getting it exactly right?

💭 Have you experienced a software update that simplified things in a way you appreciated? What made it work?

💭 What's one complex workflow in your current system that you think could be simplified without losing functionality?

Share your thoughts below - let's start a conversation about what really matters in emergency management technology. Your insights might just help shape the future of the tools we all use.

Stay safe and keep pushing forward,

James

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P.S. If this resonated with you, consider sharing it with your network. The more voices in this conversation, the better our industry becomes.