 |
|
|
|||||
Most of the software that truly moves the world doesn’t demand our attention: It quietly removes friction and gets out of the way. You only notice it when it’s broken. That’s not a bug in the business model; it’s a feature. In fact, “unnoticed but indispensable” is the highest customer-satisfaction score you can get. Consider these categories that already figured this out. The log-in that isn’t a task anymore Password managers, once you build the habit, fade into the background. They fill the box before you even remember there was a box. Single sign-on (SSO) systems go a step further and make logging in to everything feel like one action instead of 17 small, annoying ones. And passkeys get rid of passwords entirely. The pattern is consistent: Tools that turn a chore into a non-event ultimately win. It’s tempting to treat authentication like a “moment”: a page, a button, a ritual. The better approach is to treat it like plumbing. You notice good plumbing by its absence. Otherwise, you just enjoy the hot shower. Invisible infrastructure already won the internet Some technologies graduate from “choice” to “ambient.” Transport layer security (TLS) and HTTPS used to be optional. Now they’re table stakes, largely thanks to Let’s Encrypt making it approachable. Your browser nudges everyone toward secure defaults and the ecosystem complies. We don’t “do” TLS; we benefit from it. This wasn’t always so seamless. In Windows early days, you literally had to install a Winsock stack just to speak TCP/IP. Today, the network stack is simply present, like oxygen. Progress in software often looks like this: The thing we once had to fiddle with becomes the thing we don’t think about anymore. AI’s next act: not a chat box Chatbots are neat, but they aren’t the end state of AI. They’re a first draft, like when we used to watch early web pages load images line by line. The real value emerges when intelligent assistance is in the room where work already happens, and it becomes part of the workflow. In a CRM, the note writes itself while you talk and is already tagged correctly when you hang up. In design tools, the spec is updated everywhere when you change a component once. In code review, a suggestion appears inline with a one-click fix, not in a separate AI tab that hijacks your focus. This is the same story as passwords, SSO, and HTTPS: The win comes from disappearing the steps, not adding a new surface area for attention. (The funny thing is, most of the work of making AI invisible is just plain old engineering. Yes, there’s lots of AI engineering to make the bots work at all. But plugging them into things in a way that works, that’s the part we’re really behind on.) BORING ON PURPOSE IS A STRATEGY At my company we talk about being boring in a specific way: Security and connectivity should feel like electricity. You flip the switch, the lights come on, and nobody argues about the generator or the continent-wide high-voltage distribution network. Being invisible is not the same as being trivial; it’s the reward for sweating details users never see. Here are five design principles for making software people won’t notice 1. Make the default the decision. Someone once told me the golden rule of user interface design: If there’s a popup with two options, imagine one of them is “work” and the other one is “don’t work.” Then make “work” the default and delete the popup. Most users will never visit settings. If the secure, performant, accessible path is the default, adoption happens for free. 2. Budget for latency like it’s a feature. Under ~100ms, interactions feel instantaneous. Over ~1s, they feel like work. Invisible software feels fast because it never gives the user time to switch contexts. Cache, prefetch, and defer like your product’s life depends on it. Because it does! 3. Automate the paperwork, keep the signatures. Autofill, SSO, and passkeys are all versions of the same idea: The system should carry the burden. Let humans make approvals and set intent; let machines do the form filling and compliance trail. 4. Progressive disclosure beats feature sprawl. Hide power tools until they’re needed. The user who needs advanced controls will find them; the one who doesn’t should never meet them. UIs that start simple and get deep on demand feel “light” and earn trust. 5. Fail quietly, recover loudly. When background systems hiccup, self-heal first. If you must involve the user, say exactly what to do in one step and show you’ve already done the other three. Invisible products don’t turn every exception into a ticket. THE BUSINESS CASE FOR BEING FORGETTABLE “Unobtrusive” can sound like “unmonetizable,” but it’s the opposite. Products that vanish into the workflow produce fewer support tickets, shorter onboarding, and more expansion inside organizations. They spread by word-of-mouth because they don’t create new habits; they remove old pain. You don’t need a big campaign to sell relief. The tricky part is cultural, not technical. Teams must be okay shipping value that isn’t screenshot-worthy. That means investing in the edges: reliability, identity, zero-touch setup, and instant rollback-so customers never have to learn those words. A SIMPLE TEST If turning your product off causes immediate, confused swearing from the people who didn’t even know they depended on it, congratulations: you’ve built something great. Now make it a little faster and a little quieter, and do that every quarter. Because the best compliment your software will ever get is silence.Avery Pennarun is CEO and cofounder at Tailscale.
Category:
E-Commerce
The trajectory of our national economy is a central concern of every American. Our living costs rise as would-be hegemons battle over neocolonial control through tariff policies. And while social media creativity holds our attention, some part of us recalls older ways of storytelling, and we wonder, where do we belong? Most of us, even newcomers to this countryespecially newcomerswere taught from an early age that anyone who works hard will eventually thrive. But we repeatedly see and know that this is merely a story told to us, not reality. The community in which you are born has a tremendous impact on your eventual life outcomes. If you are born into a poor community, you will likely remain poor. If you are born into a wealthy one, you are likely to remain wealthy. Author Isabel Wilkerson and socioeconomic researcher Raj Chetty both describe this grating reality. We want to believe in the American Dream, but our eyes see, our ears hear, and our cortisol levels reflect the stress we feel as we strive to reconcile reality with the conflicting narratives of America as a place where anyone can thrive through hard work. Instead, it is time for a new narrative. THE POWER OF NARRATIVE IN SHAPING ECONOMIC REALITY Narrative, more than facts alone, shapes perceptions about who deserves opportunity and resources. Media, pop culture, and policy discourse reinforce or challenge our status quo by elevating the stories of the bootstrapping successful entrepreneur while ignoring stories of the barriers still in place. After the murder of George Floyd, local TV and the culture turned its attention to topics of structural racism. What followed? Increased business attention on audiences, stakeholders, and customers who were concerned with undoing generations of discrimination. No one with any knowledge of history expected such attention and focus to be permanent. Like looking into the sun, we knew America would quickly avert its eyes. Yet we still hoped that this solar moment would have greater public resonance. Despite the very public backlash against all things equity, support for diversity, equity, and inclusion persists among many Americans who have experienced the richness and benefit of desegregated life. We now struggle to find the safest words and phrases to describe our internal sense of sharing humanity with otherseven those beyond recently erected walls. This unlabeled value is the seed of a new national narrative. THE RIGHT TO THRIVE At Living Cities, we believe the conversation around opportunity must shift from scarcity and survival to abundance and flourishing. When we reframe narratives to center the right of every person to truly thrive, particularly those from marginalized communities, we unlock powerful new possibilities for individuals, families, and entire cities. This positive focus moves beyond merely surviving in systems that were not designed for everyone, toward actively building systems that empower all to grow, innovate, and lead. By emphasizing narratives of thriving, we foster hope, agency, and dignity. We see entrepreneurs of color not as risky bets but as vital engines of economic growth rooted in resilience and innovation. We recognize neighborhoods historically denied capital not as liabilities, but as sites brimming with untapped potential. This new storytelling affirms that systemic barriers can and must be dismantled, and that access to resources drives shared prosperity, stronger communities, and sustainable development. Living Cities experience with cross-sector coalitions in cities has shown that using positive narratives of abundance can help community leaders see all individuals as worthy of investment. This helps strengthen community trust, catalyze authentic partnerships, and accelerate economic opportunity. Thriving is more than an aspirational goalit is a proven strategy for revitalizing cities and fundamental motivation for transforming lives. REFRAME THE CONVERSATION Living Cities supported city coalitions to use narrative change for direct results. For example, in Albuquerque and Memphis, positive use of narrative enabled loan underwriters to re-examine their assessment of risk related to Black and Latino entrepreneurs. To reframe the national conversation, organizations and companies can use these best practices in narrative and communications strategies: Cocreate stories with those affected: Community-led storytelling creates authenticity and greater impact. Blend hard data with lived experience: Combining human stories with local economic data persuades both hearts and minds. Invest in media literacy: Teaching audiences to identify and question stereotypes can reduce bias. Counter negative narratives with abundance, agency, and equity: Highlight systemic successessuch as new Black-owned businesses or increases in affordable homeownershipover deficit-based stories. INSPIRE A CULTURE OF ABUNDANCE AND EQUITY Reframing risk as a function of structural barriers, not personal failure, will give us the foundation we need for increased economic opportunity. Storytelling can shift public policy, local business investment, and economic outcomes. Anything is possible when we eliminate our outdated stereotypes and create a new foundation. Leaders, policymakers, businesses, and media must invest in narrative work as a core equity strategy, reframing the conversation to foster true abundance and agency in Americas communities. Joe Scantlebury is president and CEO of Living Cities.
Category:
E-Commerce
Ive spent much of my career in fintech, but some of the most inspiring innovations Ive seen came from a town most people have never heard of. In early 2025, Ipava State Bank, a tiny community institution in western Illinois, embedded a small amount of life protection into every eligible checking and savings account. No app to install, no portals, no extra stepscoverage was calculated from balances and capped per account. Six months in, reported results included $3.45 million in protection delivered, 7% deposit growth, 4.8% higher average balances, and a 25% increase in customers reaching maximum coverage levelsat a time when many peers were losing deposits. The program, developed in partnership with Wysh, is part of a growing wave of fintech innovation thats meeting people where they already areat their local banks and credit unions. For The National Alliance for Financial Literacy and Inclusion (NAFLI), its exactly the kind of progress we champion: Technology designed not just for scale, but for inclusion. Lets talk about why it workedand how other banks could adapt the idea without copying the setting. We worked alongside partners on this effort; here are five observations weve made about the projects design choices any institution can adopt. 1. Default-on beats opt-in. People dont lack interest in protection; they lack bandwidth. Making the benefit automatic eliminated friction and avoided the shame tax of apply if you can navigate the process. In low-adoption markets, behavioral simplicity is a strategy, not a shortcut. 2. Lead with the institutions trust, not the partners tech. The coverage showed up through the bank customers already relied on, which reframed the offer from a new product to learn to my bank is taking care of me. Community banks have a trust surplususing it thoughtfully matters more than adding another feature tile. 3. Translate the benefit to local risks. In Ipava, protection wasnt a perk; it mapped to single-income households, inherited farm debt, and small-business succession. Wherever you operate, write the value statement in the communitys language first, product language second. 4. Measure outcomes the customer can feel. Deposit growth is great; confidence is the point. Track balance stability, dormant-to-active reactivation, and share-of-wallet movements following benefit awarenesssignals that the relationships getting stronger, not just more expensive to promote. 5. Make branches the on-ramp, not the afterthought. Frontline staff need a 10-second script. For example, This account now includes a small layer of protectionautomatically and a two-minute FAQ guide. When the explanation is simple, you dont need an app demo to earn adoption. WHAT THIS CHANGES ABOUT FINANCIAL WELLNESS Most wellness programs ask people to learn more and do moredownload the app, change the habit, attend the webinar. The Ipava example flips that script: Make the institution do more so the customer doesnt have to. When protection is embedded where money already lives, inclusion stops being an aspiration and becomes the default state of the relationship. Thats the shift Wysh is helping banks unlockand the kind of design NAFLI believes can redefine what financial literacy looks like in practice. If your bank is ready to make this shift too: Dont over-engineer choice. In high-emotion categories, asking users to select multiple options underperform simple and common defaults. If possible, offer clarity, not a catalog. Dont outsource the story. Tech partners enable; the bank narrates. If customers dont hear it from you, they wont feel it from you. Dont chase app adoption as the goal. Adoption of the benefit matters more than adoption of the interface. Design to be understood in a branch foyer, not just a home screen. THE BIGGER INVITATION If community institutions want to win back deposits and relevance, they dont need shinier featuresthey need more visible care. The lesson from a small bank in western Illinois isnt that every place is Ipava. Its that trust-first, default-on design can work anywhere people still value a bank that shows up for their best daysand their worst. Maybe the bigger takeaway is simpler: innovation doesnt always look like new technology. Sometimes it looks like a familiar bank doing something timelessshowing up for people when it matters most. And thats why NAFLI is watching this movement closelybecause when fintech starts working for the people who dont download fintech, were finally getting somewhere. Edwin Endlich is the president and board chairman of The National Alliance For Financial Literacy and Inclusion.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||