Days 8 to 10 – Defining the Product: From Feedback to Friction

By the second full week of building SWAIN, the tone started to change. The early energy of announcing a new tool gave way to something more serious. We were no longer focused on what we could build. The question became what truly mattered. Why would anyone care?

It started with a reflection on service charges, which triggered a much broader conversation among the team. We realised that value in software isn’t just about features. The real cost to users is their time, their energy, and the friction they face getting to results. That simple insight changed our priorities. From this point forward, time saved would be the measure of everything we did.

During one of our regular Sunday #95Tribe walks, the discussion turned to assumptions. It was clear we were still thinking like builders, not like users. That conversation helped reframe our mindset. We saw that for SWAIN to be useful, it could not simply function well. It had to feel familiar, intuitive and invisible to the user. The interface needed to behave the way developers already expect, not ask them to learn something new.

The most defining moment came when we reviewed the MVP scope and cut it right back. We removed anything that felt like extra. What remained was one clear promise. SWAIN must connect to a live database and generate a working, documented API in minutes. No setup screens. No walkthroughs. No friction. Just results.

These three days may not have produced visible progress or technical milestones, but they shaped the foundation. This was when the product gained its clarity. From this point on, the path narrowed. Every decision became easier, because the purpose was finally clear.

Key takeaway

Clarity does not come from building features, it comes from removing everything that does not serve the user. The real product begins where friction ends.