SaaS Creep - Why Does Zoom Think I Want Their Task Feature?

Evernote was a simple yet beloved note-taking tool. Then, they added tasks, calendars, and other features that made the tool so bloated that users got fed up and left.

Dropbox was a simple, fantastically ergonomic cloud storage tool. Then they added a Password Manager and a Google Docs clone, and users were angry that they had to pay for stuff they didn't want.

Zoom recently added Docs, Tasks, and Workflow Automation. We've yet to see if there'll be a fallout, but I'm sure people have had plenty of good ways to manage their docs, tasks, and automation already.

Every successful SaaS Company seems to try to become the One Stop Shop, much to the detriment of the user experience. It would be like if a successful Steak House added Pizza and Sushi to their menu. For some strange reason, these companies see it as their mission to prevent users from ever switching tabs. Oh no, don't check your Google Calendar. We have a calendar right here in Zoom! Don't check your tasks in Todoist, we have tasks in Zoom now!

Is it pressure from investors and shareholders to grow? Maybe. It just doesn't work that way. Here's the rub.

Let's stick with Zoom. Their current customers like its video call capabilities more than they like Google Meet's video call capabilities.

But there's no reason to assume that all of these customers would like Zoom's take on task management, collaborative documents, or workflow automation, more than they'd like whatever they're currently using. Unless the new feature has incredible synergy with your core product, people will ignore your feature. It won't be the reason people pick Zoom over Meet, it won't be the reason people switch to Zoom from Teams, and all the while, the current users will suffer the bloat and the diversion of resources from the core experience they care about.

And now that software developers are allegedly 10x more productive with AI, we can expect 10x more features that nobody will care about...

It may be time to recall the old UNIX philosophy: Do one thing well!