“That’s the true value of estimates. That it sets up conversational constraints that can be used as boundaries for trading concessions. Not that they’re nails for your own self-erected cross.

“If you build a simpler, more affordable alternative to what’s out there already, you can bring new people into the fold. You don’t have to grab a piece of someone else’s pie — just bake a new one.

“

“Because it sucks” is not a reason to redesign. “It sucks” leaves the scope wide open with no measure of success. It’s a sure way to scrap the good decisions you made along with the mistakes.

Instead, start the redesign with a question: “What is right about this design?” Use that perspective to identify specific problems and then target those exact problems.

“Would you take your next paycheck in page views? or users? or followers? or visitors? or eyeballs (remember that one from the 90s)? Go down to the corner store and plunk down a million impressions for a gum ball. They’ll probably call the cops.

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

“If you’re a designer who doesn’t do any writing, you’re going to hit a brick wall in your career at some point.

“The lesson: Once your user base has grown beyond a certain point, you cannot take features away from them. They will freak out. Whether the feature is good or bad, once you launch it you’ve married it. This changes the economics of feature additions. If you can’t destroy what you build, each addition holds the threat of clutter. Empty pixels and free space where a new feature could be added are the most valuable real estate on your app. Don’t be quick to sell it, because you can never get it back.