Discoverability — The Power of Helping People Find What’s Possible

The best features don’t just work—they get noticed.
You know you’ve nailed #discoverability when people easily find new capabilities based on #precedent and #intuition.

The feature was brilliant:
Auto-generate a custom invoice PDF, email it to the customer, and update the balance—all with one click.

There was just one problem…

No one knew it existed. 😬

It was hidden behind a tiny gear icon in a corner no one visited.
No tooltip. No label. No hint it was even clickable.

The team kept doing the job #manually.
Clicking 5 different places. Copy/pasting amounts. Typing email addresses by hand. Every. Single. Time.
The system had the power—they just couldn’t see it.

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🔎 This is what Don Norman calls #Discoverability in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴:

Can people figure out what actions are possible?
Can they easily find what they need?
You can’t blame someone for not using a feature they never knew was there.
It’s like having a dishwasher that requires a secret handshake to open.

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🧭 Good discoverability makes features inviting and #obvious:

• 🔘 Buttons look like buttons
• 🧶 Menus are labeled with real words, not mystery icons
• 💡 Important options are visible, not buried three clicks deep
• 👋 New features say “Hi, I’m new—want to try me?”

It’s not about adding more.
It’s about making what’s important intuitive.

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📉 Why This Matters to Business Leaders

When discoverability is poor:

• ⏳ Your team wastes time on #manualwork
• 😠 Users blame themselves—or give up
• 🧠 Features gather dust instead of delivering #value
• 💸 And that investment you made? Underused, misunderstood, and undercut

A feature not found is a feature not used.
And a feature not used is a feature not worth building.

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✅ Great design helps people see what they can do—without reading a manual or watching a training video.

Ask yourself:
• Can someone new find the top 3 things they need to do—fast?
• Is the path to action obvious, or do they need a tour guide?
• Does the interface suggest features… or hide them behind #insiderknowledge?
• Are your most powerful features visible, or buried like a hidden level in an old video game?

Because your team can do amazing things—
If the system just points them in the right direction. 🧭