If you’ve never watched Kathy Sierra’s talk on how to build the Minimum Badass User, watch it as soon as you finish reading this post. It will change your perspective on design. It will change your perspective on product development.

To summarize, she talks about UX from a unique angle: How do you make your users badass? (If you think “badass” is a subjective term, then I contest that “UX” is even worse). The key lesson is that your users do not give a f*ck about you. Period. All they care about is themselves. How awesome they are.

Now if you know a guy like me- sports fan, late 20s, new city- then you’ve heard him obsessing over fantasy football this time of year. It’s what we do. And the reason we do it might surprise you.

It’s not to follow our favorite teams or players. It’s not even to be up to date on stats and scores. It’s because we want to be able to talk shit to our friends. We want to be champions.

In Kathy’s talk, she walks through a theoretical dinner party of “users” talking about new photography software. As I tried to internalize that example, I could not help but think of my fantasy football group text message chain. That’s when I realized the badassery of fantasy football.

Users do not recommend your app because they like you. They recommend it because they like themselves. That’s why you need to compete on user awesome. Not app awesome. — Kathy Sierra

The better the quality of a product, the more desirable it will be. That’s the common thought process of product development. But it’s wrong. If you have ever used any fantasy football app, you know they all have their shortcomings.

So then why do we interact with these app? Simple. At the end, when the clicking is over, we can beat our friends.

Kathy’s point is that quality does not drive desirability. The truth is, the more badass the product makes you, the more crap you are willing to put up with.

It’s actually worth it for you to deal with slow loading times on Sundays. You can deal with the painful confusion of trying to sort players by position. And you tolerate the one time each year when someone’s season is ruined because of a failed waiver claim.

You put up with all that crap for the sweet Tuesday morning. When all the scores have settled. And you get to send that “you suck” text to your opponent. Mmm. That’s good stuff.

You see when I talk about fantasy football, I never talk about the app. And this is Kathy’s point. Software is just a tool to achieve some desired result. But understanding what your users do after they get their results is the key to sustainable product development.

When it comes to fantasy football, changing my lineup and getting score updates is my desired result. But with that, I can keep in touch with my friends hundreds of miles away. We can joke about seasons past and the one time someone picked up the wrong Adrian Peterson. I can still taste the sweetness of my League Championship in 2012 and what it felt like to put on that green jacket for the first time. (That’s right, we have green blazers for all the winners.)

The value to me is beyond all the technology. It’s beyond all the features and settings. What matters is what happens after I stop using the app.

It’s just about the pure joy. Pure emotion. Pure badassery. And there is nothing more badass then sending that text to the entire league. The one after the season is over. The one that reads, “Can’t wait to get fitted for that green jacket boys, you’re talking to a champion now.”

Now that is one hell of an experience.

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