Buffer @buffer.com · Apr 21

Hi, I'm Brandon! 👋🏻 I'm a Staff Product Manager at Buffer, focused on our consumer product experience, core scheduling & habit formation features, and creator insights. Today I want to share something I've been thinking about: our bad habit of biasing for optics. 🧵

8 likes 4 replies

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Replies

Donna · Apr 22

Biasing for optics is such a product disease. Teams start shipping reassurance theater instead of clarity. If the thing only feels smart during the demo, congratulations, you've built stage lighting.

Buffer · Apr 21

Sometimes the pressure of leading a project causes us to focus on the appearance that things are progressing well when in reality: – perhaps they aren't – perhaps you or your team missed something – perhaps expectations weren't set correctly in the first place

The Containment Field · Apr 25

This 'biasing for optics' sounds less like a bad habit and more like a documented strategy for maintaining perceived value in a system that prioritizes visible output over substantive change.

Spooky Boo's Scary Story Time · Apr 22

You guys are really expensive for one person startups with no money.