While some of this could be solved tactically – adding offline mode to assuage fears of a poor connection – a big chunk was more of an intangible psychological anxiety.
First, the promise of Google Docs (“create and edit documents online, collaborating in real-time with others”) created excitement rather than anxiety. You weren’t replacing your entire document system, just creating specific documents for collaboration. The trust barriers weren’t nearly as high, so there was more leeway to take risks in the UX.
But once I began to build a standalone product, the UX began to wrap around unique AI capabilities. This was natural, as it fit the long-term vision in my head. But honestly it just sort of confused early testers. Because without anything to anchor to, they weren’t really sure what the AI was or wasn’t capable of. So too many of them defaulted back to their own default perception — automation, replacement, disconnection.
