We built a tool to help our engineers make improvements based on customer feedback faster.

Only problem, they weren’t using it.

Two clicks to get to the recommendation, wasn’t that easy enough?

One click included navigating a list of 24 customer accounts that weren’t sorted in alphabetical order.

The other click to select the appropriate team.

And then if you clicked into the recommendation, the back arrow didn’t preserve the customer and team account. So the two clicks like hydra, sprouted again.

Needless to say, it was annoying.

And the association with the tool became that of annoyance.

Internal tooling is easy to want to make a case to avoid investing in because it doesn’t directly impact your customers.

But internal tooling that isn’t used is more expensive than putting in the 10% polish to make it a fan favorite.