Introduction

"Good UX" alone doesn’t guarantee product success. Like an engine, products need all parts working together to create real value.

What's the problem it solves?

Many teams assume smooth design and usability equal product success. The truth: products fail when they ignore other essential factors that create lasting value.

Quick Summary

The article uses the analogy of a motorcycle engine to explain why usability is only one piece of the product puzzle. Just as an engine needs air, fuel, compression, and spark, products need more than clean design to truly work.

Teams often treat usability as the whole story, but real product value comes from multiple connected elements. Peter Morville’s “honeycomb framework” highlights six: useful, usable, findable, credible, accessible, and desirable. If even one is missing, products can lose users or fail to renew contracts, especially in B2B SaaS.

Examples show that even highly usable products flop if they lack credibility, are hard to find, or simply don’t feel desirable. The solution is to shift from “usability tunnel vision” to a value-based practice where teams evaluate all six dimensions. That means cross-functional partnerships and research aimed at uncovering the missing piece that might break adoption or renewals.

Key Takeaways

• Usability is important but not the same as value.
• Value emerges from six connected dimensions: useful, usable, findable, credible, accessible, and desirable.
• One weak dimension can sink adoption, engagement, or renewals.
• Teams must collaborate across design, product, marketing, security, and legal to cover all bases.
• Metrics for each dimension should move together to show real progress.

What to do

• Audit your product against all six honeycomb dimensions.
• Collect real evidence from users, not assumptions, to test each one.
• Identify and fix the weakest link before launch or renewal cycles.
• Shift team conversations from “make it more usable” to “make it more valuable.”
• Partner across functions (product, design, marketing, legal, engineering) to solve credibility, accessibility, and findability gaps.
• Track metrics like adoption, trust, search success, engagement, and renewal rates together to judge real success.

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