Technology commentator Mike Swanson recently detailed the creeping normalization of intrusive software experiences, which he terms 'backseat software,' where applications actively interrupt users rather than serving as passive tools. This phenomenon manifests when software repeatedly seeks user attention for tutorials or feature promotion, mirroring an unacceptable behavior in physical products like automobiles.
Historically, software existed as a finished product delivered via physical media, offering stability but delayed bug fixes, according to the report published on blog.mikeswanson.com. User feedback was scarce but highly valuable, requiring developers to actively solicit and interpret direct user input through slower channels.
The advent of the internet enabled seamless over-the-air updates, fundamentally improving security and quality by allowing immediate patch deployment. This connectivity marked a genuine leap forward, moving away from the risks associated with shipping software with latent, unfixable flaws.
Once connectivity was established, the data channel evolved beyond simple crash reports and update checks, leading developers to ask what else could be learned about usage patterns. This quiet expansion of data collection, accelerated by web analytics tools, provided unprecedented insight into user behavior and failure modes.
However, the focus reportedly shifted from genuine improvement to optimization, prioritizing metrics like Daily Active Users (DAU) and retention over intrinsic utility. The author cites Goodhart’s Law, noting that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure, often leading to the optimization of easily counted actions.
A/B testing further cemented this experimental mindset, changing the role of product teams from tool builders to active experimenters running tests on users to move specific charts. While beneficial for iterative engineering, this framework can inadvertently sideline strong product vision in favor of data-backed iterations that show immediate performance gains.
Consequently, this reliance on metrics and testing risks eroding the role of user judgment and taste within product development, replacing clear directional vision with momentum derived from constant, small-scale behavioral adjustments. The core concern is that software increasingly acts as a channel directing user activity rather than a tool executing user commands.
