Ask & Adjust: The Future of Productivity Interfaces

Microsoft & Google adding generative AI into office apps is a classic pattern of incumbents making the new thing a feature. But the new thing generally also enables completely new ways to solve the problem. ‘Easier spreadsheets’ is less important than ‘why is that a spreadsheet?’

Many people will end up using a combination of these products to do their work, and to form their own operating system, a new paradigm detached from the traditional paradigms of Microsoft and Google's product suites.

This workflow isn’t feasible with current user interfaces. The parts that are available would require the employee to bounce between multiple applications. They would probably need support from someone in HR at each step. For companies like SAP, the core thesis is, “The more the platform touches, the more valuable a Generative Interface is.”

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The Superhuman “product market fit test"went viral a few years ago, but I think this was a distraction from Superhuman’s even more interesting insight – how to incorporate game design into a productivity tool. This is huge and can basically serve as a roadmap on how to incorporate game design into a NoCode/LowCode platform.