Remixable Software

More and more, software companies are beginning to extend their products so they’re more than just products. Products are becoming publishing platforms. Users are able to extend a product’s functionality through custom integrations. They’re able to “remix” a product. This trend creates more personalized products and more jobs.

We’ve seen this for years with Facebook and CMS’s like WordPress and Magento. We’re seeing it more recently with products like WeChat and Slack. WeChat and Slack are more than just chat apps. They serve many needs that are beyond peer-to-peer communication. Let’s examine this model by digging into Slack, an app that’s quickly becoming the only tool we’ll ever need for most work-related tasks.

Case Study: Slack

Day by day, my team’s workflow is improving through Slack. At first, we used Slack to chat together. Now, we find ourselves using Slack more and more for tasks that we once offloaded to other products.

There’s a Trello integration that allows us to perform 80% of Trello administration right within Slack. Screenleap lets us share screens easily. There’s a JIRA integration, a Pomodoro timer, a time tracking tool. And many more.

The amazing thing is that Slack is only 3 years old! Imagine the breadth of tooling that will emerge over the next five years.

Slack’s also becoming an organic extension of my team’s culture.

We used to drop GIFs into chat windows the old school way — open a browser, fetch the right GIF and paste it. Now, we simply “/giphy” it. Custom slack responses have up’d everyone’s trolling game. Through custom emojis, we face off in epic Saiyan combat.

Must-Read is helping us capture all the awesome book recommendations that would otherwise get buried.

Through these integrations, Slack becomes more than a product. It’s a platform that’s remixable by it’s users. Soon, every team’s Slack experience will be vastly different. Why? Because each team has different needs. No need will be unmet.

New Business Opportunities

These remixable platforms will create more jobs. My colleague Isam noted “I can see Slack automation being it’s own role”. I see a role emerge as an off-shoot of HR and/or PMO. The lead would write custom integrations, curate existing integrations and write Slack on-boarding documentation for new hires.

Let’s not forget the freelancers/agencies that can benefit from this trend. These remixable platforms create new service design channels as freelancers/agencies can ship bots/integrations to address their clients’ needs.

This is even more exciting when we consider the rise of JavaScript as THE full-stack programming language. I can see a very near future where freelance app developers build apps for multiple platforms all using JS. This can alleviate the stress that comes with needing to learn a new language to enter an unsaturated market.

Organically Grown Companies

This trend can empower companies to grow more organically. This scenario doesn’t seem too farfetched: A developer writes a custom integration that becomes widely popular and the publisher and developer partner together to support it’s efforts.

Does It Fit Your Product Strategy?

I’d argue that this model should be a consideration for any software company.

For companies with existing products, this model may create additional sources of revenue and serve as another acquisition funnel. Consumers with more specific needs that aren’t met may be able to have them met through integrations built by third-party developers. This may be the hook needed to onboard these consumers to your product.

For emerging companies, it may help the company get to market sooner. Maybe the consideration is a slightly less polished MVP coupled with an extensible API. This can create parallel streams of consumers using the product and developers building on top of it.

Thanks to Damir Vazgird and Esha Sathiya for reading drafts of this.