Users had to go through several steps to complete a task.
I thought the obvious solution was a shortcut.
So I built one.
Then I realized why the original process had so many steps.
Each step was asking for information the product actually needed.
The shortcut just hid those decisions.
It looked faster.
It wasn't.
I had built an express lane that eventually dumped everyone back into the same traffic.
I went back to the original flow and simplified the unnecessary parts instead.
I tested the changes in Greta, and suddenly the shortcut didn't feel necessary anymore.
That was the lesson.
Shortcuts are tempting because they make a product feel faster without forcing you to rethink the underlying workflow.
Sometimes that's exactly what you need.
But sometimes you're just putting a bandage over a process that should be redesigned.
If the normal path is painful, adding a secret faster path doesn't necessarily fix the product.
It just creates two versions of the same problem.
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