I just wanted to take a few minutes to follow up on my old post here with some new information.
After spending a few years living and working in Sweden (Spotify is a Swedish company/service, for those who didn't know), I learned quite a bit about Swedish culture and lifestyle. I now have a more informed perspective, and can better understand why the Spotify apps/services are the way they are in terms of their simplicity, lack of features, lack of customization, etc.
Basically, it all comes down to a single Swedish word: "lagom"
Lagom doesn't have a very good direct translation in English. If you use Google translate, it will tell you it means "moderate". But in Swedish, lagom can have a variety of meanings depending on the context in which it is used. And in reality, it applies to so many aspects of life in Sweden that it's more of a cultural and socioeconomic philosophical concept than just being a word in their vocabulary.
In general, when used on its own, it can be taken to mean any of (including, but not limited to) the following:
- just enough
- only what is necessary/needed
- as appropriate/an appropriate measure
- good enough/adequate
In the USA, culturally, our focus tends to be on constant growth, improvement, and the relentless pursuit of progress: "bigger, better, faster, more". We have an awareness of work-life balance (work comes first), yet it tends to be much heavier on the work side of things. In Sweden, it's more of a life-work balance (life comes first), and much heavier on the side of life. A job is just a job, and doesn't define you or your value. How much you produce isn't as important as ensuring you don't work too hard or to the detriment of your physical or mental health.
To visualize how this relates to Spotify, imagine, for example, a planning meeting between the engineering and UI design teams to coordinate how the UI will look and function. In the USA, this would likely expand into several different meetings, market research, focus testing, revisions, more meetings, more focus testing, more revisions, etc. This goes on and on until, at some point, someone in authority sets a hard deadline for the UI design being completed, and both the engineers and designers (albeit somewhat begrudgingly and with some sense of disappointment) agree upon the final UI design.
In Sweden, this would probably be a single meeting to determine the basics of what is needed for the UI, the color scheme, basic functionality, etc. They might do some focus testing, but only if it's deemed necessary. Maybe there would be a follow-up meeting after the first iteration of the UI is functional to review it, and potentially decide if it needs any changes. But all in all, the whole process would be much more focused on doing as little as needed to accomplish the task at hand, as opposed to thinking of and doing everything possible to ensure that the UI design will be as aesthetically-pleasing and feature-packed as possible, while also remaining user-friendly, accessible, and fully-functional/bug-free.
This is why it is the way it is. Lagom. Only what is necessary.
As hardworking Americans, many of us might view this lifestyle concept/philosophy/business model as lazy or careless. We might think of numerous ways in which things could be expanded, improved, or fixed. And if it was up to us, these things would probably happen eventually.
But, unfortunately, it isn't up to us. And since Swedes prefer to live a carefree, relaxed life, where the workday always ends at 17:00 (or earlier, when possible - and not 5:00p.m., but 17:00, since Sweden goes by the 24-hour clock), and you don't do any more work than you need to in order to get by, or take any of your work or job stress home with you from the office, it's unlikely that anything much will expand, grow, or improve anytime soon - not unless it's lagom.
Staff / Moderator/ 3 years ago in Social & Random