Boring is a choice. So is delight.

Last week I shared with you that I rage-built a job board.

Almost 100 jobs deep, The Board is doing exactly what it’s intended to do. Be an open, free, un-gated, easy-to-access job board where you can share jobs and find jobs.

Building The Board reminded me of something I learned years ago; not as a builder, but as a user. Who from? Slack, of course.

My tenure at Slack taught me that software doesn't have to feel like software. It doesn’t have to be stale and robotic. Software can be approachable, thoughtful, and built with moments of delight in mind. After all, humans are using the tool; might as well engage these users as the humans they are. (By the way, swipe down on Slack mobile for a message. It’s one of my favorite software easter eggs ever)

Once the basics of The Board were shipped, I began thinking; 'how can I make these in-between moments of the user experience more delightful?’ Not just the obvious parts (the search, the filters, the listings, the form) but the moments people never think about. So I turned to the Submit button.

When someone submitted a job, what happened? Nothing.

So I brainstormed ways I could up the playfulness just a little bit. Enough to make someone smile, or feel a sense of pride they’ve contributed. Something memorable.

I knew the moment after hitting Submit was an easy win. I wanted to showcase some playful, on-brand messages, thanking the end user for contributing. Something light, not intrusive, concise, and easy to exit out of. Something persistent so the user didn’t have to rush reading it, but also something that reminded the user that what they’re sharing could help someone in a major way. They may never know it, but it could.

So I built it.

When you submit a job to The Board, you don't get silence. You get a duck and a short message thanking you for what you just did. Because why not? And the best part is that I’ve created enough of them (with more on the way) so you’ll see a variety of these messages each time to submit a job to The Board. I think as of now, there are a little over 50 of them in the rotation.

Some are silly:

• "Big duck energy right there."

• "The duck would high-five you if it had hands."

Some are warm:

• "Someone's about to get hired because of you. No pressure."

• "This is how we take care of each other."

And some are just a little ridiculous, which is exactly the point:

• "Consider yourself a career fairy godparent."

• "Helping people? In this economy? Iconic."

Shipping this small but impactful design update is the Slack lesson I mentioned before, fully realized. Slack understood something most software companies miss: every moment a user spends with your product is a moment to either feel something or feel nothing. And "nothing" is a wasted opportunity. That's what the duck is. It's me refusing to waste the moment. And of course be a little unserious, because we all need to be a lil unserious now and then.

As far as I’m concerned, the confirmation/thank you screen is the most ignored real estate in all of software. It's the spinner. The gray box. The "submission received." But it's also a moment where a real human is sitting there, having just done something, waiting. Why would I let that moment be nothing? And on a job board of all things. In this economy? No way. I know I needed to do something about it.

So what are you waiting for? Go share a job and allow me to overdeliver on a thank you.

Thanks for reading and for being here. I don’t take for granted that you care what I have to say. Or even if you don’t care, and you’re still here; thanks for being a fan anyway. ❣️

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