For a long time, when I added a new feature to LowFlow, I knew exactly how it worked. Natural. I was the one who had built it.
But when other people started using the journal, something became obvious: if I have to personally explain every feature, something is missing in the product.
A guide helps, but it stays outside
A PDF guide helps. An HTML guide helps too. Videos can help. But there's always a problem: the trader has to leave what they're doing to go find the explanation somewhere else.
So I started thinking differently. Why should the guide always be outside the journal?
I started building a guide directly into LowFlow
The idea is simple. The trader is already in the journal. They want to understand a feature. They open the guide. And the information is there.
No need to search for an old email. No need to open ten pages. No need to wonder which documentation matches their version. The product can start to explain how it works.
An interactive guide goes further than a manual
A PDF is fixed. A guide inside the application can follow the real structure of the product. The trader can choose what they want to understand. Jump straight to a section. Go back. Explore at their own pace.
And above all, the guide can evolve with LowFlow. When a feature changes, the documentation can change with it.
Complexity can exist behind, not in front
I built integrations. Imports. Different platforms. Dozens of features. All of this complexity is real. But the user should not need to understand how everything was built in order to use it.
A product should be able to guide its user
That's different from simply showing a list of features. The goal is not to show everything LowFlow can do. The goal is that someone can discover the journal gradually.
Use what they need today. Then understand another feature when it becomes useful. Without needing to learn everything before starting.
My view of the guide changed
At first, documentation was something you add around the product. Now, I'm starting to see it as a part of the product itself.
Because if LowFlow becomes more complete, it also has to become easier to understand. I can keep adding features. But the real challenge is making sure they stay accessible.
Good software should not only work. It should also help the user understand how to use it.