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THE PHILOSOPHY OF CONSCIOUS DIGITAL PRODUCTS

How are you today?

If you're immersed in your newsfeed, then maybe you are not so good. We seem to
be facing multiple crises every day: economic and geopolitical crises, crises of
health and values, and, of course, the climate crisis. We even have a buzzword
for it, “polycrisis”, which is used to describe these multiple and mutually
reinforcing calamities. Little wonder we often feel powerless.

But it can also be a source of motivation. We were—and are—product makers whose
job it has been for 10 years to develop digital solutions for companies and
organizations. Solutions that are designed to help them create and maintain
market success. Have we tried to counteract the causes and effects of these
crises in recent years through our work? Yes, to a certain extent. But have we
done the maximum we can to generate a positive impact? Probably not, if we are
honest. And given the state of the world, this means that more can and must be
done!

We believe that economics and technology are two of the most powerful levers for
improving human and planetary living conditions. Through our work, we can
directly influence these levers to improve the situation. Our power to shape
comes from our work with clients. For us, there can basically be only one brief
for this: to shape and harness digital technology in the spirit of sustainable
business.

Based on this, we have developed the philosophy of conscious digital products. A
theory of change that moves away from extractive use of technology and
exponential consumerism towards a regenerative and responsible approach. A way
to help us integrate positive change through digital products into our daily
work.


HOW DO CONSCIOUS DIGITAL PRODUCTS WORK?

Conscious digital products have a special character that can be identified by
the following five dimensions:

 * Solve systematic problems

 * Focus on the long term

 * Promote sustainable behaviors

 * Include through accessibility

 * Create transparency


PROBLEM DIMENSION

Conscious digital products solve systemic problems. Instead of focusing on the
satisfaction of individual needs, they make conscious contributions to our
collective well-being. They create individual benefits by producing value for
affected stakeholders and communities.


LONG-TERM DIMENSION

Conscious digital products have a long-term nature. Instead of prioritizing
short-term goals, they create lasting value through conscious impact assessment.
They create an immediate positive impact but not at the expense of the future,
leaving a lasting sustainable heritage.


BEHAVIOR DIMENSION

Conscious digital products promote sustainable behaviors. Instead of
manipulating user behavior primarily in the interest of their business model,
they empower users to form conscious habits. They create profitability without
any exponentialism and take up only as much attention as necessary.


ACCESSIBILITY DIMENSION

Conscious digital products are maximally accessible. Instead of accepting
barriers, they provide conscious inclusion for all users. They thereby expand
target groups, increase product impact, and are easier and more joyful to use.


TRANSPARENCY DIMENSION

Conscious digital products are transparent and create transparency. Instead of
understanding information as pure competitive advantage, they are oriented
towards business networks and support conscious cognition for their purpose by
others. Thus they create valuable interfaces that increase their value.

We use these characteristics as a guideline for the development of digital
solutions with our customers. It doesn't matter whether all or only some of
these dimensions are reflected in a product: every step in the right direction
counts; every company can make a contribution; and every development in the
direction of a conscious digital product is better than doing nothing and/or
just thinking about it. Change always comes about in small steps, after all. But
it is also clear that, in the future, we no longer want to develop digital
solutions that do not try to meet the demands of conscious digital products.
There is simply no time for that anymore.


WHAT ARE THE PREREQUISITES FOR DEVELOPING CONSCIOUS DIGITAL PRODUCTS?

In the development of digital products, our industry learned long ago to move
forward in incremental steps at high speed with a focus on continuous iteration.
Agility is just one of the buzzwords here.

However, in order to develop conscious digital products, other prerequisites are
needed, which we call DPM factors. We believe that conscious digital products
can succeed when three things work together:

(D) They must be developed by diverse teams: Multi-stakeholder perspectives and
contributions from diverse backgrounds make intentional and relevant digital
products possible in the first place, and also get them to market faster.

(P) They must default to pragmatic solutions: conscious digital products build
empathetically on a company's as-is situation and follow a realistic, measurable
vision.

(M) They must have meaningful intent: conscious digital products build on
authentic and meaningful intentionality that distinguishes the people behind the
product and thereby shapes every stage of the development process.

With the philosophy of conscious digital products, we want to raise our own work
to a new level and provide it with a new standard. It marks a new beginning for
us, although in many respects it also closes a circle. Many years ago, we began
our work with customers under the influence of the Lean Startup Methodology,
whose well-known motto is: avoid waste. Although the focus of this method is
more on process-related efficiency gains than on the programmatic design mandate
that shapes the philosophy of conscious digital products, they are nevertheless
closely linked.

We are not, of course, inventing a completely new wheel here. We are not alone
in our intent and purpose: The Conscious Capitalism movement launched by Whole
Foods founder John Mackey, for example, advocates for companies to act ethically
and also in the interest of society and the environment. The Center for Humane
Technology, founded by former Google employee Tristan Harris, is a powerful
voice for developing the digital infrastructure of our daily lives with mental
health, democracy, and collective well-being in mind.

Nevertheless, we believe that the philosophy of conscious digital products
should have a place in the world. Because for people like us—digital
consultants, designers, developers, and product owners—it's less about
theoretical discussions and big debates. Every day, we grapple with a multitude
of small decisions that, taken together, shape the products we work on, and
eventually, even when just in the smallest ways, the world. With the philosophy
of conscious digital products, we are describing in concrete terms what these
decisions must contribute to from now on. In this way, we manifest the practical
demands for our own work with customers who want to also increase their positive
impact on the world. And at least as important: we invite all product makers in
the world to draw inspiration for their own work. 

Because we are many!

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