Learn What the Best Products
Got Wrong — And How to Fix It for Developer Tools
Opinionated, specific critiques of how great products could be better — the UX improvements, architectural refactors, and product decisions we'd make differently.
For developer tools companies: Winning developer trust and embedding into workflows before being replaced by a competitor.
Read CritiquesIndustry
Developer Tools
Products built for and adopted by software developers through technical credibility
Core Challenge
Winning developer trust and embedding into workflows before being replaced by a competitor
Target Outcome
high developer adoption with deep workflow integration
What developer tools teams miss when studying what we'd do differently
Products built for and adopted by software developers through technical credibility — compounded by winning developer trust and embedding into workflows before being replaced by a competitor.
Learning only from success stories without understanding why good products still have flaws
No framework for structured product critique that produces actionable improvements
Cargo-culting decisions from successful products without understanding their limitations
No way to develop product taste without seeing both what works and what doesn't
What We'd Do Differently applied to developer tools products
We give honest, specific critiques — not generic praise or vague suggestions
We explain exactly what we'd change and why — with the product thinking behind each decision
We use real products to develop the product taste that separates good from great
We show how the same problem was solved better elsewhere
What developer tools founders gain from what we'd do differently
Sharper Product Taste
Learning to see flaws in great products develops the taste that makes your own decisions better.
Constructive Critique Framework
A structured way to evaluate any product — your own or a competitor's.
Avoid Repeated Mistakes
Learn from documented errors before you build the same anti-patterns.
Better Design Vocabulary
Specific critiques build the vocabulary for describing design decisions precisely.
The what we'd do differently process for developer tools products
Define what the product is trying to do
Every critique starts with understanding the intended goal — before judging the execution.
Identify where it falls short
Find the specific moments where the product makes the user work harder than it should.
Propose the alternative
Describe the specific change — not just 'make it simpler' but exactly what simpler looks like.
Evaluate the trade-off
Acknowledge why the current design might have been chosen — and why the alternative is better.
What We'd Do Differently for Developer Tools
developer tools companies operate within specific constraints: Products built for and adopted by software developers through technical credibility. Understanding what we'd do differently through this lens leads to high developer adoption with deep workflow integration.
Without rigorous what we'd do differently
- ×Learning only from success stories without understanding why good products still have flaws
- ×No framework for structured product critique that produces actionable improvements
- ×Cargo-culting decisions from successful products without understanding their limitations
With Greta's what we'd do differently approach
- ✓We give honest, specific critiques — not generic praise or vague suggestions
- ✓We explain exactly what we'd change and why — with the product thinking behind each decision
- ✓We use real products to develop the product taste that separates good from great
What We'd Do Differently reading list
Learn from the best.
Build for developer tools companies.
Greta applies the patterns from great products to build yours — shipped in days, not months.