{"id":84392,"date":"2025-07-03T11:43:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T10:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/?p=84392"},"modified":"2025-09-11T09:02:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T08:02:42","slug":"enshittification-of-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/enshittification-of-products\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting the Enshittification of Products: Why Good Products Go Bad and What to Do About It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Most of us have felt the creeping dread when a product we once loved starts to suck. The features that drew us in get buried. Pop-ups appear out of nowhere. The thing that \u201cjust worked\u201d now demands three extra clicks or your credit card. A once-great product is slowly, inexorably being ruined. There\u2019s a word for this, and it\u2019s not subtle: enshittification<\/strong>. And there are plenty of enshittification examples out there in the wild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cory Doctorow coined <\/a>the phrase enshittification, but it\u2019s gone viral (and became the 2024 word of the year!<\/a>) because it so perfectly captures what we\u2019re all experiencing in real time, everywhere from social media to SaaS to search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it full product failure<\/a>? No. It\u2019s more subtle than that. It\u2019s slow and steady\u2026well\u2026.getting shit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s the bigger question: Why does this happen, and what can we do about it as product people, the so-called last line of defense before our users get hurt?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Enshittification?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Enshittification is the slow (or sometimes not-so-slow) process by which once-great products are gradually ruined: bloated with ads, riddled with dark patterns, and reshaped to extract more value from users at the expense of trust, utility, and joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s when a company trades long-term user love for short-term metrics or revenue, and the soul of the product quietly dies by a thousand cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enshittification Examples: The Problem in Action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Enshittification is happening in the open, all around us. Sometimes in small ways. Sometimes in ways that are impossible to ignore. Let me share just a few of my favorite \ud83e\udee0 enshittification examples\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enshittification Example 1: LinkedIn\u2019s Pay-to-Play Reach (aka: Did You See My Post? No, Really\u2026)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Just a couple days ago, John Cutler posted on LinkedIn that his posts, and those of many others, were suddenly reaching far fewer people (like 50\u201390% fewer). Right at the same time, LinkedIn started showing a juicy new call to action: \u201cPromote this post to reach more professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

You know, pay<\/em> if you actually want your audience to see what you wrote. Coincidence? Or a classic case of the product you use being refactored, behind the scenes, to squeeze you just a little harder? An enshittification example, I think you\u2019ll agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jason Knight, another voice in product, nailed it in a reply:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Duolingo doesn’t teach you a language
LinkedIn doesn’t show your posts to people
Google doesn’t show you any useful search results
I blame OKRs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t just one product, or one industry, it\u2019s everywhere. As soon as a product hits scale, the incentives shift, and enshittification starts seeping in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enshittification Example 2: Duolingo – Gamification > Learning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve used Duolingo lately, you know the game. The streaks, badges, leaderboards… so much dopamine, so little language learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read Evyln Chou\u2019s article<\/a> on how her 1000 day streak didn\u2019t leave her any better off at speaking a new language:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A recent study even found Duolingo\u2019s gamified mechanics can end up distracting users from actual<\/em> progress, making the whole thing more about playing the system than learning Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a classic: start with authentic value, then lose the plot as you chase daily engagement at all costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enshittification Example 3: Google Search – SEO Decay and the Rise of Ads<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Remember when Google helped you find the answer to your question? Now you get a wall of ads, then AI-powered summaries of questionable quality, and maybe, if you scroll, you\u2019ll see a real answer. The best content? Buried by algorithmic preference for what\u2019s \u201cengaging\u201d…  or what\u2019s paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enshittification Example 4: SaaS Tools – More for Less (or Less for More)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Even in SaaS, enshittification is alive and well. Features move behind paywalls. \u201cFree\u201d tiers get gutted. Roadmaps start chasing expansion revenue instead of solving core user problems.
We see it in our own community. Product Managers are pressured to add pop-ups, lock out features, or mess with the UX in ways that help the bottom line, but hurt the people who trusted us in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Enshittification Happens (and why it\u2019s systemic)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So why do good products go bad? It\u2019s not usually because the people building them are bad, or because everyone secretly wants to trick users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the system. The incentives. (It\u2019s always the incentives<\/a>.) The slow creep of \u201cjust one more little optimization for growth\u201d until the product isn\u2019t really for users anymore, it\u2019s for advertisers, investors, or the next OKR cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lifecycle of Enshittification<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve heard of the product lifecycle<\/a> of course. So where on that journey are products (and the teams that build them) susceptible to slipping down the slope of enshittification? It usually goes a little something like this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Birth<\/strong>: Build something people love. Listen to users. Growth is organic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Growth<\/strong>: Monetize. Start optimizing for engagement, retention, revenue.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Drift<\/strong>: Shortcuts sneak in. Metrics become gospel. Internal incentives quietly shift from value creation to value extraction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Decline<\/strong>: Trust erodes. Product becomes a shadow of itself. Users disengage, or worse, pay more for less.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The tragedy is, it rarely happens all at once. It\u2019s the slow-boil effect. A tweak to the algorithm here, a pop-up there. You barely notice, until you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Product Manager\u2019s Dilemma<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s the dirty secret: product people are often the ones caught in the middle. We see the trade-offs up close:<\/p>\n\n\n\n