The Best Products I Used This Year
And What They Taught Me About Craft
As product managers, we like to believe we know good product craft when we see it. Yet spend enough time inside complex organisations and the bar can quietly slip. Products become bloated. Tools demand effort before delivering value. Systems technically work but feel indifferent to the people using them.
This year, a handful of products reminded me what care in product design feels like. Not only did they perform effectively, but they also reshaped my expectations.
As we head into the holiday season, it presents a natural moment to reflect on what has stood out. One of my favourite books A Tribe of Mentors, asks a simple but powerful question about purchases a less than $100 that have meaningfully improved your life. That prompt got me thinking in the year of AI, which products genuinely changed how I think, work and create.
This article provides a nice bookend to our year in articles mirroring our first product breaks article of the year, which you can check out here: Using AI to supercharge your PM powers. These are the 5 products that stayed with me, and the principles they reinforced for the future of product.
Design for Flow, Not Features
Product: Notion
What delighted me about Notion was how little pressure it put on me to get things right upfront. I could open a blank page, start messy, change my mind halfway through, and reshape my thinking without friction. At one point, I realised I could turn a rough paragraph into a toggle or structure it into something more formal without breaking my flow. The product never interrupted me to ask what I was trying to build.
Notion felt like it trusted me. It did not rush me, correct me, or overwhelm me. It let me think in my own shape.
The lesson here is not about capability. It is about flow. Great products optimise for the mental state they want users to be in. They reduce cognitive load and create space for momentum. Productivity becomes a by-product rather than the goal itself.
Takeaway:
Design for the core mental state you want users to experience. Features are secondary.
Trust As a Product Feature
Product: Monzo
Monzo continues to stand out because it consistently finds ways to remove anxiety from money. The 1p 365-day savings challenge delighted me because it turned saving into something approachable and quietly rewarding. Direct investing from my bank account removed the mental barrier between intent and action. My mortgage checker did not just show numbers but offered clear recommendations I could act on. Even merging all my pensions into one place felt less like a financial admin task and more like regaining clarity. At no point did the product make me feel foolish, rushed, or uninformed. It explained itself. It earned confidence over time through consistency.
This is what trust looks like in practice. Not grand gestures, but predictable care in moments that usually cause stress.
Takeaway:
If users do not trust your product, no amount of functionality will compensate. Transparency is foundational.
Lowering the Cost of Creation
Product: Lovable
Lovable delighted me by making starting feel cheap and reversible. I could move from an idea to something tangible in minutes without losing momentum to setup or configuration. There was no sense that I needed to commit to the right structure upfront. I could explore freely, experiment, and change direction without penalty.
That ease invited curiosity. It made play feel acceptable again, which is rare in creation tools. The craft here lies in reducing activation energy. When the cost of getting started is low, people explore more, learn faster, and stay engaged longer.
Takeaway:
The faster users can move from intent to outcome, the more likely they are to explore, learn, and return.
Product Should Learn With You
Product: ChatGPT
ChatGPT delighted me in moments where I did not yet know what I was asking. You don’t need to know the “right” way to use it. You learn by doing. The product adapts to your style, your context, and your level of intent. I could return to a conversation days later and pick up where I left off without re explaining context. As I worked, the responses adapted to my tone, depth, and way of thinking. It helped me clarify ideas that were still half formed.
It did not demand precision upfront. It helped me arrive there. Over time, it stopped feeling like a tool I operated and started feeling like a system I collaborated with. That shift is subtle, but powerful.
Takeaway:
The most powerful products do not just respond to users. They evolve with them.
Respecting User Time
Product: Linear
Linear delighted me through speed and restraint. Actions happened instantly. Keyboard shortcuts felt discoverable rather than hidden. I never felt like the product was asking for more attention than necessary or slowing me down with ceremony.
It was opinionated, constrained, and unapologetic. In doing so, it sent a clear signal. My time mattered.
That respect showed up in every interaction.
Takeaway:
Simplicity and speed are not just UX choices. They are signals of respect.
What These Products Have in Common
None of these products are perfect. What they share is care.
Care in how decisions are made.
Care in what is prioritised.
Care in how users are treated over time.
They serve as a reminder that great product craft is not about novelty or scale alone. It’s about sweating the small stuff, staying intentional, and remembering that every interaction - no matter how minor - shapes how a product is experienced.
These products did not just raise my expectations as a user. They raised the bar for what I am willing to build as a product manager.
Because the best products don’t just function.
They feel considered.
Which products did you use that make your list this year? Share in the comments below. Happy holidays and see you in the New Year!
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