You Don’t Need a Feature, You Need a Sandwich
When scrappy solutions solve real user problems
Have you ever ignored a suggestion for fixing a small customer problem? Maybe it didn’t align with the roadmap, seemed too minor, or was hard to quantify. Whatever the excuse it’s easy to put off such work.
Yet, fixing these little things show customers you truly understand. In a world where winning and retaining customers is all about delivering a superior experience, when employees are empowered to come forward with solutions to customer pain points, the business will thrive.
This is the story of one such instance, drawn from my own experience on spring break.
On vacation the little things can sometimes present big dilemmas. It was a beautiful Tuesday in St Croix and we were heading out on a snorkel trip the next day. The tour was BYO lunch—but we were staying at a hotel and didn’t have a car, a deli, or any groceries.
I went to the front desk to ask for their advice. I was expecting an unapetizing recommendation like “buy cliff bars from our store” or “order room service tonight and save it for tomorrow”. For me and my picky-eater kids, this was a mini moment of truth.
To my surprise and delight the woman behind the front desk reached into a drawer and produced a “Boxed Lunch Order Form”. It had a short list of simple options—PB&J, ham and cheese, fruit—and instructions to fill it out the night before. The lunches would be ready at the front desk by morning.
I was so amazed that I asked more about it. She told me this came from staff who kept hearing the same guest question. So, they created a fix. No systems overhaul. No new ops process. Just a paper form and some sandwiches.
Why I Loved It
This little boxed lunch menu reminded me of how great product teams should work:
1. The best features often come from the frontlines.
The front desk team saw the same guest issue come up over and over. They didn’t wait for a leadership mandate to brainstorm solutions—they just built one.
2. You don’t need to “scale” everything.
This wasn’t automated, personalized, or AI-powered. But it worked. Sometimes “scrappy and reliable” is exactly what’s needed.
3. Delight comes from solving real problems.
There was no surprise-and-delight budget. No free champagne. Just a clear signal that someone had thought about this problem before—and built something to make it easier.
What’s Your Boxed Lunch Menu?
Now I’m thinking about how I might carry this same ethos back to my team building software for our customers. Here are three prompts I’m thinking about:
What customer problems do frontline teams hear over and over?
Are users hacking their way around gaps in our product?
Do those same frontline employees have ideas on how to close these gaps?
As for the snorkel trip?
It was gorgeous. I can’t recommend St Croix enough. And that boxed lunch powered the Shipping on Fridays family through an adventurous day.
