Multi-Sided Systems Blur Faster
The issue wasn’t that the user was vague. It was that there wasn’t just one.
On the surface, it looked simple.
Take a sitemap. Extract content. Turn it into signals.
That part made sense.
But the build exposed something else. This wasn't a single-user system. It had two sides:
- The developer using the tool
- The visitor experiencing what the tool enables
Not competing. Not conflicting. But different vantage points into the same outcome.
The system sits between them
The developer interacts with: CLI, config, processing rules.
The visitor experiences: relevance, structure, meaning.
They never meet, but the system connects them.
Where it starts to blur
If you only think about one side, the other becomes implicit.
- Focus on the developer: the tool becomes flexible, but the output becomes generic
- Focus on the visitor: the output becomes clearer, but the tool becomes rigid
If neither side is explicitly named, decisions get deferred and the system works but doesn't clearly serve either side.
What was actually missing
It wasn't just: "Who is the user?"
It was: "Which side of the system is this decision for?"
Key takeaway
When a system is multi-sided, naming the user is not enough. Name the sides and know which one you are shaping at any moment. Otherwise the system will not break, it will just blur.