Compassionate Product Design Check
Test whether a product serves users without needlessly harming well-being
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 91%
Perez describes compassionate design as building with the user's mental well-being in mind rather than treating engagement as the only objective. The test begins with the service the user wants, then examines how using the product might hurt, destabilize, or disconnect that person. Designers should alter avoidable harmful mechanics while preserving the intended benefit, and repeat the review as the product evolves. Perez connects this idea to Wisdom Ventures and its interest in early-stage companies, but the method applies beyond well-being products. The framework is an ethical design prompt, not proof that a product is safe. High-risk domains still require evidence, specialist review, and safeguards beyond the questions discussed in the episode.
Origin
Extracted from The Diary of a CEO
Core principles
- 01User well-being belongs inside product design
- 02A useful service can still impose avoidable costs
- 03Mental well-being should be considered before scale
- 04Commercial success and compassion are not assumed to be opposites
How to run it
- 1
Define the real service
State what users are trying to accomplish and the value the product promises without relying on engagement as a proxy.
Watch out Time spent in a product is not automatically user benefit.
- 2
Map repeated use
Trace the actions, prompts, rewards, and social dynamics a user will experience over time.
Pro tip Review the routine user, not only the idealized first session.
- 3
Ask the harm question
Identify ways the interaction could damage attention, balance, connection, or mental well-being.
Pro tip Include unintended and vulnerable-user scenarios.
Watch out A team belief that the product is compassionate is not evidence of safety.
- 4
Redesign the mechanic
Change the features or incentives creating avoidable harm while preserving the service users came for.
Watch out Do not hide the same mechanic behind softer language.
- 5
Review continuously
Revisit user well-being as usage patterns, business incentives, and product features change.
Pro tip Use observed user outcomes to challenge assumptions.
Watch out This check does not replace formal risk assessment in high-stakes products.
In the wild
Perez says Wisdom Ventures was formed to support pre-seed and seed companies intentionally building with users' mental well-being in mind. He describes asking whether people could be hurt by a program or platform and how to provide the service while helping users remain balanced.
→ User well-being becomes part of the product and investment conversation at an early stage.
Common mistakes
Equating engagement with benefit
A product designed for connection can still contribute to distraction or disconnection when repeated use is ignored.
Using compassion as a slogan
The test must change mechanics and decisions, not merely the language used to market them.
Is it for you?
Best for
Early-stage teams shaping products that influence attention, behavior, relationships, or emotional state.
Not ideal for
Using a broad compassion label as a substitute for specialist safety, legal, accessibility, or clinical review.
From the transcript
“We have to think about the way that we build our products with the users' well-being in mind.”
“Are they going to be hurt using this program?”
From the episode
Yung Pueblo: How To Let Go Of The Past, Connect With The Present, & Expand The Future