Live Inside Existing Workflows

· product-design, gtm

The Idea

Every new page, window, or interface is a losing bet. Good products must live inside existing workflows, not ask users to come to them.

The Hierarchy of Integration

  1. Invisible (best) - Happens without user action

    • Granola: transcribes automatically, notes just appear
    • Howie: email replies happen, calendar updates itself

  2. Inline - Lives in existing tool

    • Superhuman AI drafts in your inbox
    • GitHub Copilot in your editor

  3. Side panel - Adjacent to workflow

    • Notion AI, Cursor chat
    • Still requires opening something

  4. New tab - Requires context switch

    • ChatGPT, Claude.ai
    • Copy-paste workflow

  5. New app (worst) - Separate install, login, habit

    • Maximum friction
    • Fighting for space in user's life

Why New Windows Lose

  • Every click is a decision point where users can abandon
  • Context switching has cognitive cost
  • New habits are expensive to form
  • Existing workflows have years of muscle memory

The Test

Can someone use your product without knowing they're using your product?

If yes → high integration If no → fighting for attention

Implications

  • Best AI products fill "human-shaped slots" in existing workflows
  • Email, calendar, docs already have interaction patterns
  • The product that requires no new behavior wins
  • "Invisible" beats "powerful" for adoption

The Knowledge Base Paradox

Most knowledge bases fail because they're destinations, not part of the flow:

  • Writing to them = extra work
  • Reading from them = context switch
  • Value requires everyone to contribute (network effect never kicks in)

The test: Is using it the work itself, or about the work?

Works Fails
Notion as the doc you're editing Notion wiki no one visits
Figma as the design Figma "archive" folder
Git as the code Confluence docs about the code

What works instead:

  • Surface knowledge inside the workflow (contextual retrieval)
  • Make capture automatic (no extra action)
  • Make retrieval appear when needed, not when searched

The winning knowledge base is one you never visit - it just shows up.

Related

  • Howie - Email-native AI, invisible interface
  • Domain-Specific Agents Over General-Purpose - Narrow scope enables deeper integration