The reflex
“It’s comparable to what’s around us.”
That comparison gives you a bearing. It does not say whether the work serves the need of the person using it.
The builder’s reflex
“What does this person have to be able to do, under what conditions, and what is the best example I know?”
Why
“Comparable to what’s around us” is a ceiling. Your users compare you to the best service they have ever used, in any sector.
An unstable connection, an old device, a tight budget, a mandated payment method change the choices you have. They do not change the standard. A service that holds up under those conditions is tougher than most of what gets built with every comfort. That is the know-how that travels.
Every improvement has a cost. Clarifying a message takes an hour; cutting a load time can take a month. Estimate the effort, then pick the gap that gets in the way of use the most.
Keeping a service reliable often beats adding an impressive feature. The standard is measured by what the person manages to do.
Try this
Choose a task that matters to someone who uses your work. Watch them do it under their real conditions. Ask them which other service they compare you to, and look at it next to the best example you know of the same need.
Note one concrete gap, its effect, and the effort to close it. Close it, then have the same task done again. See what got easier.
To discuss
Which gap gets in our users’ way the most today?