Software Should Feel Like Magic

It may seem strange to argue that software should feel like magic when it has been akin to magic all along. We’ve conjured alternate universes and sentient algorithms out of literal sand. That’s magic in every sense of the word.

Unfortunately, software has become so ubiquitous and ordinary that it’s no longer exciting. Endless dropdown menus and modals. Sprawling settings pages and configurations. Form validations and CAPTCHAs. Cookie banners and ads plastered everywhere. Software is often partially broken. It feels like an obstacle preventing us from completing a task.

No one actually wants software. We just want to get things done. Sometimes software helps. Often it gets in the way.

There have been moments of magic and delight. Turning on a Macintosh for the first time. Connecting to the internet. Your first Google search. Buying your first item online. Fitting 1,000 songs in your pocket. A Skype video call spanning oceans. Streaming a movie from Netflix. Multitouch on the iPhone. Using ChatGPT.

But over time, the frequency of these magic moments has decreased. The past decade has felt like The Great Stagnation. Software has successfully eaten the world, but it hasn’t really evolved. We’ve been stuck in a period of expansion, not innovation.

AI marks a turning point where software gets to evolve again. This time, it’s a true revolution.

From 2025 onward, building software should feel like casting a spell. The onboarding flow could be a conversation. The settings page might be a selfie. Entire apps can be replaced by a single chat input. Interfaces will adapt and change on the fly. Software itself will become generative.

The software of the future will feel like an extension of you. It’ll understand you. Adapt to you. Guide you. It’ll feel so natural that you won’t even realize it’s there. Agents quietly working in the background to simplify your job or life. To-do lists that update you on their progress. Taxes that file themselves. Documents that research and write themselves. The best software will feel like magic.

There are no longer any rules. Follow some of them for the sake of familiarity. But know that the entire book is being rewritten.