Retention and Engagement - everybody wants your time

Including, me. There’s no question the world has experienced significant change, over just the past 10 years. You’ve got standard concerns like AI; questions around whether tech is helping or hurting us - but I want to present another side to the story: one that I’ve got direct experience in. In a new “series” I’ll be rolling out, I’ll be deep diving into my prior experience as a software engineer in this new world where everything is a metric to be improved. Laying out the problem Not to be vague, I’ve referenced the problem in the title. Companies, and by proxy, engineers at the companies, are being driven (by shareholders), to ensure you maximise the time spent on their platforms. Perhaps, that much is apparent and obvious. But, have you stopped to think recently how vehement and aggressive these practices are getting? How many services do you use or rely on that are (subtly or not), making decisions purely just to increase the time customers spend with the software open ? I’m a big believer that software can make lives better . I’ll be quick to announce, though, that as of 2025, there’s a lot of secrecy behind the scenes around why companies are striving harder to hit engagement metrics. It’s a race to the bottom, and as we continue seeing software take up more and more of our time spent, it’s worth exploring just how bad things can get when you’re laser focused on app enegagement. Making something good, isn’t good enough I worked at Flux Finance for 3 and a half years, before unfortunately being made redundant. Flux went on, only months later, to be bought out by Networth. Not terrible; acquisition complete, and everybody’s clapping. As a refresher, Flux was an app designed to make your money journey easier, and make you more financial literate, in fun ways. The motto: “helping 400k+ Aussies win at money ” - with gamification being a major aspect. For Australians, it features: a way to check your credit score articles released regularly to learn about money new