---
title: "Should your app show its work?"
code: JZ-005
series: Perception
published: 2026-11
updated: 2026-11-01
author: Joost van der Zwan
canonical: https://softwarebehavior.com/notes/jz-005
skill: studio-jz-show-the-work
license: CC BY 4.0
---

# Should your app show its work?

Field Note JZ-005 · Perception · Show the work

**5** experiments with the same finding

## The guess
Faster always wins: every second of waiting feels like a cost.

## What the research found
In five experiments with simulated travel and dating sites, people often preferred a site that showed its work as it happened over one that returned identical results instantly, even when they had to wait longer. Seeing the effort raised how much they valued the service.

## Why
Seen effort invites reciprocity: people felt they owed the service something back.

## What to do
- Replace a generic spinner with the steps the system really takes, in plain words: "Checking 14 airlines", "Comparing fares", "Sorting by price".
- Show each step as it happens and mark finished steps.
- Keep the steps truthful and in the order they really run.

## What not to do
- Invent steps or show progress that does not match real work.
- Slow down a result that is already fast so it looks busier.
- Keep animating once the result is ready.

## Limits
- Simulated travel and dating sites; the studies measured preference and perceived value, not task success.
- The paper also tests where the effect stops. It is never a reason to make anything slower.

## Example
- Before: A spinner with "Searching…".
- After: "Checking 14 airlines ✓ · Comparing fares ✓ · Sorting by price…" (illustrative wording).

## Sources
- Buell, R. W. & Norton, M. I. (2011). The Labor Illusion: How Operational Transparency Increases Perceived Value. Management Science, 57(9), 1564–1579. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1110.1376

## Use with your AI
This note is also a skill: `studio-jz-show-the-work` (version 1.0.0). Download: https://softwarebehavior.com/skills/studio-jz-show-the-work.zip · All skills: https://softwarebehavior.com/field-kit

Software Behavior Field Notes by Joost van der Zwan · Studio JZ · CC BY 4.0 · softwarebehavior.com