Designing for Attention: How CrossFit Builds Product for Community-Led Growth | Ben McAllister, CPTO
Ben McAllister, CPTO of CrossFit, unpacks why attention -- not usability or features -- is the real constraint in product, and how designing for motivation and community changes what actually sticks.
TL;DR
In this episode, we’re joined by Ben McAllister, the Chief Product and Technology Officer at CrossFit, and one of the most thoughtful product leaders I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with.
Ben’s path is anything but linear: with a degree in physics, a short stint in consulting, and time spent as a creative director at a design agency before moving into senior product roles at Under Armour. Now he’s shaping one of the world’s most iconic fitness ecosystems.
In this episode, Ben shares:
Why attention is the ultimate currency in product design, and how to design for the “spotlight” versus the periphery
The “Infovore” Advantage: Why the best product leaders borrow ideas from outside the tech world
How to build a cohesive product strategy for a complex, decentralized network like CrossFit’s global community of affiliates and athletes
1. Why usability testing often misses real-world behavior (8:45)
Ben explains why passing usability tests doesn’t mean a product will succeed once users are on their own – especially in consumer products.
“The problem with things like that often is like, yeah, but like in the real world, no one’s going to prompt them, right?”
What matters isn’t whether users can complete a task – it’s whether they’ll notice it, feel motivated to engage, and understand why it matters.
2. Product design is an exercise in managing attention (10:30)
Ben frames product design as a balance between two kinds of attention:
What users consciously focus on
What subconsciously pulls them in
The key insight: Users don’t fully control where their attention goes, and product teams need to design with that reality in mind.
“You have two ways of attending the world. You have a broad scope of attention, and then you have the spotlight that’s a little bit more consciously directed.”
3. Product teams can’t outsource attention to marketing (12:15)
One of Ben’s strongest takes is that product leaders can’t treat attention as someone else’s problem:
“One of my pet peeves is a PM kind of like complaining. ‘We didn’t get enough marketing.’ You knew that when you built this feature.”
Instead, Ben argues that product leaders must take responsibility for how awareness and motivation are created.
“If attention is what matters, you have to become aware that something exists. You can’t just assume that somebody’s going to walk in the door and use this product.”
4. The CrossFit Open reveals what users actually value (20:40)
One of the most surprising insights Ben shares in this episode comes from analyzing traffic during the CrossFit Open, an annual competition designed to test participants’ fitness globally while fostering community with local gym affiliates.
“Most of the traffic is people going to the leaderboards and predominantly looking at their own scores from this year, from last year, from ten years ago.”
So what do you do with an insight like that?
Should CrossFit double down on performance and competition – or lean further into community and participation?
Regardless of the answer, the product team’s job is to ask these questions and truly understand their users. They can’t build with the assumption that users’ behaviors will fit their expectations.
Chapters
00:00: Introduction
01:27: Ben’s non-linear career path: From physicist to product leader
03:23: The “infovore” mindset in product management
06:00: Storytelling, juxtaposition, and the science of learning
08:48: Designing product for attention
12:00: Why product leaders shouldn’t ignore marketing
15:10: CrossFit’s origins as an internet-native brand
19:44: What is the CrossFit Open?
26:02: Conclusion
Links
Resources
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