I think the issue is that techy/engineer-types are big fans of elegance. It's undeniable that services like Zapier are elegant in the sense that they generalize pretty well, they can "do it all" and, in all honesty, they're not too hard to figure out. With that said, there's no true value in elegance. And while generalizing is definitely a good idea for a mathematical proof, it might be a bad idea for a product.
I have to admit that a lot of times (especially when building side-projects/toy startups), I second guess myself when it comes to these kinds of product decisions -- "Is this product too simple? Too bare-bones; too much of a one-trick-pony? Would anyone pay for this?"
I believe that was separate senior engineers from the other is having passed the phase of elegance.
Eventually we want stuff that works, without looking at them.
On twitter people were asking what is clean code? My answer to that is that the cleanest code is the code you never have to open in an ide to figure or tweak.
I have written some beautifully elegant code in my time.
It's code that I now hate returning to because I don't understand it at first glance. (Granted this was years ago. I don't code that way anymore and haven't for quite some time).
This reminds me of what Don Norman quotes in "living with complexity" around how people buy the microwaves with all the buttons even though it's harder to use.
The two-dial ones of old were the best. Set power dial (or don't touch it if it's already where you want it), turn timer dial. Microwave goes until timer dial hits zero. No "start" button, no cancel, no menus, no preset crap. Just two dials.
I have to admit that a lot of times (especially when building side-projects/toy startups), I second guess myself when it comes to these kinds of product decisions -- "Is this product too simple? Too bare-bones; too much of a one-trick-pony? Would anyone pay for this?"