Hi tom, I am too familiar with Owners pushing Software out the door too soon, to get some badly needed cash flow to start coming into the cash box.
for years, I tested these New versions to be released to the customer base, and so often I and the other guys would find bug after bug after bug, and often these bugs were the embarrassing ones, the ones that almost everyone would stumble into if they even used the program slightly. We would prioritized these bugs as to which ones we felt needed to be fixed first second third etc. So often, the owner would look at this list, and toss it aside. he had found some bug he thought would need to be fix before his own mind felt good about releasing the new version. this guy never spoke to the customers, never read their emails, and rarely used his own program. Since he was the owner, everyone could only offer their reports, and do what he said to do. Well, he is out of business now, but he didn't need to be. As someone posted earlier, 20 per cent of the bugs are going to affect 80 per cent of the users. I know there has to be a line drawn, and the product has to be shipped. However, there also needs to be a line drawn where all Bugs that rate a certain level of importance need to be fixed before sending the program to paying customers. I found it embarrassing to be on the Tech phones days after a new release was shipped, and some guy is telling me about some glitch, that we all knew about, and had reported, and is so obvious, and the guy is asking, What kind of quality Control do you people have there? Of course I couldn't tell him that a person who has no contact with customers or his own program, made the decision to ship the program as in its current form. No, instead I had to sound Sorry but Helpful and attempt to figure a working around until a fix could be delivered. and No Sir, I do not know when that fix will be coming, but I am sure it won't be long. So, let me ask those of you who work in the Software industry- Why not take the time to polish the new product until those 20 per cent bugs are gone? And why doesn't someone control Marketing so that marketing doesn't tell the World about the newest and latest edition until there really is a newest and latest edition that is ready for the public? You hear about people going Postal at work. The only time I was entertaining anything like going Postal was when marketing would be telling the World about a product that had yet to exist, and was given Release dates far too soon to be realistic. Lord, I can't tell you how many times I wanted to go into Marketing and not take any Prisoners! marketing painted us into so many corners, and never thought anything was wrong with what they were doing. So the Buggy product goes to market, too early. customers who value their money, and are expecting top quality goods, get something less than good, which tarnishes the reputation of that Company. Don't think this is true? Go back over the last couple of weeks, and see how many people tell the list to wait for the first Service pac, or until the Dust settles etc. even just today, Windows 10, the one some of you have right now, could easily be a Beta, there is that much to still be fixed. Can someone tell me, what benefit is there to the Company, to ship a product that is not truly ready for market? Wouldn't it be better to be a Company that had a solid reputation about reliability and Stability, rather than getting their product to market a month before the other guys. I recall asking these kinds of questions to my Boss, and he just said, Well, everyone else does the same thing. I tell you, my head just about Exploded at that point! I had to laugh and tell him that was a piss poor reason to go to market with a unfinished program. he and I always had an Avisarial relationship. As it turned out, he was let go before I was. he left because he was getting caught up with, and I was let go because too many times our Company chose to ship buggy product, and people stopped buying it. Take care of the Customer and they will take care of you. Something Marketing and Ownership never believed, or understood. Dave -- Dave <[email protected]> _______________________________________________ Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared. For membership options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/archive%40mail-archive.com. For subscription options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com List archives can be found at http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
