
(Part 2) We Just Undid Three Months of Dev work. Here's What We Learned. - acl
http://blog.scoutapp.com/articles/2009/10/20/part-ii-we-just-undid-three-months-of-dev-work-heres-what-we-learned
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joe_the_user
Hmm,

 _We launched a major development initiative based on our internal ideas of
what users wanted. In retrospect, we should have spent much more time speaking
with customers and vetting the ideas._

I do not know a magical formula for features that make money. I do know that
Steve Jobs very clearly says that he creates products by asking what would be
really cool to have. Sometimes users know what they want and are correct.
Sometimes they wrong in the sense that what they describe won't really satisfy
them.

There could be difference between a niche market and mass market in these
considerations as well as many other consideration. This is not to demean the
article in the least - it's more that this is really hard problem and there
aren't easy answers even if what works in a given situation is usually
something simple.

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NEPatriot
The skill comes with being able to digest and boil down what the users are
saying. This is going back to the old Ford lesson, that if he'd listened he
would have built a faster horse.

There is just going to be a lot of noise and out of that one must pick out
recurring themes and look for patterns that tell you whether or not something
needs to change.

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dizzle
great article. we all need to constantly remind ourselves to listen to our
users and to not just look at the competition.

