Microsoft - Getting Feedback to the Machine (Yours)

Back in June, Jensen Harris of the Office Team posted a blog about the feedback system used by the Office Team. 

Jensen went through the process/steps to essentially make the case that every piece of feedback ( or smiles as they call it) is reviewed.   It is a worth a full read, including the comments.

I've started asking web services types, application providers, etc, why they don't do this. Why not have a direct link from the user to the people creating the product?

The answers (or in my opinion excuses) have been lame but have been excellent in helping me decide to avoid investment problems.

Saying you don't have time is a lame excuse.  People using your stuff are the reason you are doing this and the time you take to listen is a good use of time.  You get lots of opinions, lots feedback and (hopefully) a set of users who believe you are paying attention.

Saying it's impossible to manage all the stuff is a lame excuse.  A free open source MYSQL db with some tags fed by inbound stuff from your application or service is not that hard to build. Head over to Rent-A-Coder and get it built. After you have it, follow Jensen's commentary on process.  And help your local high school, college and/or university by picking up some smart co-op students to help you with this stuff.  Cheap/smart labor is the opening but fresh eyes is even more important.

Saying you have focus group data is a lame excuse.  Yesterday, I had a very very passionate Hubby/Wife team in who are working on a really interesting project.  Hubby, in telling me about the process, darn near pounded the table into the floor by telling me that no coder was allowed near a keyboard until the Focus Groups were done!  I replied (as politely as I could) "So what."  My point was that until you have hundreds, if not thousands, of people pounding away, you won't know. A focus group (or groups in his case) probably will keep you from "gag me with a spoon", ongoing, friction-free feedback is vital for any long term success of any business.  While hubby was in no way claiming focus groups to be the end all, I use this example to press home my point.  I'm still chasing this investment as these two were really smart.

In any event, I suggest you read Jensen's entry as well as this one by the OneNote Team.   These days, being as close to your customer as possible should be a key factor in your business planning.

Comments

[Jim Courtney]

Recommendation: Skype's new Public Chat service. Within minutes of Skype 3.0 beta's launch last Wednesday morning there were two Public Chats that ran for three days discussing new features, finding bugs and generally commenting on the new beta. And several Skype managers and developers participated in the dialogue. At times there were up to 80 participants (max. allowed is 100) (Look for an upgraded beta release later this week...)