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I'm working on an app at the moment and despite my intention of releasing early, I find myself adding additional features for the initial release. Here's my lo

by matt1 17y ago

I'm working on an app at the moment and despite my intention of releasing early, I find myself adding additional features for the initial release. Here's my logic; tell me if I'm out of line: 1) As a user of my own product, I have a pretty good idea of what the first set of features users are going to ask for. I could release a simpler version, but since I know some additional features are important, I feel like I might as well implement them prior to the launch. 2) You tend to get a big spike in traffic right after launch. The better the site, the better that initial feedback is going to be and the more people who will convert. Why waste that large influx of traffic? Counterpoint: the people that make up that large spike of traffic are largely tech-geeks, who are not my target audience anyway so it doesn't matter.

ryanwaggoner 17y ago
I think this is pretty typical of developers scratching their own itch, but I would launch now: 1) You may not be scratching the itch you think you are. Users may love your software or they may hate it, but both might occur for reasons you never even thought about, because your users are different from you and may use it completely differently. 2) Don't launch. Seriously, a big launch event with PR and hype is overrated. Put it out there, get feedback, iterate based on that feedback, and do marketing and PR later. Here's a much better post on the subject: http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/03/dont-launch.html http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/03/dont-launch.htm...
- matt1 17y ago
  Ryan, great points. I have mixed feelings about listening to users. On one hand, I'd like to think that my vision for the app should lead me and that users are there to keep me on track. On the other hand, what good is a vision if your users don't like where you're headed? Put another way: as the developer, am I there to implement the users' collective vision or are they there to guide mine? I think there's got to be some sort of healthy balance. You can't (and shouldn't) do everything your users want, but you need to listen to their feedback because in the end what good is business without any customers?
  - cantastoria 17y ago
    Agreed. I'm often shocked how obsessed everyone is with "getting user feedback so you can iterate". In my experience, users have no idea what they want and the ones that do are usually just trying to get you to implement their pet piece of functionality that will make their lives easier (usually at everyone else's expense). User feedback is good for validating your design and feature choices not driving them.
    - kristiandupont 17y ago
      They may not be very good at telling you how they want to do something, but they are usually pretty good at telling you what they want to be able to do.
  - ryanwaggoner 17y ago
    This is one of the things we've struggled with the most. We're huge fans of customer development, but also started a company with a vision. Ultimately, I think part of it comes down to your motivations for starting the company and what you hope to accomplish. [Shameless plug] You can read more about our battles with this exact issue here: http://mightybrand.com/2010/01/got-customers-part-2-the-one-in-which-we-save-the-startup-but-lose-our-souls/ http://mightybrand.com/2010/01/got-customers-part-2-the-one-...

by matt1 17y ago

ryanwaggoner 17y ago

I think this is pretty typical of developers scratching their own itch, but I would launch now: 1) You may not be scratching the itch you think you are. Users may love your software or they may hate it, but both might occur for reasons you never even thought about, because your users are different from you and may use it completely differently. 2) Don't launch. Seriously, a big launch event with PR and hype is overrated. Put it out there, get feedback, iterate based on that feedback, and do marketing and PR later. Here's a much better post on the subject: http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/03/dont-launch.html http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/03/dont-launch.htm...

matt1 17y ago
Ryan, great points. I have mixed feelings about listening to users. On one hand, I'd like to think that my vision for the app should lead me and that users are there to keep me on track. On the other hand, what good is a vision if your users don't like where you're headed? Put another way: as the developer, am I there to implement the users' collective vision or are they there to guide mine? I think there's got to be some sort of healthy balance. You can't (and shouldn't) do everything your users want, but you need to listen to their feedback because in the end what good is business without any customers?
- cantastoria 17y ago
  Agreed. I'm often shocked how obsessed everyone is with "getting user feedback so you can iterate". In my experience, users have no idea what they want and the ones that do are usually just trying to get you to implement their pet piece of functionality that will make their lives easier (usually at everyone else's expense). User feedback is good for validating your design and feature choices not driving them.
  - kristiandupont 17y ago
    They may not be very good at telling you how they want to do something, but they are usually pretty good at telling you what they want to be able to do.
- ryanwaggoner 17y ago
  This is one of the things we've struggled with the most. We're huge fans of customer development, but also started a company with a vision. Ultimately, I think part of it comes down to your motivations for starting the company and what you hope to accomplish. [Shameless plug] You can read more about our battles with this exact issue here: http://mightybrand.com/2010/01/got-customers-part-2-the-one-in-which-we-save-the-startup-but-lose-our-souls/ http://mightybrand.com/2010/01/got-customers-part-2-the-one-...