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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
by 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 agoAgreed. 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 agoThey 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 agoThis 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-...