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True. But there are also many cases when sales people force the product development team to implement the most idiotic "feature", because "we think the client
by jazzyk 10y ago
True.
But there are also many cases when sales people force the product development team to implement the most idiotic "feature", because "we think the client is ready to sign the check and this is really important to them". The bad side of commission-based compensation is that they want to close the sale, no matter how harmful (in the long term) it can be.
- beat 10y agoThe only thing "idiotic" about customer-requested features, especially on high-ticket items, is when they introduce excessive technical debt. This can come in the form of code instability, disrupting development schedules, etc. Features that do more harm than good to the product and the business. Beyond that, it's not idiotic. It's just stuff the programmers don't care about. Price you pay for getting a paycheck.
- jazzyk 10y agoNot every request from the customer makes sense. “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” -- Henry Ford.
- beat 10y agoThat's where "excessive technical debt" comes into play. My spouse actually deals with this more than I do. She's a product owner/analyst in international e-commerce, a very deep subject/domain expert in a narrow field. Customers, not really understanding the complexities of the domain, ask for things that are often technically impossible, illegal, or self-destructive. But she's serving as a first line of defense for engineers, educating sales reps and customers (and executives) about the nature of their business, and what can/should/shouldn't be done.