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I think the quote I've heard is that they don't bother with outside market research. That's different from simply ignoring customers. Any sane company will tel

by nknight 15y ago

I think the quote I've heard is that they don't bother with outside market research. That's different from simply ignoring customers. Any sane company will tell you feedback is important, what can differ is where the feedback comes from, how it's interpreted, and whether customers have as much knowledge of what is or isn't possible/economical as the people at the company. It's also important to note that companies like Apple are always trying new things, building strange prototypes, etc.. If a customer screams for Widget X, a company might try building a Widget X prototype, and discover it doesn't work so well in practice.

sjwright 15y ago
> If a customer screams for Widget X, a company might try building a Widget X prototype, and discover it doesn't work so well in practice. _This._ It's a lesson I learned early on in my developer career: when customers ask for Widget X, it's often a symptom of an underlying problem that customers are trying to solve. Your role as a product developer is to understand the customer's underlying problem. Discover what the problem is, and you might discover that they don't need a Widget X; maybe they need a Feature X or a Gadget X. Maybe it reveals holes in your training processes. Maybe they just revealed a seemingly trivial bug with existing stuff. Or maybe you realise you never understood why clients ever used your product until now.