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"Management caring deeply about their company’s products and using them every day is almost always a prerequisite of making great products" ..when management i

by jonmc12 15y ago

"Management caring deeply about their company’s products and using them every day is almost always a prerequisite of making great products" ..when management is also happens to be in the target market of the product. Quite a broad and incorrect generalization to kick off an analysis like this.

degusta 15y ago
I'm the author and you're right. I hadn't thought of that, I was just thinking in the narrow space of consumer-y services/devices that have a broad target market. Something like "and being intimately familiar with them" would have been much better.
Foolness 15y ago
I think that's a fallacy. If the service was clay and then you have bullish management that wants to change the product for the worse all the time for their own wants, your words would be correct. That's not the case with most web services though. The target of social networks is everyone. A social network where people would prefer to post more privately would breed a more private atmosphere. A social network where only a certain type of people would post publicly would draw in only those type of culture until the dominant culture drives what the real target market really is. Target market segregation only come into play when a product is not yet launched. After it has been launched, the point is for the people in charge to use it to discover who are the people using the product and to mold it to both of their needs. Especially with an ambitious project like Google Plus, if you can't draw in people from all places especially people who is closest to your circle, chances are the product isn't meeting the intended appeal of ANY target market and with Google's history of cancelling products that don't meet that appeal (Buzz, Wave) that doesn't bode confidence even for the right target market when articles like this gets written.

by jonmc12 15y ago

degusta 15y ago

I'm the author and you're right. I hadn't thought of that, I was just thinking in the narrow space of consumer-y services/devices that have a broad target market. Something like "and being intimately familiar with them" would have been much better.

Foolness 15y ago

I think that's a fallacy. If the service was clay and then you have bullish management that wants to change the product for the worse all the time for their own wants, your words would be correct. That's not the case with most web services though. The target of social networks is everyone. A social network where people would prefer to post more privately would breed a more private atmosphere. A social network where only a certain type of people would post publicly would draw in only those type of culture until the dominant culture drives what the real target market really is. Target market segregation only come into play when a product is not yet launched. After it has been launched, the point is for the people in charge to use it to discover who are the people using the product and to mold it to both of their needs. Especially with an ambitious project like Google Plus, if you can't draw in people from all places especially people who is closest to your circle, chances are the product isn't meeting the intended appeal of ANY target market and with Google's history of cancelling products that don't meet that appeal (Buzz, Wave) that doesn't bode confidence even for the right target market when articles like this gets written.