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"Dogfooding is a good thing" That gets repeated a lot but I have observed the opposite when you have a diversified company dogfooding an internal product that

"Dogfooding is a good thing" That gets repeated a lot but I have observed the opposite when you have a diversified company dogfooding an internal product that isn't strategic in their portfolio, or is targeted at a market segment that the company doesn't belong to. I have seen companies hamstring themselves by using a product that isn't the best offering for them or a poor technical fit, only because it is their own offering. Also, in the worst case, companies become develop tunnel vision in the market, because they don't regularly use the competition. If you have a large, international software company targeting small to medium business customers in the US, dogfooding would be counterproductive. It would probably harm their strategic customer base by overcomplicating their product with features they don't need at the same time it slows the parent company down by using a product that's poor fit.

pseudostem 4y ago
Fanboy Alert! (I may be biased). Not a company, but OpenBSD dogfoods exclusively. And they do deliver a good product.
- throwaway5752 4y ago
  OpenBSD sure does - also a fan - and dogfooding can be a really good thing. But one has to approach it critically and sensibly.
crazygringo 4y ago
Yup. The idea behind dogfooding is that you get more/better feedback and more internal pressure to fix problems. But the product team should already be getting feedback from a diverse set of customers. And if they're not, that's what needs to be fixed. Dogfooding can also result in overprioritizing only your own company's product needs, and at worst the ultra specific issues that one particularly vocal VP is having, to the detriment of the overall customer base. (I've seen it happen way too many times.) Companies should use the best tools for the job, not necessarily the ones they make themselves. If those are the same, then great. If not, then also great.
ridgered4 4y ago
Also if your product is adware, full of dark patterns or generally hot garbage it might be really frustrating to use!
- cpeterso 4y ago
  Like the Twitter employee who bragged that Twitter employees can turn off ads in their personal accounts.

pseudostem 4y ago

Fanboy Alert! (I may be biased). Not a company, but OpenBSD dogfoods exclusively. And they do deliver a good product.

throwaway5752 4y ago
OpenBSD sure does - also a fan - and dogfooding can be a really good thing. But one has to approach it critically and sensibly.

crazygringo 4y ago

Yup. The idea behind dogfooding is that you get more/better feedback and more internal pressure to fix problems. But the product team should already be getting feedback from a diverse set of customers. And if they're not, that's what needs to be fixed. Dogfooding can also result in overprioritizing only your own company's product needs, and at worst the ultra specific issues that one particularly vocal VP is having, to the detriment of the overall customer base. (I've seen it happen way too many times.) Companies should use the best tools for the job, not necessarily the ones they make themselves. If those are the same, then great. If not, then also great.

ridgered4 4y ago

Also if your product is adware, full of dark patterns or generally hot garbage it might be really frustrating to use!

cpeterso 4y ago
Like the Twitter employee who bragged that Twitter employees can turn off ads in their personal accounts.